The Diplomat

The diplomatic activities that the socialist will spread out during the First World War and after correspond to his image : multiple. Unofficially sent in Italy to defend Belgium, the deputy who owns more than one quality, is famous, above all, for his oratory art. From Italy, Jules Destrée goes, this time officially, to Russia and the Far-East. If his mission is vain, he stays, nevertheless, an important witness of the October Revolution (1917). At the end of the First World War, the socialist becomes Minister of Sciences and Art. His function gives him the opportunity to be the ambassador of culture and to innovate in the field of reconstruction of works of art.
From 1924 to his death in 1936, he is delegate to the International Commission of the Intellectual Cooperation of the League of Nations. He becomes then a peace messenger being the champion of European internationalism.
(G.Duchenne, Catalogue of the Jules Destrée Museum, p.175)