Hugo Marti


Hugo Marti was a Swiss Germanist, writer and literary editor.

Life and work

Hugo Marti grew up in Basel, Liestal and Bern. Initially he studied law, but in 1914 switched to German studies. His studies were several times interrupted by periods spent in Norway and Romania where he supported himself by working as a home tutor. He eventually obtained his doctorate from the University of Bern in 1921 with a dissertation on the language used in the Swiss Civil Code.
His first job after this was on the iconic Pestalozzi-Kalender, a diary/agenda published annually for school children. In 1922 he was appointed to a Literary editorship with Der Bund, a daily national newspaper published in Bern. Here many of his more satirical contributions appeared under the pseudonym, "Bepp": Bepp's true identity became known only after the writer's death. As literary editor he was supportive of younger authors such as Friedrich Glauser and :de:Kurt Guggenheim|Kurt Guggenheim, and acted as a counter-weight to the famously conservative "Literature Pope", :de:Otto von Greyerz|Otto von Greyerz
Marti died at Davos, then well known as a health resort, in his 44th year from tuberculosis, with which he had been diagnosed in 1928. He had written about his treatment for the disease in his "Davoser Stundenbuch".

Published output