Hitler's Cosmopolitan Bastard

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In the aftermath of the First World War, Count Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi founded the Pan-European Union, envisioning a peaceful, democratic Europe without borders, featuring a common currency and a single passport. His political congresses in Vienna, Berlin, and Basel drew thousands from the cultural elite, including figures like Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud, all advocating for a United States of Europe. This cooperative ideal provoked the ire of Hitler, who derisively labeled him a "cosmopolitan bastard" in Mein Kampf, while communists, nationalists, and populists also opposed his mission. Following the Nazi annexation of Austria, Coudenhove-Kalergi and his wife, actress Ida Roland, narrowly escaped the Gestapo and fled to the United States, where he influenced postwar European policy. His prominence inspired the character Victor Laszlo in Casablanca. A skilled networker, he advised Winston Churchill prior to his 1946 speech on Europe and was a friend to both Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and President Charles de Gaulle. Invited to the 1961 High Mass in Rheims Cathedral, he celebrated Franco-German reconciliation. A visionary thinker, Coudenhove-Kalergi sought a United States of Europe to address the challenges posed by communist Russia and capitalist America, launching his initiative thirty years before the European Coal and Steel Community. This biography by Martyn Bond invites readers to explore his remarkable life and