Vita Nova
Vita Nova (meaning New Life in Latin) was a Swiss publishing house in Lucerne, Switzerland, that was established in January 1934 and co-founded by Rudolf Roessler along with the Catholic bookseller Josef Stocker and the financier Henriette Racine.[1] It was run by the journalist and theater critic Rudolf Roessler.
Beginnings[edit]
Stocker had been encouraged to help co-found the publishing firm by the Jesuit theologian Otto Karrer.[2]
Books published[edit]
Vita Nova was an anti-Nazi publishing house[3] that primarily published German writers living in exile.[4] It published some fifty brochures and books critical of both Nazism and Stalinism; writers often based their arguments on Christian values.[2] In 1935, the publishing house published Die Gefährdung des Christentums durch Rassenwahn und Judenverfolgung (The Endangerment of Christianity through Racial Theories and the Persecution of the Jews), in which recognized Catholic and Protestant leaders comment on the connections between National Socialist racial doctrine and anti-Semitism. Among the personalities who contributed essays were the Anglican cleric William Ralph Inge (London), the Czech philosopher Emanuel Rádl (Prague), Johann Alois Scheiwiler (Bishop of St. Gallen), and the Norwegian novelist Sigrid Undset.[5] Nicolas Berdyaev published a German translation of The Worth of Christianity and the Unworthiness of Christians with Vita Nova in 1936.[6] The small firm also published books that were critical of Francoist Spain.[2]
References[edit]
- ^ Max Huber (2003), "Rudolf Rößler", Neue Deutsche Biographie (in German), vol. 21, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 751–752; (full text online)
- ^ a b c Conzemius, Victor (January 1989). "Otto Karrer (1888-1976): Theological Forerunner of "Aggiornamento"". The Catholic Historical Review. 75 (1). Catholic University of America Pre: 55–72.
- ^ Wachtel, Michael; Shrayer. "In Battle for the German Mind: Evsei Shor, Rudolf Roeßler, and the Vita-Nova Publishing House". The Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies. Harvard University. Retrieved 16 March 2022.
- ^ Killy, Walther; Vierhaus, Rudolf (30 November 2011). Plett - Schmidseder. Walter de Gruyter. p. 389. ISBN 978-3-11-096630-5. Retrieved 24 December 2020.
- ^ Balthazar, Desider (May 17, 1935). "Book review". Jüdische Presszentrale Zürich und jüdisches Familienblatt für die Schweiz. 18: 1.
- ^ Vallon, Michel Alexander (1960). An apostle of freedom: life and teachings of Nicolas Berdyaev. New York Philosophical Library. p. 347.