Paul Henri Charles Spaak (25 January 1899 - 31 July 1972) was a Belgian Socialist politician and statesman.
He was born in Schaerbeek to Paul Spaak and Marie Janson. His mother - the daughter of Paul Janson and sister to Paul-Émile Janson, both Liberal politicians - was the country's first female Senator.
During World War I, Spaak lied about his age to be accepted in the Army; he subsequently spent two years as a German prisoner of war.
Spaak stu...
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Paul Henri Charles Spaak (25 January 1899 - 31 July 1972) was a Belgian Socialist politician and statesman.
He was born in Schaerbeek to Paul Spaak and Marie Janson. His mother - the daughter of Paul Janson and sister to Paul-Émile Janson, both Liberal politicians - was the country's first female Senator.
During World War I, Spaak lied about his age to be accepted in the Army; he subsequently spent two years as a German prisoner of war.
Spaak studied law at the Free University of Brussels (now split into the Université Libre de Bruxelles and the Vrije Universiteit Brussel).
He became a member of the Socialist Belgian Labour Party in 1920. He was elected deputy in 1932.
In 1935 he entered the cabinet of Paul Van Zeeland as Minister of Transport. In February 1936 he became Minister of Foreign Affairs, serving first under Zeeland and then under his uncle, Paul-Émile Janson. From May 1938 to February 1939 he was Prime Minister for the first time.
He was Foreign Minister again from...
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