Hitler's Cosmopolitan Bastard: Count Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi and His Vision of Europe

452 Pages·2021·6.019 MB·English

by  Martyn Bond

HITLER’S
COSMOPOLITAN
BASTARD

H I T L E R ’ S
C O S M O P O L I T A N
B A S T A R D
Count Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi
and His Vision of Europe
M A R T Y N B O N D
MCGILL-QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY PRESS
Montreal & Kingston | London | Chicago
© Martyn Bond 2021
ISBN 978-0-2280-0545-2 (cloth)
ISBN 978-0-2280-0701-2 (ePDF)
ISBN 978-0-2280-0702-9 (ePDF)
Legal deposit first quarter 2021
Bibliothèque nationale du Québec
Printed in Canada on acid-free paper that is 100% ancient forest free
(100% post-consumer recycled), processed chlorine free
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Title: Hitler’s cosmopolitan bastard : Count Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi
and his vision of Europe / Martyn Bond.
Names: Bond, Martyn, author.
Description: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20200384228 | Canadiana (ebook) 20200384295 |
ISBN 9780228005452 (cloth) | ISBN 9780228007012 (ePDF) | ISBN 9780228007029
(ePUB)
Subjects: LCSH: Coudenhove-Kalergi, Richard Nicolaus, Graf von, 1894-1972. |
LCSH: Internationalists—Austria—Biography. | LCSH: European federation. |
LCSH: Europe—Politics and government—1918-1945. | LCSH: Europe—
History—1918-1945. | LCGFT: Biographies.
Classification: LCC D1075.C68 B66 2021 | DDC 320.54092—DC23
Set in 10.5/13 Adobe Caslon with Rama Gothic E and New Century Schoolbook
Book design and typesetting by Lara Minja, Lime Design
I dedicate this book to my wife, Dinah,
whose infinite patience and generous welcome
into our lives of my growing fascination with
the story of Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi
made this work possible.

CON TEN T S
Illustrations ix
Acknowledgements xiii
Hitler’s Cosmopolitan Bastard:
Why This Title? xvii
3
Introduction
1 10
European Father, Asian Mother
2 27
Siblings, School, Love, and Marriage
3 39
Thinking in Continents, Not Countries
4 56
Europe Answers His Question
5 70
Between Hitler and Mussolini
6 78
Pacifist and Freemason
7 90
Pan-Europa: Utopia or Reality?
8 100
Taking Europe to the Capitals
9 115
New Friends, New Enemies
10 126
European Patriots All
11 137
Triumph in France
12 149
Defeat in Germany
viii | Contents
13 167
Last Stand on the Old Continent
14 188
Escape from Europe
15 205
Bringing America Onside
16 228
The United States of Europe?
17 242
Pushing Parliaments towards Power
18 258
An Open Conspiracy
19 274
Behind Churchill
20 284
Bringing Germany in from the Cold
21 300
Money Matters
22 308
The British Dilemma
23 320
‘Mon cher ami, mon Président’
24 338
Europe’s Father, Europe’s Grandfather
25 352
Reaping Rewards in the Twilight Years
26 363
A Patron Saint for Europe
373
Postscript
The Coudenhove-Kalergi Family 377
Notes 381
Sources and Further Reading 415
Index 423
Illustrations
Frontispiece

ii
Count Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi. Courtesy of Marco Pons.
His parents, Mitsu in Japanese dress and Heinrich as a young diplomat.
13
Cantonal Archives of Vaud, Lausanne, File P.1000.
Sketch of Ronsperg Castle, his childhood home, remembered by Dicky
19
as ‘paradise’. Cantonal Archives of Vaud, Lausanne, File P.1000.
Mitsu with her three eldest sons – Hansi, Dicky, and Rolfi. Cantonal
30
Archives of Vaud, Lausanne, File P.1000.
Ida Roland as Catherine the Great, the role in which Dicky first saw her.
42
Cantonal Archives of Vaud, Lausanne, File P.1000.
Bertha von Suttner and Hermann Fried, leaders of the peace movement
47
in Austria and Germany. Wikimedia Commons.
Lloyd George, Orlando, Clemenceau, and Wilson, the Big Four at the
57
Paris Peace Conference. US Signal Corps, Wikimedia Commons.
Mussolini led the March on Rome in 1922; Hitler led the Beer Hall
73
Putsch in Munich in 1923. Wikimedia Commons.
RCK published Pan-Europa in 1923, listing the five Pan regions of the
92
world. Author’s collection.
RCK and Idel’s apartment in Heiligenkreuzerhof, Vienna, the Embassy
103
of Pan-Europa. Author’s collection.