Adolphe Max

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Adolphe Max (30 December 1869–6 November 1939) was a Belgian politician and Mayor of Brussels from 1909 until his death.

During the German occupation of Brussels in the First World War, Max refused to cooperate with the occupying forces. As a result he was arrested and held in, first at Namur, and then at Glatz, until he escaped on 13 November 1918. Charles Lemonnier was acting mayor during his captivity. On his return to Brussels he was greeted as a hero.

In 1919 he was elected to the Belgian Chamber of Representatives, where he campaigned for universal adult suffrage, a goal not achieved until after his death.

Among the monuments from Max's time in office as mayor of Brussels are parts of the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium and the Heysel exhibition park built for the Expo of 1935, begun to mark the centenary of the Belgian Revolution of 1830.

Adolphe Max was an honorary Minister of State and a member of the Institut de France.