Biography

1911

15 May: Max Frisch was born in Zurich, at Heliosstrasse 31.

Father: Franz Bruno Frisch (1871–1932), builder and architect (self-taught), a citizen of the city of Zurich since 1902.

Mother: Karolina Bettina Frisch, née Wildermuth (1875–1966).

Grandfather on his father's side: Franz Frisch, from Lower Austria, settled in Zurich in 1870 to work as a saddler.

Grandfather on his mother's side: Hans (Johannes) Wildermuth, set painter, later Director of the School of Arts and Design in Zurich.

Max Frisch's siblings: Emma Elisabeth (1899–1972) from his father's first marriage; Franz (1903–1978).

1924

Spring: started secondary school, the cantonal 'Realgymnasium'.

His parents had financial difficulties: after the First World War, his father had hardly any building work and worked as an estate agent.

Boyhood reading: "Uncle Tom's Cabin", "Don Quixote".

Some memorable experiences of the theatre at the Schauspielhaus Zurich.

Became friends with Werner Coninx, son of the owners of the Zurich newspaper "Tages-Anzeiger".

1930

Autumn: embarked on a degree in German studies at the University of Zurich under Professors Emil Ermatinger and Robert Faesi and Walter Muschg. Also attended lectures in philosophy and forensic psychology.

1931

"Mimische Partitur?" First publication in a section of the "Neue Zürcher Zeitung".

Attended military training school in Thun.

1932

19 March: his father died suddenly.

April: "Was bin ich?", an article in the magazine "Zürcher Student", his first major work of prose. Freelance writer for the "Neue Zürcher Zeitung" and other newspapers and journals (including "Tages-Anzeiger", "Basler Nachrichten", "Basler Nationalzeitung", "Zürcher Illustrierte").

1933

February: sports reporter at the Ice Hockey World Championships in Prague.

Then, until October, he travelled through Eastern and Southeastern Europe, funding his travels by writing travel articles.

Longer visits to Dubrovnik, Croatia.

1934

Publication of his first book: "Jürg Reinhart. Eine sommerliche Schicksalsfahrt". The novel was published by Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt (DVA) Stuttgart.

At the University of Zurich, he met Käte Rubensohn who, as a Jew, was no longer able to study in Berlin.

Summer: gave up his German degree.

1935

April and December: went to Germany for the first time with Käte Rubensohn.

His first direct confrontation with National Socialism and anti-Semitism.

1936

Embarked on a degree in architecture at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, funded by his childhood friend Werner Coninx.

1937

Autumn: "Antwort aus der Stille. Eine Erzählung aus den Bergen" (An Answer from the Silence, 2011), published by Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt.

1938

His relationship with Käte Rubensohn came to an end.

1939

When war broke out, he entered active service as a gunner. By 1945 Max Frisch had served a total of 650 days.

Grant from the Conrad Ferdinand Meyer Foundation.

1940

"Blätter aus dem Brotsack". This diary of a soldier was published by Atlantis in Zurich.

August: graduated from ETH Zurich as an architect.

1941

Became friends with his former fellow student Gertrud (Trudy) Constance von Meyenburg, daughter of an upper-class family.

Worked in architects' practices, including for his former professor, William Dunkel.

Moved into his first apartment in Zurich.

First independent building project was a detached house for his brother Franz in Arlesheim/Basel.

1942

30 July: married Gertrud (Trudy) Constanze von Meyenburg.

1943

9 June: birth of his daughter Ursula.

Won first prize in an architecture competition to build a municipal outdoor pool at Letzigraben in Zurich (out of 65 entrants). Set up his own practice.

Atlantis published his novel "J'adore ce qui me brûle oder Die Schwierigen".

1944

25 November: birth of his son Hans Peter.

Encouraged by Kurt Hirschfeld, literary manager at the Schauspielhaus Zurich, Max Frisch turned to writing plays. The romance "Santa Cruz" was completed within a few weeks.

