Denis de Rougemont

Denys Louis de Rougemont (September 8, 1906 – December 6, 1985), known as Denis de Rougemont (French: [dəni də ʁuʒmɔ̃]), was a Swiss writer and cultural theorist who wrote in French.

There he wrote for and edited various publications, associating with the personalist groupings and the non-conformists of the 1930s: with Emmanuel Mounier and Arnaud Dandieu, he founded the magazines Esprit and L'Ordre Nouveau, and he also co-founded a magazine, with Roland de Pury, on existential theology, Hic et Nunc.

[1] In June 1940, fearing that defeatism and the pressure of Nazi propaganda (and armies) would lead the federal government to submit to the Germans and give up the traditional democratic values of Switzerland, he led with Zurich University Professor Theophil Spoerri a group of young people which created a civil society organisation called the Gotthard League in order to defend both Christian values and the independence of Switzerland.

[2] Later in 1940, after having authored a sharp column in a Swiss newspaper which infuriated the German government, he was sent to the United States and administered French broadcasting for the Voice of America.

He likewise taught at the École Libre des Hautes Études in New York before returning to Europe in 1946.