Ricarda Huch

Vocation

Notable

Pioneering German intellectual. Trained as a historian, and the author of many works of European history, Huch also wrote novels, poems, and a play. Huch became the first female student admitted to the University of Zurich at a time when women could not study at any German university; she obtained her doctorate in history in 1892. Huch's first creative phase (1890-1900) is marked by several volumes of lyrical poetry written in neoromantic style. Huch won prominence during the years 1902 to 1910 as a master of the historical novels. At the time of Hitler's rise to power in Germany the she was one of the most respected members of the Preussische Dichterakademie (Academy of Prussian Writers). However, in protest to Hitler's dictatorship, she refused to join the newly founded Nazi Academy of Writers. The numerous honors awarded to Huch included appointment as honorary senator of the University of Munich (1924), the Goethe Prize of Frankfurt (1931), and an honorary doctorate at the University of Jena (1946). Huch dedicated much of her life to Italian, German and Russian history and historical novels that were psychological biographies. In 1947, she was an honorary president of the First German Writers Congress in Berlin. Thomas Mann called her "The First Lady of Germany". She died while visiting in Frankfurt am Main on 17 November 1947. Link to Wikipedia biography