Max Kohnstamm : [Fonds], 1952-1969

The Resource Max Kohnstamm : [Fonds], 1952-1969

Label

Max Kohnstamm : [Fonds], 1952-1969

Title remainder

[Fonds]

Inclusive dates

1952-1969

Language

Summary

The files making up this fonds deal with Kohnstamm's collaboration with J. Monnet, first in the High Authority and then in Action Committee for the United States of Europe. The records dating to his years at High Authority consist mainly of notes prepared by Kohnstamm addressed to President Monnet dealing with main political and European Community topics such as the implementation of the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, French-German relations and De Gaulle, the Atlantic politics, the negotiations for the accession of Great Britain and so on. As for his years in the Action Committee for the United States of Europe, direct contacts and correspondence with sympathisers of the Action Committee in the U.S. are of particular importance. His travels to the US and discussions around the project Multi-Lateral Nuclear Force (MLF) are richly documented. Another important section of the records covers his work in various working groups of the Euratom Treaty. In addition to notes, records consist of correspondence, handwritten notes (and sometimes of their transcripts), and documentation. Finally, the collection includes the personal diary of Kohnstamm from 1953 to 1967

Biographical or historical data

Max Kohnstamm studied history at the University of Amsterdam and in 1938-1939 at the American University in Washington. From 1945 to 1948 he was the private secretary to Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands. In 1948 he joined the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs as Director of the German Bureau. In 1949 he was appointed director of the Europe Bureau. He ws a member of the Dutch delegation in the negotiations on the Schuman Plan in 1950 and became its vice president. Upon the creation of the institutions of the European Coal and Steel Community in 1952, Kohnstamm became the first secretary of the High Authority under the presidence of J. Monnet. When J. Monnet created the Action Committee for the United States of Europe on 10/13/1955 his valuable contribution earned him in June 1956 the vice presidency of the Action Committee, a position he held until the dissolution of the Committee in 1975. In the meantime, the High Authority appointed him in October 1956 at the General Secretariat of the "Committee of Three Wise Men", a working group established by the secretariat of the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) for the establishment of the Common Market and of Euratom. The group published its report in May 1957. In October 1957, Mr Kohnstamm was appointed by the High Authority as special adviser to liaise with organizations in the field of atomic energy. This lead him to be part of a joint working group established for the development of prototype reactors on an industrial scale, as well as other working groups on an Euratom collaboration with the United States, Britain and Canada. These commitments lasted until 1960. In January 1959 Kohnstamm became president of the Institut de la Communauté européenne pour les études universitaires founded by J. Monnet, W. Hallstein, E. Hirsch and Kohnstamm in order to increase interest in academic circles for the European integration. From 1975 to 1981 he was the first president of the European University Institute, founded by Member States of the Communities in 1972.

Cataloging source

IT-FiEUI

Language note

Fonds in French, English, German and Dutch. Inventory in French

Context

Context of Max Kohnstamm : [Fonds], 1952-1969

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Context

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