Max Heinrich Hermann Reinhardt Nettlau (; 30 April 1865 – 23 July 1944) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not necessar ...

and

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...

. Although born in Neuwaldegg (today part of

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

) and raised in Vienna, he lived there until the

anschluss The (, or , ), also known as the (, en, Annexation of Austria), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into the German Reich on 13 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a " Greater Germa ...

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

in 1938. Max Nettlau retained his

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an e ...

n (later German) nationality throughout his life. A student of the

Welsh language Welsh ( or ) is a Celtic language of the Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken natively in Wales, by some in England, and in Y Wladfa (the Welsh colony in Chubut Province, Argentina). Historically, it h ...

he spent time in London where he joined the Socialist League and met

William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He w ...

. While in London he met anarchists such as Errico Malatesta and

Peter Kropotkin Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin (; russian: link=no, Пётр Алексе́евич Кропо́ткин ; 9 December 1842 – 8 February 1921) was a Russian anarchist, socialist, revolutionary, historian, scientist, philosopher, and activist ...

whom he remained in contact with for the rest of his life. He also helped to found Freedom Press for whom he wrote for many years. In the 1890s realising that a generation of socialist and anarchist militants from the mid-19th century was dying and their archives of writings and correspondence being destroyed, he concentrated his effort and a recent modest inheritance from his father on acquiring and rescuing such collections from destruction. He also made many interviews of veteran militants for posterity. He wrote biographies of many famous anarchists, including Mikhail Bakunin,

Élisée Reclus Jacques Élisée Reclus (; 15 March 18304 July 1905) was a French geographer, writer and anarchist. He produced his 19-volume masterwork, ''La Nouvelle Géographie universelle, la terre et les hommes'' ("Universal Geography"), over a period of ...

, and Errico Malatesta. He also wrote a seven volume history of anarchism. His extensive collection or archives was sold to the

International Institute of Social History The International Institute of Social History (IISH/IISG) is one of the largest archives of labor and social history in the world. Located in Amsterdam, its one million volumes and 2,300 archival collections include the papers of major figu ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

in 1935. He lived continuously in Amsterdam from 1938 where he worked on cataloging the archive for the Institute. He died there suddenly from stomach cancer in 1944, without ever being harassed.

Works

* ''Bibliographie de L'Anarchie'' (1887) *: Republished in 1964 by P.Galeati (Italy) and in 1968 by Burt Franklin (United States), subtitled "Brief History of Anarchism" * ''Élisée Reclus, Anarchist und Gelehrter. "Der Syndikalist"'' (1928) * ''La anarquía a través de los tiempos'' (1933 or 1935) *: Published 1991 in English by Freedom Press as '' A Short History of Anarchism'' * '' La Première Internationale en Espagne (1868–1888)'' (1969) ; Edited * ''Oeuvres'' of Mikhail Bakunin, vol. 1 (1895)

Notes

Works cited

External links

Nettlau-Archive
at the

Max Nettlau, Writings

''Bibliographie de l'anarchie'' full text
at the

Bibliothèque nationale de France The Bibliothèque nationale de France (, 'National Library of France'; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites known respectively as ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nettlau, Max 1865 births 1944 deaths German anarchists Historians of anarchism Anarchists without adjectives Socialist League (UK, 1885) members German people of Austrian descent People from Hernals Deaths from stomach cancer Historians of the labour movement in Spain Deaths from cancer in the Netherlands

Works

Notes

Works cited

Further reading

External links