Victor Aimé Huber (10 March 1800 – 19 July 1869) was a German

social reformer Reformism is a type of social movement that aims to bring a social or also a political system closer to the community's ideal. A reform movement is distinguished from more radical social movements such as revolutionary movements which reject t ...

, travel writer and a literature historian. Huber was born in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

, Germany. His parents, Ludwig Ferdinand and

Therese Huber Therese Huber (7 May 1764 – 15 June 1829) was a German author. She was one of the so-called , a group of five academically active women during the mid-18th and early 19th centuries. The group consisted of daughters of academics at Göttingen Un ...

, née Heyne, were both writers. After the early death of his father, Victor was sent to live with friends of his parents in

Hofwil Hofwil is a village in the canton of Bern, Switzerland, part of the municipality of Münchenbuchsee. The village of Hofwil was originally part of the lands owned by the Münchenbuchsee Commandery, a medieval commandery of the Knights Hospitaller i ...

, Switzerland. Victor was just six years old at the time. Huber graduated in medicine in 1820 and afterwards undertook several travels to France, Portugal, England, Spain and

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. In 1828, Huber accepted a post as a teacher of history and modern

language Language is a structured system of communication that consists of grammar and vocabulary. It is the primary means by which humans convey meaning, both in spoken and signed language, signed forms, and may also be conveyed through writing syste ...

s at a gymnasium in

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (, ), is the capital of the States of Germany, German state of the Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (), a two-city-state consisting of the c ...

, Germany. In 1832 he became a professor of modern and oriental languages in

Rostock Rostock (; Polabian language, Polabian: ''Roztoc''), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (), is the largest city in the German States of Germany, state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the sta ...

, in 1836 in

Marburg Marburg (; ) is a college town, university town in the States of Germany, German federal state () of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf Districts of Germany, district (). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has ...

and in 1843 professor for the history of literature in Berlin. Huber took part in the establishment of a conservative party in

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

, from which he however withdrew after a short time because of the interests of

feudal Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was a combination of legal, economic, military, cultural, and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe from the 9th to 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of struc ...

landlord A landlord is the owner of property such as a house, apartment, condominium, land, or real estate that is rented or leased to an individual or business, known as a tenant (also called a ''lessee'' or ''renter''). The term landlord appli ...

s. His real aim was to help the reintegration of workers into the civil society, and for this reason he gave up his professorship in Berlin in order to dedicate himself to the social questions of the day. Soon afterwards Huber was able to propose a new social model to improve the life conditions of low wage workers after visiting

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

, in England, in 1844, where he acquainted himself with the housing and living conditions of factory workers. He named this model "internal occupation" (''innere Ansiedlung''). Huber was one of the intellectual predecessors of the

cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, coöperative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomy, autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned a ...

movement in Germany. He carried out his socio-political concepts in practice. From 1849 to 1852 Huber was active in the executive committee of the

not-for-profit A not-for-profit or non-for-profit organization (NFPO) is a Legal Entity, legal entity that does not distribute surplus funds to its members and is formed to fulfill specific objectives. While not-for-profit organizations and Nonprofit organ ...

building firm of the 'Citizens of Berlin' which built six small houses for 15 families on a property at Schoenhauser Av. What was to become a showcase for his "internal occupation" model, however, had a short duration. In 1888/1889 the houses were demolished to make space to larger and denser buildings. Huber died, aged 69, in

Wernigerode Wernigerode () is a town in the Harz (district), district of Harz, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Until 2007, it was the capital of the Wernigerode (district), district of Wernigerode. Its population was 32,181 in 2020. Wernigerode is located southwes ...

Works

* ''De lingua et osse hyoi deo pici viridis'', Dissertation Stuttgart 1821 * ''Die Selbsthilfe der arbeitenden Klasse durch Wirtschaftsvereine und innere Ansiedlung'', 1848 (anonym) * Concordia. ''Bll. d. Berl. gemeinn. Baugesellschaft'', Berlin 1849 * ''Reisebriefe aus Belgien, Frankreich und England im Sommer 1854, 1855''

Bibliography

* Ingwer Paulsen: ''Viktor Aimé Huber als Sozialpolitiker''. Berlin: Herbert Renner, 1956. (Friedewalder Beiträge zur Sozialen Frage, Bd. 7) * Michael Alfred Kanther: ''Victor Aimé Huber: Sozialreformer und Wegbereiter der sozialen Wohnungswirtschaft''. Berlin 2000.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Huber, V.A. 1800 births 1869 deaths Writers from Stuttgart People from the Duchy of Württemberg German cooperative organizers Converts to Protestantism from Roman Catholicism German male writers