What is the European Union and why was it created?

The story begins with the European continent, which was named after Europa, a princess from Greek mythology. According to legend, Zeus, the god of sky and thunder, fell in love with her, kidnapped her and took her to Crete to live with him. It includes 47 countries and has more than 700 million inhabitants. The European continent is characterized by intense diversity not only geographically, but also culturally. A short video from National Geographic will take us on a 3-minute journey through this wonderful continent. However, we sometimes confuse the European continent with the European Union. Let’s see the difference. Those of us who live in 27 of these European countries have one basic common characteristic: we are all part of the European Union. In addition to being citizens or residents of our country, we are also citizens or residents of the European Union. We may have different cultures and different traditions, but at the same time we also have common goals and common values.

That is why the motto of the European Union is: “United in diversity”.

But it was not always like this… World War II leaves behind a Europe that bleeds and is bleeding. The human losses are spectacularly more than any other war. Of the 50,000,000 dead and missing, 35,000,000 are Europeans; four times more than those lost in World War I! The number of civilian victims is enormous. The Soviet Union alone loses over 20,000,000 people, that is, 10% of its population!, of whom almost 60% are civilians. Some 30,000,000 people are forced to flee their homes for fear of the arrival of foreign troops. These populations form a vast, scattered human mass without any means of livelihood. Europe is reduced to a heap of ruins. In the Soviet Union, 6,000,000 houses are destroyed, in Poland 80% of the industry, in France almost all ports and a large part of the transport and railway network are seriously damaged, in Greece about 160,000 buildings are burned and 1,700 villages are set on fire. Cities are leveled. The total industrial production of Europe reaches only 50% of the pre-war level. Greece loses almost 75% of its commercial shipping. The standard of living collapses. Germany and Austria are plagued by hunger, the black market and the risk of epidemics. The moral toll of the conflict is tragic. The belligerents massively bombed not only military targets but also large cities, with the aim of breaking the morale of civilians and forcing the enemy to capitulate. The war is accompanied by unheard-of atrocities, extermination camps, gas chambers, the horrific experiments of the Nazi “doctors of death” on prisoners, mass executions of civilians in retaliation, the genocide of the Jews, horrific torture of prisoners, rape, looting, which were carried out by all sides and will forever be symbols of the ultimate crime against humanity. But, before concluding today’s unit, let us think for a moment about the suffering of war through the eyes of one of the greatest painters of all time.