Eugenio Colorni

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Eugenio Colorni (born April 22, 1909 in Milan , † May 30, 1944 in Rome ) was a philosopher and Italian politician. With Altiero Spinelli and Ernesto Rossi , he co-authored the Ventotene Manifesto in 1941 , an early document of European federalism .

family

Colorni came from an Italian family of Jewish origin. His father Albert was a Mantuan- born businessman. His mother Clara Pontecorvo came from Pisa . In his youth he was very influenced by socialists and Zionists . In 1926 he studied at the Faculty of Arts and Philosophy in Milan. In 1930 he approached a group of "Law and Freedom" in Milan. In 1931 he went on a study trip to Berlin . There he met the young Berlin Jewess Ursula Hirschmann , a sister of Albert O. Hirschman , whom he married in 1935 and with whom he had three daughters (Silvia, Renata and Eva ). From 1931 he began to write reports and articles in magazines a. a. to write for philosophy. Between 1932 and 1933 he worked at the Philipps University in Marburg , but returned to Italy after the rise of National Socialism . In 1933 he finished his work on the "Philosophy of Youth" by Leibniz and he won a competition for the teaching of history and philosophy. In 1934 he was appointed to a chair in philosophy and education at the "Institut Carducci Master of Trieste ".

politics

From 1935 onwards, Colorni intensified his political commitment, especially in the anti-fascist camp. From the arrests of the Turin group of “Law and Freedom” in May 1935, he had contact with the socialist in Milan. In April 1937, Colorni became one of the most important leaders after other arrests of his socialist comrades-in-arms. Under various pseudonyms he published important articles on social policy in 1936 and 1937 . On September 8, 1938, Colorni was discovered in Trieste as a Jew and an anti-fascist militant and arrested in October. First Colorni was in a Varese prison , after a few months he was sentenced to five years in prison.

Ventotene Manifesto

In addition to his philosophical works, Colorni considers his task to campaign for a federal parliament. From January 1939 to October 1941 he was imprisoned on the island of Ventotene , where he continued his own studies with philosophy and science. He discussed intensively with his like-minded friends Ernesto Rossi , Manlio Rossi Doria and Altiero Spinelli .

During this time he was able to grapple with his European-federalist ideas, which were primarily developed by Spinelli and Rossi and which were completed by 1941. Since Colorni was released from prison in October 1941, it was not until 1944 that the Ventotene Manifesto, secretly brought out by his wife, with a foreword by Colorni, could be published as a coherent whole manifesto. Before that, only sections that were somehow duplicated under the most difficult conditions were issued as flyers in Rome. On May 6, 1943, he fled to Rome, where he lived in hiding as a refugee.

Between August 27 and 28, 1943, Colorni took part in Milan at the meeting to found the Movimento Federalista Europeo (MFE) with Spinelli, who also organized the meeting. From September 8th Colorni had a very intense Resistance activity in Rome. On May 28, 1944, just a few days before the Allied liberation of Rome , Colorni was stopped by a patrol soldiers. He tried to escape but was caught up and seriously injured by three gunshots.

Eugenio Colorni died on May 30, 1944 under the false identity of Franco Tanzi . In 1946, the gold medal for military valor was named after him in his memory. His wife Ursula Hirschmann later married Altiero Spinelli . Colornis daughter Eva Colorni worked as an economist working with Amartya Sen married.

source

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Amartya Sen's autobiography on the homepage of the Nobel Prize Committee.
personal data
SURNAME Colorni, Eugenio
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian politician
DATE OF BIRTH April 22, 1909
PLACE OF BIRTH Milan
DATE OF DEATH May 30, 1944
Place of death Rome