Max KohnstammOMRI (22 May 1914 – 20 October 2010) was a Dutch historian and diplomat.
Early life
Max Kohnstamm was born in Amsterdam, Netherlands, the son of Philip Kohnstamm, a physicist, philosopher and pedagogue of Jewish-German origin. His father was married to one of the daughters of Jean Baptiste August Kessler, who helped create the company now known as Royal Dutch Shell; one of his uncles was Geldolph Adriaan Kessler, who helped create the Dutch steel industry. During World War II, Kohnstamm and Kessler were both held hostage by the Germans along with other prominent Dutchmen at Beekvliet in Kamp Sint-Michielsgestel; they became quite close there despite the difference in age.[1] He was one of the founding fathers of the European Union by playing a major part in the 1950s in developing the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and then of the European Economic Community.[2]
Education
Kohnstamm was educated at Amsterdam University, where he studied Modern History, before taking up a fellowship at American University, Washington, D.C. During 1938 and 1939 he travelled through the United States as part of his studies.[3] His correspondence with his father during this period discussed his impressions of the United States and his concerns with the looming war.[4]
de Clercq, Daan; Everts, Saskia; Langelaan, Michaja; Stoop, Ellen; van Voorst Vader-Duyckinck Sander, Jet (2010). Uit Een Bron van Weelde: Het leven van de Erven Stoop [From a Source of Wealth: The Lives of the Stoop Heirs]. Stichting Stoop-van Deventer.
