Rafael Gutiérrez Girardot

Rafael Gutiérrez Girardot (5 May 1928 in Sogamoso, Colombia – 26 May 2005 in Bonn, Germany) was an expatriate Colombian philosopher, professor, translator and publisher.

Career

Rafael Guitérrez Giardot's father, a Conservative politician, was assassinated when Rafael was still a boy, prompting him to find solace and meaning through his studies. In 1947, Rafael attended classes at the recently created Institute of Philosophy at the National University of Colombia. Many of his early essays from this time appeared in the literary section of the conservative daily El Siglo, and he participated in the formation of a short-lived rightist political movement called "Revolución Nacional".

In 1950, disturbed by La Violencia and frustrated by what he felt was the poor quality of education in Colombia, Rafael left to study philosophy in Europe. His student work attracted the attention of Martin Heidegger, who personally invited him to come to Germany in 1953. He enrolled at the University of Freiburg, where he took his doctorate and met his wife, Marliese.

In 1956, through his friend Eduardo Cote Lamus, who was the Consul in Frankfurt, Rafael obtained a position as translator for the Colombian embassy in Bonn. He was later promoted to Cultural Attaché. In 1959, Rafael and Francisco Pérez González founded the publishing house "Taurus", which presented many German authors in Spanish translation for the first time.