1945

29 March: "Nun singen sie wieder" (Now they're singing again, 1966/2002) was the first play by Frisch to premiere at the Schauspielhaus Zurich (directed by Kurt Horwitz).

Fierce dispute with the home affairs editor of the NZZ, Ernst Bieri, who portrayed Frisch as a Nazi apologist.

The short story "Bin oder Die Reise nach Peking" was published by Atlantis.

Won a drama prize from the Welti Foundation for "Santa Cruz".

1946

Travelled to Germany and Italy.

7 March: premiere of "Santa Cruz" (Santa Cruz, 2002) at the Schauspielhaus Zurich (directed by Heinz Hilpert).

10 October: premiere of "Die Chinesische Mauer" at the Schauspielhaus Zurich (directed by Leonard Steckel).

1947

Building work began on   outdoor pool.

Travelled to Germany and Italy again and also Prague.

"Tagebuch mit Marion" was published by Atlantis.

Met Bertolt Brecht, Friedrich Dürrenmatt and Peter Suhrkamp.

1948

Travelled to Vienna, Prague, Paris and Warsaw.

Took part in the "Congrès mondial des intellectuels pour la paix" in Wroclaw (Poland).

1949

8 January: premiere of "Als der Krieg zu Ende war" (When the War Was Over, 1967) at the Schauspielhaus Zurich (directed by Kurt Horwitz).

17 May: birth of his daughter Charlotte.  

18 June: opening of  Letzigraben outdoor pool. Essay: "Kultur als Alibi".

July/August: stayed at Peter Suhrkamp’s house in Kampen (Sylt). October: Southern France.

1950

"Tagebuch 1946–1949" (Sketchbook 1946–1949, 1977) published by the newly established Suhrkamp publishing house in Frankfurt.

Autumn: first trip to Spain.

1951

10 February: first performance of the street ballad "Graf Öderland" (Count Oederland, 1962) at the Schauspielhaus Zurich (directed by Leonard Steckel).

Spent one year in the USA (New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles) on a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation.

Travelled to Mexico. Worked on the early drafts of "Stiller" (I'm Not Stiller, 1962) and "Don Juan oder die Liebe zur Geometrie" (Don Juan, or The Love of Geometry, 1967).

1952

His American grant was extended. Frisch spent most of the time in New York. Reflections on American theatre. Essay: "Unsere Arroganz gegenüber Amerika".

Met Madeleine Seigner-Besson.

1953

The Bavarian Broadcasting Company aired two radio plays by Max Frisch: 26 March: "Herr Biedermann und die Brandstifter" (The Fire Raisers, 1962)

16 June: "Rip van Winkle"

5 May: premiere of "Don Juan oder Die Liebe zur Geometrie", simultaneously in Berlin (Schiller Theatre, directed by Hans Schalla) and Zurich (Schauspielhaus, directed by Oskar Wälterlin).

Max Frisch spoke out as a critic of town planning to Zurich architects in his lecture "Cum grano salis".

1954

"Stiller" was published.

Max Frisch left his family.

1955

Lived in Männedorf on Lake Zurich. Sold his architect's practice.

Frisch, Lucius Burckhardt and Markus Kutter suggested building a new town in their brochure "achtung: die Schweiz".

Awarded the Wilhelm-Raabe-Preis by the city of Braunschweig and the Schleussner-Schueller-Preis by the Hessian Broadcasting Company for his radio play "Der Laie und die Architektur".

28 October: premiere of the second version of "Die Chinesische Mauer" (The great wall of China, 1969) at the Theatre on the Kurfürstendamm, Berlin (directed by Oscar Fritz Schuh).

Final visit to Brecht in East Berlin.

First meeting with Günter Grass in Zurich.

1956

Took part in the International Design Conference in Aspen (Colorado), together with the graphic designer and artist Josef Müller-Brockmann.

Travelled on to Mexico and Cuba.

1957

May: travelled to Greece with Madeleine Seigner-Besson.

1 August: gave a speech in Zurich to mark Swiss National Day.

"Homo faber" (Homo Faber, 1959) published in the autumn.

