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October 1938. A young Dutchman named Max Kohnstamm (24), a student of history at the University of Amsterdam, sails to New York. He is still angry over the Munich Agreement signed a few week earlier. He does not believe in appeasement and fears the worst. After a few months in Washington DC, as a student of Washington University, he buys a second-hand roadster and sets out on a voyage through the America of the Depression, of the Negro question, of Roosevelt and the New Deal. During this final year before the outbreak of the war in Europe he writes to his parents and friends. Philip Kohnstamm (63) his father, is one of his correspondents.
August 1939. The SS Washington sails for Europe. Aboard is a young man whose experiences in the US, and his reflections on what threatens Europe, have focused his thoughts forever. Only the stars can forsee the role he will play one world war and one decade later in the uniting of the European adversaries.
Philip A. Kohnstamm (1875-1951) began his career as professor of thermodynamics and then saw his interests change from physics to philosophy, theology and education. The main building of the faculty of education of Amsterdam University bears his name.
Max Kohnstamm (1914), the youngest son of Philip, was imprisoned by the Nazis from 1942 to 1944. When the war ended, Queen Wilhelmina, returned from her exile in London, appointed him as one of her two personal secretaries. In 1956 Jean Monnet, one of the founding fathers of the European Union, appointed Max Secretary-General of his Action Commitee for the United States of Europe. In 1976 Max became the first President of the European University in Florence.
Dolph Kohnstamm (1937), a grandson to Philip and nephew of Max, was professor of developmental psychology at Leiden University from 1973 to 1998.
