Victor Aimé Huber

Victor Aimé Huber (10 March 1800 – 19 July 1869) was a German social reformer, travel writer and a literature historian.

Huber was born in Stuttgart, Germany. His parents, Ludwig Ferdinand and Therese Huber, née Heyne, were both writers. After the early death of his father, he was sent as a 6 years old to friends of his parents living in Hofwil, Switzerland.

Huber graduated in medicine in 1820 and afterwards undertook several travels to France, Portugal, England, Spain and Italy. In 1828 Huber accepted a post as a teacher of history and modern languages at a gymnasium in Bremen, Germany. In 1832 he became a professor of modern and oriental languages in Rostock, in 1836 in Marburg and in 1843 professor for the history of literature in Berlin.

Huber took part in the establishment of a conservative party in Prussia, from which he however withdrew after a short time because of the interests of feudal landlords. 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, 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 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 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.

Works