Paul Hymans
Paul Hymans | |
|---|---|
 Paul Hymans | |
| Born | Paul Louis Adrien Henri Hymans 23 March 1865 |
| Died | 8 March 1941(aged 75) |
| Nationality | Belgian |
| Occupation | politician |
Paul Louis Adrien Henri Hymans(23 March 1865 – 8 March 1941), was aBelgianpoliticianassociated with theLiberal Party.He was the second president of theLeague of Nationsand served again as its president in 1932–1933.
Life
[edit]Hymans was the son of the Belgian writer and historianLouis Hymans,himself the son of aJewishdoctor originally fromDordrecht,[1]and Louise de l'Escaille, aChristianProtestantBelgianWalloon.[2]His mother came from anold aristocratic Belgian Walloon family.[3]He became alawyerand professor at theUniversite Libre de Bruxelles.As a politician, he became Belgian Minister for Foreign Affairs, holding this post from 1918 to 1920 (and again from 1927 to 1935), was Minister of Justice from 1926 to 1927 and member of the Council of Ministers from 1935 to 1936. In 1919, together withCharles de BroquevilleandEmile Vanderveldehe introduceduniversal suffragefor all men (one man, one vote) andcompulsory education.
As foreign minister during theGreat War,Hymans was successful in securing promises from the Allies that amounted toco-belligerency.Britain, France and Russia pledged in theDeclaration of Sainte-Adressein February 1916 that Belgium would be included in the peace negotiations, its independence would be restored and it would receive monetary compensation from Germany for the damage. When the war began, Hymans also received major promises of relief support from the United States that were approved by PresidentWoodrow Wilson.Relief was directed primarily by the AmericanHerbert Hooverand involved several agencies: theCommission for Relief in Belgium,American Relief Administration,andComité National de Secours et d'Alimentation.At theParis Peace Conferencein 1919, Belgium officially ended its longtime neutral status and became the first in line to receive reparations payments from Germany. However, Belgium received only a bit of German territory and was rejected in its demands for all of Luxembourg and part of the Netherlands. However, it was given colonial mandates over the German colonies of Rwanda and Burundi. Hymans was the leading spokesman for the small countries at Paris and became the president of the first assembly of the new League of Nations. He helped to form thecustoms unionof Belgium andLuxembourg(Belgium-Luxembourg Economic Union) in 1921 and played a leading part in negotiating theDawes Planin 1924. In 1928, he signed theKellogg-Briand Pactfor Belgium.[4]
AProtestantand afreemason,he was a member of the lodgeLes Amis Philanthropesof theGrand Orient of Belgiumin Brussels. He is interred in theIxelles CemeteryinBrussels.
Bibliography
[edit]- Paul Hymans,Pages liberales(E: Liberal Notes), 1936
Notes
[edit]- ^Gergely, Thomas (25 October 2019)."Salomon Louis Hymans et la Brabançonne".Institut D'etudes du Judaisme.Retrieved16 April2023.
- ^"Over Louis Hymans".www.bibliotheek.be.Archived fromthe originalon 16 April 2023.Retrieved16 April2023.
- ^Marks, Sally (2010).Paul Hymans: Belgium (2 The First Career).Haus Publishing. pp. 14–22.JSTORj.ctt1hrdn6q.5.
- ^Holger H. Herwig, and Neil M. Heyman, eds.Biographical Dictionary of World War I(Greenwood, 1982) p 192-93.
References
[edit]- Paul Hymans
- Helmreich, J.E., Paul Hymans and Henri Jaspar: Contrasting Diplomatic Styles for a small power, in: Studia Diplomatica, XXXIX, 1986, p. 669–682.
- Willequet, J., Les mémoires de Paul Hymans, in: Le Flambeau, 1958, nr. 9-10, p. 565–573.
External links
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