Background
Denis de Rougemont (born Denys Louis de Rougemon) was born on September 8, 1906 in Neuchatel, Switzerland. Son of Georges and Alice-Sophie (Bovet) de Rougemont.
Denis de Rougemont (born Denys Louis de Rougemon) was born on September 8, 1906 in Neuchatel, Switzerland. Son of Georges and Alice-Sophie (Bovet) de Rougemont.
Denis de Rougemont attended the University of Neuchatel, University of Vienna, and University of Geneva, studied there literary and philosophical studies in 1929.
Denis de Rougemont moved to Paris in 1930. There he worked as an author, editor and publisher of reviews. De Rougemont was active in creation movement in 1932-1985. He was a lecturer at French literature University in Frankfurt, Germany in 1935-1936. 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. He was active in creation European federalists movement between 1946 and 1950. He founded in Geneva the "Centre Européen de la Culture" in 1950 and in 1963 the "Institut Universitaire d'Etudes Européennes" (IUEE, "Graduate Institute of European Studies", attached to the University of Geneva). He was a professor of the Institute untill 1985. He was president of the Paris-based Congrès pour la Liberté de la Culture from 1951 till 1966. He died after a long illness on December 6, 1985 in Geneva, Switzerland.
One of the non-conformists of the 1930s, he addressed the perils of totalitarianism from a Christian point of view. After the Second World War, he promoted European federalism.
Denis de Rougemont was a member of Congress for Cultural Freedom (chair, executive committee in 1951-1966); Round Table Council of Europe (chairman in 1953, 1955); European Association of Music Festivals (chairman in 1951-1985); Academy of Moral Science and Politics (Paris; corresponding member); Academy of Athens.
Denis's second wife was Anabite Repond. They married on February 2, 1952. Denis had children from the first marriage: Nicholas, Martine.