Heinrich Johann Maria von Coudenhove-Kalergi (12 October 1859 – 14 May 1906), also known as Heinrich Coudenhove-Kalergi (styled as Count of Coudenhove until 1903 and Count of Coudenhove-Kalergi thereafter), was an

Austro-Hungarian Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

diplomat and writer who was a member of the

Coudenhove-Kalergi The Coudenhove-Kalergi family is a Bohemian noble family of mixed Flemish and Cretan Greek descent, which was formed after Count Franz Karl von Coudenhove (1825–1893) married Marie Kalergi (1840–1877). The Coudenhoves were counts of the H ...

family. He was born in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

and died in Ronsberg, Western Bohemia (today

Poběžovice Poběžovice (formerly Ronšperk, german: Ronsperg) is a town in Domažlice District in the Plzeň Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 1,500 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monumen ...

in the Czech Republic). He spoke 18 languages (including Turkish, Arabic, Hebrew and Japanese), and his diplomatic postings included

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

and

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

. He was made Deputy Minister of Austria-Hungary to

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, where he remained for 4 years, studying

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

and marrying a young Japanese woman from a samurai family,

Mitsuko Aoyama Mitsuko Thekla Maria, Countess of Coudenhove-Kalergi (german: Mitsuko Thekla Maria Gräfin von Coudenhove-Kalergi; 7 July 1874 27 August 1941), formerly known as , was one of the first Japanese people to immigrate to Europe, after becoming the wi ...

. They had seven children, including

Richard von Coudenhove-Kalergi Richard Nikolaus Eijiro, Count of Coudenhove-Kalergi (16 November 1894 – 27 July 1972) was an Austrian-Japanese politician, philosopher and Count of Coudenhove-Kalergi. A pioneer of European integration, he served as the founding president of ...

, best known for his role in establishing the Pan-European Movement.

Views on race and religion

In his youth, Heinrich Coudenhove-Kalergi had been an

antisemite Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

. He had expected to confirm his antipathy towards the Jews when he started work on his treatise, ''Das Wesen des Antisemitismus'' (The Essence of Antisemitism). But he came to a different conclusion by the time he published his book in 1901. Following an

ironic Irony (), in its broadest sense, is the juxtaposition of what on the surface appears to be the case and what is actually the case or to be expected; it is an important rhetorical device and literary technique. Irony can be categorized into ...

critique of the new racial theories, he declared that the essence of antisemitism amounted to nothing more credible than fanatical religious hatred. He traced that fanaticism to religious bigotry that originated in the promulgation of

Torah The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the s ...

under

Ezra Ezra (; he, עֶזְרָא, '; fl. 480–440 BCE), also called Ezra the Scribe (, ') and Ezra the Priest in the Book of Ezra, was a Jewish scribe (''sofer'') and priest (''kohen''). In Greco-Latin Ezra is called Esdras ( grc-gre, Ἔσδρας ...

. According to Coudenhove-Kalergi, Jewish religious bigotry provoked opposition from the relatively tolerant Greco-Roman

polytheists Polytheism is the belief in multiple deities, which are usually assembled into a pantheon of gods and goddesses, along with their own religious sects and rituals. Polytheism is a type of theism. Within theism, it contrasts with monotheism, the b ...

, eliciting their anti-Judaic reaction. Antisemitism came into existence when

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

and

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

took over the intolerant fanaticism of Judaism, and turned it against the Jews. Thus, Heinrich Coudenhove-Kalergi credited the Jews with originating religious intolerance, and condemned it as a violation of genuine religious principles. He branded every sort of anti-Judaism unchristian. He further urged liberal Christians and Jews to ally in protecting both of their religions, and religion as such, against the emerging menace of

secularism Secularism is the principle of seeking to conduct human affairs based on Secularity, secular, Naturalism (philosophy), naturalistic considerations. Secularism is most commonly defined as the Separation of church and state, separation of relig ...

. In spite of his opposition to simplistic racial theory, Coudenhove-Kalergi agreed that Jews are racially distinct. Although he pointed out that there is no Semitic race, because Semitic is a language family; he equivocated by also remarking that the charges that Semites were uncreative were belied by civilizations formed by the Assyrians and

Babylonians Babylonia (; Akkadian: , ''māt Akkadī'') was an ancient Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and parts of Syria). It emerged as an Amorite-ruled state c. ...

, who spoke

Semitic languages The Semitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken by more than 330 million people across much of West Asia, the Horn of Africa, and latterly North Africa, Malta, West Africa, Chad, and in large immigra ...

. He further sought to defend the Jews against bigoted charges of parasitic greed and cowardice with anecdotal counterexamples of Jewish industriousness and martial courage.

References

External links

Sotheby's Auction details
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Coudenhove-Kalergi 19th-century Austrian people Austro-Hungarian people Diplomats from Vienna Austrian expatriates in Greece Austrian expatriates in Brazil Austrian expatriates in Turkey Austrian expatriates in Japan Counts of Austria 1859 births 1906 deaths

Heinrich Heinrich may refer to: People * Heinrich (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) * Heinrich (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) *Hetty (given name), a given name (including a list of peo ...

Nobility from Vienna Writers on antisemitism