Hans Jakob Notz (

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

, 15 December 1891 –

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

, 1967) was a German-born

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

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. His real name was Franz. A student of

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, he moved from

in 1912, so that he could follow his studies. He would live in

the rest of his life. There he started to work for the

World Esperanto Association The Universal Esperanto Association ( eo, Universala Esperanto-Asocio, UEA), also known as the World Esperanto Association, is the largest international organization of Esperanto speakers, with 5501 individual members in 121 countries and 9215 t ...

, of which he had been a member since 1909. In 1934 he resigned from the role of

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, as a form of protest, and started working elsewhere. In the end, he worked in an office of the Swiss federation until he retired. He got married two times, and had a daughter. He was a member of the

Swiss Socialist Party The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei der Schweiz; SP; rm, Partida Socialdemocrata da la Svizra) or Swiss Socialist Party (french: Parti socialiste suisse, it, Partito Socialista Svizzero; PS), is a polit ...

Jakob and Esperanto

In 1920 Jakob became the director of the central office of UEA; he cared after the publication of '' Jarlibroj'' and after the magazine ''

Esperanto Esperanto ( or ) is the world's most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Created by the Warsaw-based ophthalmologist L. L. Zamenhof in 1887, it was intended to be a universal second language for international communi ...

''. He became General Director of the World Esperanto Association in 1924; he left the post in 1934, when he resigned, as a form of protest, during the

World Esperanto Congress The World Esperanto Congress ( eo, Universala Kongreso de Esperanto, UK) is an annual Esperanto convention. It has the longest tradition among international Esperanto conventions, with an almost unbroken run for 113 years. The congresses have be ...

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. Since 1936, when the association split into two branches (headquartered respectively in

and London), he began once again to serve as a redactor for the Genevan association. After the reunification of the two associations, in 1947, he joined the governing council of the reborn UEA and started caring after the magazine. In 1955 he resigned from all the posts as a form of protest, but he was nevertheless awarded the title "honorary redactor". In 1960 the governing council of UEA learnt that Jakob had been unduly taking some money from the association; a years-long judicial procedure followed suit. When Jakob died, in 1967, UEA inherited part of his money.

Works

* ''Universala Esperanto-Asocio 1908-1933: Historia skizo'',

, 1934 * ''Servisto de l' ideo: 50 jaroj ĉe Universala Esperanto-Asocio / 1908 - 1958''; a history of UEA with an autobiographical connotation, redacted by

Mark Fettes Mark Fettes is an Esperantist and university professor of education, and former President of the World Esperanto Association, known by its Esperanto initials as UEA. Career in Esperantujo Fettes worked from October 1986 until January 1992 in th ...

and published by Flandra Esperanto-Ligo in 1995. * Jakob also contributed to the 1934 ''

Enciklopedio de Esperanto {{Esperanto sidebar , expanded=Services Encyclopedias in Esperanto ( eo, Enciklopedioj de Esperanto) are Esperanto-language encyclopedias. There have been several different attempts of creating an encyclopedia of all Esperanto topics. History I ...

'', under the pseudonym "George Agricola".

Bibliography

* Marcus Sikosek ( Ziko van Dijk): ''

Die neutrale Sprache Die, as a verb, refers to death, the cessation of life. Die may also refer to: Games * Die, singular of dice, small throwable objects used for producing random numbers Manufacturing * Die (integrated circuit), a rectangular piece of a semicondu ...

. Eine politische Geschichte des Esperanto-Weltbundes''. Skonpres,

Bydgoszcz Bydgoszcz ( , , ; german: Bromberg) is a city in northern Poland, straddling the meeting of the River Vistula with its left-bank tributary, the Brda. With a city population of 339,053 as of December 2021 and an urban agglomeration with more ...

, 2006. 459 pages. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Jakob, Hans German Esperantists Swiss Esperantists 1891 births 1967 deaths Writers from Geneva German emigrants to Switzerland