Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi,
the son of a Austro-Hungarian count and diplomat, and a Japanese mother,
was born in 1894.
After the First
World War Coudenhove-Kalergi set out a fight for the unity of
Europe. His first book - in fact a manifesto - titled
Pan-Europa was published in 1923, and each copy contained
a membership form which invited the reader to become a member of Pan-Europa
movement. Thus, Coudenhove-Kalergi is the founder of the first grassroots
movement for the European unity. The movement held its first Congress
in Vienna in 1926. The following year Aristide
Briand was elected honorary president. Major personalities of
European culture, as Albert Einstein, Thomas Mann, Sigmund Freud,
Rilke, Unamuno, Madariaga, Ortega y Gasset and Adenauer, belonged
to Pan- Europa
The French statesman Edouard
Herriot writes in his book "The United States of Europe":
"A large body
among the leading spirits of Europe's youth devotes itself today to
the achievement of the lofty teachings of Kant. At the head of this
intellectual group it is only fair to put Count Richard N. Coudenhove-Kalergi,
the man who has certainly done most in recent years for European federation".
Juan Carlos Ocaña
History
of the European Union: Integration Process and European Citizenship
