Eugen Kogon (1903–1987) was a German publicist, sociologist, and political scientist, widely regarded as one of the intellectual founding figures of the Federal Republic of Germany and a strong advocate of European integration. Born in Munich to a Jewish-Russian diplomat, he was raised largely in Catholic institutions and later studied economics and sociology in Munich, Florence, and Vienna, earning his doctorate in 1927.

A committed Christian and outspoken opponent of National Socialism, Kogon was repeatedly arrested by the Gestapo and in 1939 deported to the Buchenwald concentration camp, where he was imprisoned for six years. After surviving the camp, he published his landmark study Der SS-Staat (1946), one of the earliest and most influential analyses of the Nazi concentration camp system.

After the war, Kogon became an influential voice in West German political and intellectual life. He contributed to the founding ideas of the CDU in Hesse, co-founded the journal Frankfurter Hefte, and advocated Christian-socialist principles, European federalism, and reconciliation with Eastern Europe. From 1951 to 1968, he served as professor of political science at the Technical University of Darmstadt and remained an important public commentator throughout his life.