Maria Lauber (25 August 1891 – 4 July 1973) was a

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

writer, who published both in Standard German and in the local dialect of

Swiss German Swiss German (Standard German: , ,Because of the many different dialects, and because there is no #Conventions, defined orthography for any of them, many different spellings can be found. and others; ) is any of the Alemannic German, Alemannic ...

(specifically "Frutigtütsch", a form of

Highest Alemannic Highest Alemannic is a branch of Alemannic German and is often considered to be part of the German language, even though mutual intelligibility with Standard German and other non-Alemannic German dialects is very limited. Highest Alemannic dialect ...

). She published folklore, autobiographical stories and poems, and was awarded the 1951 Schiller Prize, and the 1966 Literary Prize of the Canton of Bern. She was made an honorary citizen of Frutigen.

Life and work

Born in

Frutigen Frutigen is a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Bernese Oberland area of the Swiss canton of Bern. It is the capital of the Frutigen-Niedersimmental (administrative district), Frutigen-Niedersimmental administrative district. His ...

, in the Berner Oberland, on 25th August 1891, her parents were Johannes and Rosina Susanna, née Grossen. Lauber trained as a teacher at the Monbijou Teacher Training College in

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

, finishing in 1910. She also later had training at the

University of Bern The University of Bern (, , ) is a public university, public research university in the Switzerland, Swiss capital of Bern. It was founded in 1834. It is regulated and financed by the canton of Bern. It is a comprehensive university offering a br ...

, in 1917. From 1910, Lauber worked as a primary and lower school teacher in

Adelboden Adelboden is a mountain village and a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in Switzerland, located in the Frutigen-Niedersimmental (administrative district), Frutigen-Niedersimmental administrative district in the Bernese Highlands. Geogra ...

Lenk Lenk im Simmental (or simply Lenk) is a municipality in the Obersimmental-Saanen administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. History Lenk is first mentioned in 1370 as ''An der Leng''. The oldest traces of a settlement in t ...

and Kiental before retiring in 1952 for health reasons. Lauber's early work was mainly natural history and folklore written in Standard German, but she later published increasing numbers of stories, autobiographical narratives and poems in the

dialect of the Frutigtal valley, which runs along the river Kander. She joined the Bernese Writers' Association in 1942. In 1966, she was appointed an honorary citizen of

by the parish council. She is buried in the Frutigen cemetery, where her grave has been given a place of honour. Since 1993 her literary estate has been owned by the Frutigland Cultural Heritage Foundation. A biography of Lauber was published by Altels Verlag in 1993, ''Maria Lauber: (1891–1973): eine Lebensbeschreibung'', written by Erich Blatter.

Awards and prizes

*1951 Schiller Prize (for ''Chüngold'') *1966 Literary Prize of the Canton of Bern *1966 honorary citizen of Frutigen

Selected bibliography

*''Alpen-Legendchen'', 1920 *''D' Wyberschlacht uf de Langermatte. Ein Schauspiel aus der Zeit der Sage in 3 Akten'', 1922 *''Wa Grossatt nug het gläbt. Skizzen über das Brauchtum der Talschaft Frutigen in ihrer Mundart dargestellt'', 1939 *''Eghi Brügg: Gschichti us em innere Frutigtal'', 1942 *''Hab Sorg derzue. Sagen aus der Talschaft Frutigen nach mündlicher Ueberlieferung'', 1940 *''Chüngold (Erzählung)'', 1950 *''Chüngold in der Stadt (Erzählung)'', 1954 *''Mis Tal (Gedichte)'', 1955 *''Bletter im Luft (Gedichte)'', 1959 *''Unter dem gekrönten Adler. Die Talschaft Frutigen'', 1961

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lauber, Maria 1891 births Swiss writers Swiss women writers 1973 deaths