Career
Although born in Neuwaldegg (today part of Vienna) and raised in Vienna, he lived there till the annexation to Nazi Germany in 1938. Max Nettlau retained his Prussian (later German) nationality throughout his life. While in London he met anarchists such as Errico Malatesta and Peter Kropotkin whom he remained in contact with for the rest of his life.
He also helped to found Freedom Press for whom he wrote for many years.
He also made many interviews of veteran militants for posterity. He wrote biographies of many famous anarchists, including Mikhail Bakunin, Élisée Reclus, and Errico Malatesta.
His extensive collection or archives was sold to the International Institute of Social History in Amsterdam in 1935. He lived continuously in Amsterdam from 1938 where he worked on cataloging the archive for the Institute.
"The Nazis, apparently, were not aware of this fact", so he died there suddenly from stomach cancer in 1944, without ever being harassed.