CountWladimir Lefèvre d'Ormesson (2 August 1888 – 15 September 1973) was a French journalist, essayist, novelist and diplomat.
Biography
Wladimir d'Ormesson was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia, where his father, Count Olivier d'Ormesson, served as a diplomat. He was the uncle of Jean d'Ormesson, also a writer who, like himself, would be elected a member of the Académie Française.[1] Until the age of twenty, d'Ormesson spent the majority of his life travelling due to his father's diplomatic postings; during this time, he lived in Copenhagen, Athens and Brussels. He studied economy at the École libre des sciences politiques in 1905, but did not graduate; during this time he had already developed an interest in literature, and published a book of verse while a student.[2]
During World War I, d'Ormesson was mobilized into the French auxiliary service and later volunteered in the French Army. He was seriously wounded in Altkirch in 1916, and later served as an orderly officer under Marshal Hubert Lyautey in Morocco. He would describe his service under Marshal Lyautey in the memoir Auprès de Lyautey in 1963.[2]
After the war, d'Ormesson pursued a journalistic career. He wrote articles on foreign policy for La Revue hebdomadaire from 1922, which drew the attention of former PresidentRaymond Poincaré. On Poincaré's recommendation, he started working for the Swiss daily Le Temps in 1924. d'Ormesson also worked for Le Journal de Genève and La Revue des deux Mondes. From 1934 he served on the editorial board of Le Figaro, while continuing to write for numerous other newspapers. In 1938, he succeeded Georges Goyau as president of the Corporation of Christian Publicists (Corporation des publicistes chrétiens).[2]
d'Ormesson's career as a diplomat began in May 1940, when he was named French ambassador to the Holy See by Prime MinisterPaul Reynaud. He only served in this position for a few months, until he was recalled by the Vichy government of Marshal Philippe Pétain. On returning to France he settled in Lyon in the free zone, where the editorial of Le Figaro was now based, and once again took up work for the newspaper. When the free zone in southern France was occupied by Nazi Germany in November 1942, he was condemned to death in absentia by a court of the Milice; d'Ormesson spend the rest of World War II in hiding, and did not resurface in public life until after the liberation of France.[2]
After the liberation, d'Ormesson was named ambassador of France to Argentina by Prime Minister Charles de Gaulle in 1945; from 1946, he also represented France in Chile. In 1948 he was once again named ambassador to the Holy See, and would remain as such until 1956. In 1956 he was also elected a member of the Académie Française, replacing Paul Claudel on seat 13. From 1964, he was president of the Office de Radiodiffusion Télévision Française, the French national broadcasting agency.[3]
Aside from his journalistic and diplomatic career, d'Ormesson was also a prolific writer: he wrote many essays (Dans la nuit européenne, La Confiance de l'Allemagne) and some novels (La Préface d'une vie). He died at Ormesson Castle in Ormesson-sur-Marne, Val-de-Marne, where he is also buried.[3]
Bibliography
Les Jets d'eau, 1913
La Préface d'une vie, 1919
Nos illusions sur l'Europe centrale, 1922
"La Question de Tanger", Revue de Paris, 1922
Dans la nuit européenne, 1923
Les résultats de la politique de la Ruhr, 1924
Portraits d'hier et d'aujourd'hui, 1927
La Première Mission de la France aux États-Unis, 1928
La Confiance de l'Allemagne ?, 1929
Enfances diplomatique, souvenirs, 1931
La Grande Crise mondiale de 1857, 1932
La Révolution allemande, 1934
Qu'est-ce qu'un Français ?, 1935
Vue cavalière de l'Europe, 1936
L'Éternel Problème allemand, 1945
La Ville éternelle, 1956
Mission à Rome, 1957
La Ville et les Champs, 1958
La Papauté, 1958
Les vraies confidences, 1962
Auprès de Lyautey, 1963
Présence du Général de Gaulle, 1971
Les Propos, 1973
References
^Beaucarnot, Jean-Louis (5 December 2017). "La généalogie de Jean d'Ormesson". La Revue française de Généalogie (in French). Retrieved 3 February 2024.
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