Richard von Coudenhove-Kalergi

Richard von Coudenhove-Kalergi was an Austrian-Japanese politician, philosopher, and count of Coudenhove-Kalergi. He was born in Tokyo, Japan, to an Austro-Hungarian diplomat father and a Japanese mother. He grew up in Japan, Austria, and Bohemia, and studied philosophy, history, and politics at the University of Vienna. He served in the Austro-Hungarian army during World War I, and became a Czechoslovak citizen after the dissolution of the empire. He was a proponent of European integration and federalism, and founded the Paneuropean Union in 1923, which aimed to unite the states of Europe under a common political and economic framework. He published his first book, Pan-Europa, in 1923, which contained a membership form for the Paneuropean movement. He also wrote the Paneuropean Manifesto in 1926, which outlined his vision of a united Europe. He organized several Paneuropean congresses, which were attended by prominent intellectuals, politicians, and artists, such as Albert Einstein, Thomas Mann, and Sigmund Freud. He advocated for human rights, democracy, pacifism, and cosmopolitanism, and opposed nationalism, racism, and totalitarianism. He was influenced by the ideas of Kant, Nietzsche, and Spengler, and developed his own philosophy of history, which he called "practical idealism". He believed that the man of the future would be of mixed race, and that the diversity of peoples would be replaced by the diversity of individuals. He also proposed Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" as the music for the European Anthem, and suggested a Europe Day, a European postage stamp, and other symbols of European identity. He was the first recipient of the Charlemagne Prize in 1950, which is awarded to individuals who have contributed to the European unification. He died of a stroke in 1972 in Schruns, Austria, and was buried there. He is regarded as one of the pioneers and visionaries of the European integration.