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Adolphe Max

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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"ADOLPHE MAX (1869-), burgomaster of Brussels at the outbreak of the World War, was born at Brussels Dec. 31 1869, and was educated at the university of his native city. He entered the legal profession, also doing journalistic work, and at the age of 25 was appointed provincial counsel for Brabant, becoming communal counsel in 1903. After serving as magistrate, he was elected burgomaster of Brussels Dec. 6 1909, and distinguished himself by his administrative qualities. In Aug. 1914 M. Max showed the greatest coolness and did his best to calm the populace. On Aug. 20 he met the German army as it approached Brussels, and protested against the conditions imposed by the conquerors on the city. He succeeded in inducing the Germans to abandon that clause of the terms by which the burgomaster, the communal counsel and one hundred citizens were required to surrender themselves as hostages. He refused to sign a convention requiring that he should perform his duties only under the authority of the military governor of Brussels, and reserved to himself the rights of a free agent. The same day he charged his fellow-citizens to keep the national flag flying on their houses. Some of his public announcements became famous, notably that of Aug. 30, in which he gave a formal denial to a false statement of the German governor of Liege, and that of Sept. 16, in which he attempted to calm those of the inhabitants who had been ordered to remove the national flag from their houses. The latter ended with the words " Attendons patiemment l'heure de la reparation." The same evening he was arrested, and though soon released, was again arrested on Sept. 26 owing to a difference with the German authorities as to the amount of the war levy to be paid by the city of Brussels. He was sent to Namur, thence to Cologne and various other towns, being finally sent to Berlin (Oct. 1916), where he was closely confined. On Oct. 30 1918 he was interned at Goslar, whence he escaped on Nov. 13. He was received at Brussels with extraordinary enthusiasm; he was appointed a minister of state, named in a national order of the day, and was elected a member of the Academie Royale de Belgique and vicepresident of the Conseil Superieur du Congo. In 1919 he was elected to the Chamber of Representatives.