Travelled to Baghdad.

1958

29 March: premiere of "Biedermann und die Brandstifter".

"Ein Lehrstück ohne Lehre" (The Fire Raisers, 1962) at the Schauspielhaus Zurich, together with the farce "Die große Wut des Philipp Hotz" (The Great Rage of Philip Hotz, 1967; directed by Oskar Wälterlin).

Met Ingeborg Bachmann.

Awarded the Georg Büchner Prize by the German Academy for Language and Literature. Max Frisch's acceptance speech was entitled "Emigranten".

Won the Literaturpreis der Stadt Zürich.

Won the Prix Charles Veillon for "Homo Faber".

Prix Charles Veillon für "Homo faber".

1959

Wrote an epilogue to "Biedermann und die Brandstifter".

Divorced  Gertrud (Trudy) Constanze Frisch-von Meyenburg.

Severely ill with hepatitis.

After the death of Peter Suhrkamp in March, Frisch wrote an essay about his publisher.

1960

Travelled to New York.

Took up residence in Rome, where he lived until 1965; initially with Ingeborg Bachmann.

Essay: "Die Schweiz ist ein Land ohne Utopie".

1961

May: travelled to Greece with Ingeborg Bachmann.

2 November: premiere of "Andorra" (Andorra, 1962) at the Schauspielhaus Zurich (directed by Kurt Hirschfeld).

1962

Grosser Kunstpreis by the city of Düsseldorf.

Honorary doctorate from the University of Marburg.

Met Uwe Johnson.

In Rome, Max Frisch met 23-year old student Marianne Oellers, with whom he lived for the next few years.

1963

February/March: journey to Mexico.

1964

The novel "Mein Name sei Gantenbein" (A Wilderness of Mirrors, 1965) was published.

Bought and renovated a house in Berzona (Ticino, Switzerland).

Essay: "Ich schreibe für Leser".

Lecture: "Der Autor und das Theater. Rede zum Tod von Kurt Hirschfeld".

1965

April: awarded the Man's Freedom Prize by the city of Jerusalem.

15 May: moved to Berzona. Visited Berlin. Worked on a film project "Zürich-Transit" (Zurich Transit, 2010), based on an episode in the novel "Gantenbein".

Awarded the Schiller-Gedächtnispreis by the German state of Baden-Württemberg.

Essay: "Unbewältigte schweizerische Vergangenheit".

1966

First journey to the Soviet Union (Moscow, Leningrad, Odessa). Returned via Warsaw.

Death of his mother.

"Zürich-Transit. Skizze eines Films" came out.

"Überfremdung": preface to the book "Siamo italiani. Gespräche mit italienischen Gastarbeitern" by Alexander J. Seiler.

Gave a speech to the heads of the immigration authorities in Lucerne. Included the sentence: "We asked for a workforce and what came were people."

Publication of "Erinnerungen an Brecht".

The "Zürcher Literaturstreit": largely triggered by Frisch's response to Emil Staiger's speech about "Literatur und Öffentlichkeit".

1967

Guest of the Czech Writers' Association in Prague.

Expressed public opposition to the military coup in Greece: "Griechenland 1967 (unter anderem) und wir".

Collection of essays: "Öffentlichkeit als Partner".

October: Max Frisch and Marianne Oellers visit Venice together with Dürrenmatt and his wife Lotti.

1968

Married Marianne Oellers.

1 February: premiere of "Biografie: Ein Spiel" (Biography, A game, 1969) at the Schauspielhaus Zurich (directed by Leopold Lindtberg).

Second trip to the Soviet Union: attended the Writers' Congress in Gorky.

Met Christa Wolf.

Various written statements on political events: student unrest in Zurich, the American invasion of Vietnam, the death of Martin Luther King, the occupation of Czechoslovakia.

1969

Travelled to Japan.

"Dramaturgisches", correspondence with Walter Höllerer.

Postscript to Andrei D. Sakharov's Memorandum "Wie ich mir die Zukunft vorstelle".

