"Repetition does not transform a lie into a truth"
Franklin D. Roosevelt
The ‘Kalergi Plan’ is a baseless anti-foreigner and antisemitic conspiracy theory that has gained traction among far right extremists and anti-immigration groups. It falsely claims that there is a deliberate, coordinated effort to replace the European population with non-European migrants through policies designed to encourage immigration and miscegenation. It stems from the idea of an international Jewish plot and is made up of a mishmash of distorted quotes taken out of context.
The idea is rooted in xenophobia and Jew hatred and based on the misrepresentation of the work of Richard von Coudenhove-Kalergi, an Austrian-Japanese politician who promoted European unity during the early 20th century.
Richard von Coudenhove-Kalergi was a visionary politician who proposed a united Europe in the 1920s, long before the European Union took form. His plan, outlined in his book Pan-Europa, called for a peaceful federation of European states to foster cooperation, prevent further wars, and counter the rise of nationalism. Kalergi believed that a united Europe was essential to protect its values and culture from global threats, such as the growing power of the United States and the Soviet Union.
While his work envisioned a Europe that would absorb other cultures, he never advocated for racial or cultural "replacement" as the conspiracy theory suggests. The Kalergi conspiracy theory first gained traction among far right and neo-Nazi circles, where it was used to exploit fears about demographic changes and immigration. It claims that Kalergi plotted the "ethnocide" of Europeans, orchestrating a global agenda to flood Europe with non-white migrants in an effort to erase European identity.
This gross misreading of Kalergi's intentions is built on distortions and the selective use of quotes, often taken out of context.
The Kalergi conspiracy theory's roots in Nazi-era antisemitism are undeniable. The Nazis themselves spread lies about Kalergi, calling him a "mongrel" and accusing him of plotting a world order controlled by Jews. These unfounded accusations have resurfaced in contemporary far-right rhetoric, where they have been adopted by Holocaust deniers and white nationalists.
The myth of the Kalergi Plan was popularized by the Austrian Holocaust denier and neo-Nazi Gerd Honsik.
In 2005, Honsik published a book entitled Kalergi Plan (2005) which pushed the false narrative that Kalergi had a hidden agenda to replace Europe's white population through mass immigration. This conspiracy myth was subsequently relayed by the former British MEP, leader of the British National Party (extreme right), Nick Griffin.
In an intervention in the European Parliament (he was a member from 2009 to 2014), Griffin said:
‘When the godfather of the European Union, Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi, published the plan for a united Europe and the ethnocide of the peoples of Europe, the encouragement of mass non-whiteimmigration was central to the plot. Since then, an unholy alliance of leftists, capitalists and Zionist supremacists have schemed to promote immigration and miscegenation with the deliberate aim of breeding us out of existence in our own homelands. As indigenous resistance to this human genetic modification industry grows, the criminal elite seeks new ways to camouflage their project. First, their immigrant pawns were temporary guest workers; then, it was a multiracial experiment; then, there were refugees, then the answer to a shrinking population. Different excuses, different lies - and asylum is just another one. But the real aim stays the same: the greatest genocide in human history, the ‘Final Solution’ of the Christian European problem. This crime demands a new set of Nuremberg trials, and you people will be in the dock.’
This distorted narrative is also supported by figures such as the French convicted Holocaust denier Alain Soral and Italian conspiracy theorist Piero San Giorgio, who claim that an elite coalition of leftists, capitalists, and Zionists is behind a plot to undermine European identity through migration policies.
In these circles, the Kalergi Plan is often presented as evidence of a grand, shadowy Jewish agenda to destroy European civilization from within.
In August 2024, Donald Trump, then campaigning for a second presidential term, shared material spreading disinformation about the so-called stolen election of 2020 (which he lost and Joe Biden won) from a social media account known for spreading the Kalergi Plan conspiracy.
The same month the account in question had echoed the Kalergi conspiracy and wrote : “The Kalergi Plan has been in action for decades to replace Whites in our countries. Mass deportations must happen to stop and reverse the evil jew scheme.”
The Kalergi Plan theory has been thoroughly exposed as false by historians, scholars, and the European Commission. There is no evidence to suggest that Kalergi ever proposed or supported the idea of replacing Europe’s population through immigration or racial mixing. His views on race were more complex, and although he believed that Europe would naturally absorb other cultures as globalization progressed, he never advocated for any policy of racial or cultural replacement.
Martyn Bond, Kalergi’s biographer, explains that Kalergi’s writings were observational rather than prescriptive. He described the mixing of races as a consequence of globalization, not a deliberate strategy. Bond emphasizes that Kalergi’s vision for Europe was one of unity and strength, with the goal of preventing another catastrophic war in the wake of World War I.
Kalergi himself was committed to a European identity but saw that identity as capable of absorbing influences from other cultures, rather than being replaced by them...
(Last updated on 01/21/2025)
