Max Kohnstamm

Nationality

Netherlands

Date of Birth

1914

Date of Death

2010

Political
Preference

Nederlandse Unie (NU)

Max Kohnstamm, son of German migrants to the Netherlands, read history at the University of Amsterdam and the American University in Washington D.C. After the Second World War, he first served Queen Wilhelmina as her private secretary and joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs after her abdication in 1948. He rose to prominence as the Ministry’s Director of European Affairs between 1948 and 1952 and thus closely monitored the development of the European Coal and Steel Community. After the ECSC’s official establishment, he became Jean Monnet’s right-hand man as Secretary of the High Authority from 1952 to 1956. With his high-ranking political connections, Kohnstamm was a valuable asset for the Ecumenical Commission on European Cooperation, which he joined from its inception. After leaving the ECSC High Authority in 1956, he became Vice President of the Action Committee for a United States of Europe (ACUSE). Furthermore, he was a member of the Bilderberg Group’s Steering Committee since 1954.