European federalism. Hirschmann andaturningpoint inherconversiontothecauseof moved toParis. Thiswas the beginning of alongexile for become aprominenteconomistandpoliticalscientistinlater life) sition groupsgainingpace,sheandherbrotherAlbert(whowould resistance groups.Ayearlater, withtheNazicrackdown onoppo radical turn,whichsawherbecomeinvolvedwithcommunist In 1932,theyoungJewisheconomicsstudent’s path took a more home cityofBerlin. both theSocialistandGermanSocialDemocraticParty inher political discovery and activism by attending events organisedby Born in1913,theyoungUrsulaHirschmannbeganherjourney of Early years l’Europe inBrussels. Spinelli, afterhisescapefromVentotene. In1975,Hirschmannfounded theAssociationFemmespour In August1943inMilan,shewasoneofthefounders oftheEuropeanFederalistMovement alongwith (1913‑1991) and founding Europeanfederalist Ursula Hirschmann:

© Historical Archives of the European Union and helpedtodisseminateit. created afterthewar. Hirschmannsmuggledthemanifesto tomainlandItaly The Manifesto wasablueprintfor ademocraticEuropeanUnionthatcouldbe united Europe’,widelyregardedasthestartingpointfor Europeanfederalism. Spinelli, who, in 1941, co-authored the Ventotene Manifesto ‘for a free and she When ColorniwasarrestedandimprisonedontheislandofVentotene, native Italy. Hirschmann became active in the clandestineanti-fascist opposition in Italian philosopher and socialist, while in exile in Paris during the mid advance oftheNazis.AftermeetingandthenmarryingEugenioColorni,a young joined theyouth organisationoftheSocialDemocraticParty inresistanceto the Born intoamiddle-classJewishfamilyinBerlin,1932UrsulaHirschmann followed her husband there. TheretheymetErnestoRossi and Altiero of theEU The FoundingF - Anti-fascist print for ademocratic federation ofEurope.The Manifesto called papers, theManifesto wasbothapoliticalstatementand ablue ifesto, ‘ This meetingofmindseventually ledtothe1941Ventotene Man At thebirthofEuropeanfederalism Ernesto Rossi. met otheranti-fascistintellectualssuchasAltieroSpinelli and from theauthoritiestofollow Colorni toVentotene, wherethey exile totheislandofVentotene. Hirschmanngainedpermission in Italy. However, thisradicalactivismledtoColorni’s arrest and The couple became heavily involved in the anti-fascist movement ing himbacktoItaly, HirschmannmarriedColorniin1935. philosopher andsocialistwhomtheyhadknown inBerlin.Follow While inParis, sheandAlbertmetEugenioColorni,ayoungItalian a t h e r s for afreeandunitedEurope’ . Written secretly oncigarette ‑1930s, his - - -

EN for a break with Europe’s past to form a new political system Hirschmann’s political commitment did not end after the Second through a restructuring of politics and extensive social reform. World War. In 1975, she founded the Association Femmes pour l’Europe (Women for Europe) in Brussels, a movement that After escaping from Ventotene, Ursula managed to bring the text brought together women from both feminist and political circles of the Manifesto to the mainland and helped to draft and dissem- and continues to promote gender equality. inate it. It was widely read by those fighting with the Italian resist- ance against the Nazis. Hirschmann arrived in Milan and, with Ursula Hirschmann had three daughters, Silvia, Renata, and Eva, Spinelli and other activists, founded the Movimento Federalista by her first husband Eugenio Colorni, and three daughters with Alt- Europeo, the European Movement, in 1943, as Allied iero Spinelli: Diana, Sara, and the Italian journalist and parliamen- forces pushed into Italy from the south. It was in Milan that the tarian Barbara Spinelli. In December 1975, Hirschmann suffered first meeting for the constitution of the federalist movement was a cerebral haemorrhage, from which she never fully recovered. held in August of that year, leading to the approval of the six cor- She died in 1991 aged 77. nerstones of federalist thought that were conceived in Ventotene.

Eugenio Colorni was murdered by fascists in Rome in 1944. Hirschmann married Altiero Spinelli the following year. They fled to Switzerland where they worked together to internationalise the European Federalist Movement, which led to Hirschmann’s involvement in organising the first international federalist con- gress in Paris in 1945. The couple eventually settled in Rome.

The Founding Fathers of the EU