Richard Nikolaus Graf Coudenhove-Kalergi
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Richard Nikolaus Graf Coudenhove-Kalergi (en: Count Richard Nikolaus von Coudenhove-Kalergi), (Tokyo, November 17, 1894 - Schruns, Vorarlberg, July 27, 1972) was an Austrian politician and geopolitician. He was the son of an Austro-Hungarian count and diplomat, and a Japanese mother (Mitsu Aoyama). He obtained his doctorate in philosophy from the University of Vienna and worked as journalist and editor of the journal "Paneuropa". He is recognised as the founder of the first popular movement for a united Europe. In 1923 he published a manifesto entitled Pan-Europa, each copy contained a membership form which invited the reader to become a member of the Pan-Europa movement.
Later he published his main work, "The fight for Paneuropa" (1925-1928) in three volumes. His ideas influenced Aristide Briand and his speech in the League of Nations on 8 September 1929. After the annexation of Austria by the Third Reich he fled to France in 1938, and subsequently to the United States in 1940. There he taught at the New York University until 1945, when he returned to France. In the U.S.A. he published his work "Crusade for Paneurope" in 1944. In France, after his return, he founded the European Parliamentary Union. At the Conference of this Union in 1947 (8-12 September) he argued that the constitution of a wide market with a stable currency is the vehicle for Europe to reconstruct its potential and take the place it deserves within the concert of Nations.
In 1950 he received the first annual Karlspreis Award (English: Charlemagne Award), given by the German city of Aachen to people who contributed to the European idea and European peace.
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[edit] Race and the Jews
Coudenhove-Kalergi held some controversial, less known, opinions about race mixing and the role of the Jews. In his book Praktischer Idealismus (Practical Idealism, Wien/Leipzig 1925, pages 20, 23, 50) he wrote:
"The man of the future will be of mixed race. Today's races and classes will gradually disappear owing to the vanishing of space, time, and prejudice. The Eurasian-Negroid race of the future, similar in its appearance to the Ancient Egyptians, will replace the diversity of peoples with a diversity of individuals."
"Instead of destroying European Jewry, Europe, against its own will, refined and educated this people into a future leader-nation through this artificial selection process. No wonder that this people, that escaped Ghetto-Prison, developed into a spiritual nobility of Europe. Therefore a gracious Providence provided Europe with a new race of nobility through spiritual grace. This happened at the moment when Europe’s feudal aristocracy became dilapidated, and thanks to Jewish emancipation."
[edit] Citation
- We are experiencing the most dangerous revolution in the world history: the revolution of the state against the man. We are experiencing the worst idolatry of all the time: the deification of the state. (Totaler Mensch - totaler Staat)
[edit] Works
- Praktischer Idealismus (1925)
- Kampf um Paneuropa (3 Volumes, 1925-28)
- Die Europäische Nation (1953)
- Weltmacht Europa (1971)
[edit] Notes
Note regarding personal names: Graf is a title, translated as Count, not a first or middle name. The female form is Gräfin.
