Ursula Hirschmann
Encyclopedia
Ursula Hirschmann was a German anti-fascist activist and an advocate of European federalism.
Ursula Hirschmann was born into a middle-class Jewish family of Berlin, where she studied economics at the university
together with her brother Otto Albert
, later a candidate for the Nobel Prize. In 1932, she joined the youth organization of the Social Democratic Party to participate in the resistance against the advance of the Nazis.
In the summer of 1933 Ursula and her brother moved to Paris where they met Eugenio Colorni, a young Italian philosopher and Socialist, whom they had already known in Berlin. She continued to Trieste, the home town of Colorni, where she got married to him in 1935. They had three daughters: Silvia, Renata and Eva (who in 1973 married the Indian economist Amartya Sen
). The couple became engaged in the clandestine anti-fascist opposition. In 1939 Eugenio was arrested and sent to confinement on the island of Ventotene
. Ursula followed her husband there, but as she was not herself held in confinement, she could travel back to the mainland.
Among the other prisoners and friends of Eugenio Colorni on Ventotene were Ernesto Rossi
and Altiero Spinelli
, who in 1941 co-authored the famous Ventotene Manifesto
"for a free and united Europe", i.e. an early sketch of a postwar democratic European Union. Ursula managed to bring the text of the manifesto to the mainland and took part in its dissemination. On 27 and 28 August, 1943, she participated in the foundation of the European Federalist Movement in Milan.
Having escaped from Ventotene in 1943, Ursula Hirschmann's husband Eugenio Colorni was murdered by fascists in Rome in May 1944. Thereafter, Altiero Spinelli became Ursula's second husband. The couple went to Switzerland, and from there to Rome, where they settled after the war. They had three daughters: Diana, Barbara and Sara.
In 1975 Ursula Hirschmann founded the Association Femmes pour l'Europe in Brussels, then in the first days of December of that year, was hit by a cerebral hemorrhage, followed by aphasia
, from which she was never to recover completely.
Ursula Hirschmann was born into a middle-class Jewish family of Berlin, where she studied economics at the university
Humboldt University of Berlin
The Humboldt University of Berlin is Berlin's oldest university, founded in 1810 as the University of Berlin by the liberal Prussian educational reformer and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt, whose university model has strongly influenced other European and Western universities...
together with her brother Otto Albert
Albert O. Hirschman
Albert Otto Hirschman is an influential economist who has authored several books on political economy and political ideology. His first major contribution was in the area of development economics. Here he emphasized the need for unbalanced growth...
, later a candidate for the Nobel Prize. In 1932, she joined the youth organization of the Social Democratic Party to participate in the resistance against the advance of the Nazis.
In the summer of 1933 Ursula and her brother moved to Paris where they met Eugenio Colorni, a young Italian philosopher and Socialist, whom they had already known in Berlin. She continued to Trieste, the home town of Colorni, where she got married to him in 1935. They had three daughters: Silvia, Renata and Eva (who in 1973 married the Indian economist Amartya Sen
Amartya Sen
Amartya Sen, CH is an Indian economist who was awarded the 1998 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for his contributions to welfare economics and social choice theory, and for his interest in the problems of society's poorest members...
). The couple became engaged in the clandestine anti-fascist opposition. In 1939 Eugenio was arrested and sent to confinement on the island of Ventotene
Ventotene
Ventotene, in Roman times known as Pandataria or Pandateria from the Greek Pandoteira, is one of the Pontine Islands in the Tyrrhenian Sea, off the coast of Gaeta right at the border between Lazio and Campania, Italy...
. Ursula followed her husband there, but as she was not herself held in confinement, she could travel back to the mainland.
Among the other prisoners and friends of Eugenio Colorni on Ventotene were Ernesto Rossi
Ernesto Rossi
Ernesto Rossi was an Italian politician, journalist and anti-fascist activist. His ideas contributed to the Partito d'Azione, and subsequently the Partito Radicaleco-authur of the Ventotene Manifesto. Rossi was born in Caserta....
and Altiero Spinelli
Altiero Spinelli
Altiero Spinelli was an Italian political theorist and a European federalist. Spinelli is referred to as one of the "Founding Fathers of the European Union" due to his co-authorship of the Ventotene Manifesto, his founding role in the European federalist movement, his strong influence on the first...
, who in 1941 co-authored the famous Ventotene Manifesto
Ventotene Manifesto
The Ventotene Manifesto is a political statement written by Altiero Spinelli and by Ernesto Rossi while they were prisoners on the Italian island of Ventotene during World War II. Completed in June 1941, the Manifesto was circulated within the Italian Resistance, and it soon became the programme...
"for a free and united Europe", i.e. an early sketch of a postwar democratic European Union. Ursula managed to bring the text of the manifesto to the mainland and took part in its dissemination. On 27 and 28 August, 1943, she participated in the foundation of the European Federalist Movement in Milan.
Having escaped from Ventotene in 1943, Ursula Hirschmann's husband Eugenio Colorni was murdered by fascists in Rome in May 1944. Thereafter, Altiero Spinelli became Ursula's second husband. The couple went to Switzerland, and from there to Rome, where they settled after the war. They had three daughters: Diana, Barbara and Sara.
In 1975 Ursula Hirschmann founded the Association Femmes pour l'Europe in Brussels, then in the first days of December of that year, was hit by a cerebral hemorrhage, followed by aphasia
Aphasia
Aphasia is an impairment of language ability. This class of language disorder ranges from having difficulty remembering words to being completely unable to speak, read, or write....
, from which she was never to recover completely.