23 Facts About Robert Schuman

1.

Jean-Baptiste Nicolas Robert Schuman was a Luxembourg-born French statesman.

2.

In 2021, Robert Schuman was declared venerable by Pope Francis in recognition of his acting on Christian principles.

3.

Robert Schuman was born in June 1886 in Clausen, Luxembourg, inheriting his father's German citizenship.

4.

In 1912, Robert Schuman set up practice as a lawyer in Metz.

5.

Robert Schuman made a major contribution to the drafting and the parliamentary passage of the reintroduction of the French Civil and Commercial Codes by the French parliament, when the Alsace-Lorraine region, then under German rule and thus German law, returned to France.

6.

Robert Schuman investigated and patiently uncovered postwar corruption in the Lorraine steel industries and in the Alsace and the Lorraine railways, which were bought for a derisory price by the powerful and influential de Wendel family in what he called in the Parliament "a pillage".

7.

In 1940, because of his expertise on Germany, Robert Schuman was called to become a member of Paul Reynaud's wartime government to be in charge of the refugees.

8.

Robert Schuman kept that position during the first Petain government.

9.

Robert Schuman was interrogated by the Gestapo but the intervention of a German lawyer stopped him from being sent to Dachau concentration camp.

10.

Robert Schuman initially had difficulties because of his 1940 vote for Petain and for being one of his ministers.

11.

Robert Schuman had been a former minister of Petain and a parliamentarian who had voted to grant him full powers and so, under the ordinance of 26 August 1944, he was considered ineligible for public office, stricken with indignite nationale.

12.

On 24 July 1945, Robert Schuman wrote to Charles de Gaulle to ask him to intervene.

13.

Robert Schuman was Minister of Finance in 1946 and Prime Minister from 1947 to 1948.

14.

Robert Schuman assured parliamentary stability during a period of revolutionary strikes and attempted insurrection.

15.

Robert Schuman announced a coming supranational union for Europe that saw light as the European Coal and Steel Community and other such Communities within a union framework of common law and democracy:.

16.

The Robert Schuman Declaration was made on 9 May 1950 and since then, 9 May is designated to be Europe Day.

17.

Robert Schuman later served as Minister of Justice before becoming the first President of the European Parliamentary Assembly, which bestowed on him by acclamation the title 'Father of Europe'.

18.

Robert Schuman is considered one of the founding fathers of the European Union.

19.

Robert Schuman presided over the European Movement from 1955 to 1961.

20.

Robert Schuman commended the writings of Pope Pius XII, who condemned both fascism and communism.

21.

Robert Schuman was an expert in medieval philosophy, especially the writings of Thomas Aquinas, and he thought highly of the philosopher Jacques Maritain, a contemporary.

22.

Robert Schuman was proclaimed a Servant of God in May 2004, with the conclusion of the diocesan process.

23.

In 1952 Robert Schuman was awarded with an honorary doctorate in the Netherlands, at the Katholieke Economische Hogeschool Tilburg, at present Tilburg University.