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 Rudolf Roessler, one of the most enigmatic characters in the history of espionage. Stocker had been encouraged to help co-found the publishing firm by Jesuit and Roman Catholic priest and theological philosopher Otto Karrer.[2] Vita Nova was an anti-Nazi publishing house[3] that primarily published German writers in exile.[4] Vita Nova published some fifty brochures and books that attacked both Nazism and Stalinism, contrasting them with the Christian values of the older Germany and Russia.[2] The small firm also published books that were critical of Francoist Spain.[2] Indeed, the firm provided the only real publishing house for exiled Christian, Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox writer and playwrights to publish their work.[2]

References

  1. ^ Max Huber (2003), "Rudolf Rößler", Neue Deutsche Biographie (in German), vol. 21, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 751–752; (full text online)
  2. ^ a b c d Conzemius, Victor (January 1989). "Otto Karrer (1888-1976): Theological Forerunner of "Aggiornamento"". The Catholic Historical Review. Catholic University of America Pre. 75 (1): 55–72.
  3. ^ 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.
  4. ^ Killy, Walther; Vierhaus, Rudolf (30 November 2011). Plett - Schmidseder. Walter de Gruyter. p. 389. ISBN 978-3-11-096630-5. Retrieved 24 December 2020.
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