112 - Visions of Europe in the Resistance

The fight against Fascism and Nazism during the Second World War gave rise to a strong "desire for Europe": a desire for a united, peaceful, democratic Europe. In many countries, there was a flowering of movements, actions, newspapers and constitutional projects in which the vision of the "United States of Europe" was an essential element, enriching the Resistance with a new, profound and lasting political and historical dimension. By interpreting the changes that the Second World War generated, the Europeanists and federalist forerunners of the times mentioned in this volume were able to identify, ahead of their time, the basis for the construction of the new united Europe and, with it, a new peaceful and democratic international order.