About us

The Max Frisch Archive is an independent research institution belonging to the Max Frisch Foundation and based at the ETH Library in Zurich. It curates and adds to the literary legacy of Swiss author and ETH Zurich alumnus Max Frisch. The holdings are available for academic, journalistic and artistic research. 

History of the Max Frisch Archive

Together with Siegfried Unseld, Peter Bichsel, Adolf Muschg and Peter von Matt, Max Frisch decided to set up a Max Frisch Foundation in 1979. According to the foundation deeds, its main duties included "creating a Max Frisch Archive to be located in Switzerland as a place of research". Since the author's death in 1991, the Foundation has been responsible for "administering his literary legacy with all the rights and responsibilities associated with its dissemination and utilisation".

The Max Frisch Archive was established at ETH Zurich in the spring of 1980. Max Frisch had studied architecture there from 1936 to 1940. Initially the archive was situated in the Department of German Language and Literature before moving to the ETH Library premises in April 2004. An agreement concluded with ETH Zurich in early 2007 ensures that, organisationally speaking, the Max Frisch Archive will permanently remain part of the ETH Library without relinquishing its status as an independent research institution.

When Walter Obschlager, the first archivist, retired in July 2008, historian Dr. Margit Unser took over the helm at the archive. As of 1 September 2016, the Max Frisch Archive has been headed by German philologist Dr. Tobias Amslinger.