1970

May: travelled to the USA. Visited the White House with the Suhrkamp editor Siegfried Unseld.

Left the Swiss Writers' Association; founding member of the Olten Group.

1971

February to May: lived in New York. Lectured at Columbia University on "Problems of style and expression".

"Wilhelm Tell für die Schule", originally intended to be part of "Tagebuch 1966–1971".

Foreword to the election manifesto of the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland.

1972

"Tagebuch 1966–1971" (Sketchbook 1966–1971, 1974).

Winter: spent time in New York.

1973

February: Move into the apartement in Berlin-Friedenau

1974

"Dienstbüchlein". Awarded the Grand Schiller prize of the Swiss Schiller Foundation. Acceptance speech: "Die Schweiz als Heimat?".

Spent time in the USA. Honorary member of the Academy of Arts and Letters and the National Institute of Arts and Letters.

Met Alice Locke-Carey

1975

"Montauk. Eine Erzählung" (Montauk, 1976).

Invited by the German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt to join his delegation to China.

The book "Max Frisch, Stich-Worte", compiled by Uwe Johnson, came out to mark the 25th anniversary of the Suhrkamp publishing house.

1976

Report on his trip: "Nein, Mao habe ich nicht gesehen".

Max Frisch's "Gesammelte Werke in zeitlicher Folge" published to mark his 65th birthday.

Awarded the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade. Acceptance speech: "Wir hoffen".

Speech to the Party Congress of the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland: "Haben wir eine demokratische Öffentlichkeit?".

1977

Speech to the Party Congress of the German Social Democrats in Hamburg: "Die Zukunft gehört der Angst".

1978

3 March: discussion chaired by Heiner Gautschy between Max Frisch and Swiss Federal Councillor Kurt Furgler on the relationship between artists and the state.

1979

"Triptychon. Drei szenische Bilder" (Triptych, 1981). 15 April: first broadcast of the radio version on West German national radio. 9 October 1979: premiere of a French translation at the Théâtre de Vidy Lausanne (directed by Michel Soutter); print of a revised version 1980; premiere in German on 1 February 1981 in Vienna (directed by Erwin Axer).

"Der Mensch erscheint im Holozän" (Man in the Holocene, 1980). Voted best short story of the year in the USA in 1980.

Refused an honorary award from the "Literaturkredit" of the canton of Zurich.

Divorced Marianne Frisch-Oellers.

Set up the Max Frisch Foundation. Lecture: "Die politische Repression".

1980

Honorary doctorate from Bard College (New York State).

Lived in New York and Berzona.

Met Alice Locke-Carey again, who lived with Max Frisch until Spring 1983.

1981

Commemorative publication "Begegnungen" published by Suhrkamp to mark his 70th birthday.

The Max Frisch Archive was established at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich.

Richard Dindo made the film "Max Frisch, Journal I–III. Eine filmische Lektüre der Erzählung Montauk".

November: two lectures at New York City College.

1982

"Blaubart. Eine Erzählung" (Bluebeard, 1983; filmed in 1984 by Krysztof Zanussi, screenplay by Frisch and Zanussi).

Travelled to Egypt with his friend Peter Noll, who was suffering from cancer; lengthy conversations about suicide, assisted suicide, dying in dignity.

18 October: memorial speech for Peter Noll in Zurich's Grossmünster church.

Honorary doctorate from the City University of New York.

1983

"Forderungen des Tages: Porträts, Skizzen, Reden, 1943–1982".

Moved to the Stadelhofer Passage (Stadelhoferstrasse 28), his last address in Zurich.

1984

Named Commandeur dans l'ordre des arts et des lettres in France.

Speech to young doctors.

Named Honorary Fellow of the Modern Language Association.

1985

Awarded the Common Wealth Award for Distinguished Service in Literature in Chicago, named Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

1986

75th birthday.

The "Gesammelte Werke in zeitlicher Folge" were republished, with the addition of a seventh volume, as an anniversary edition.

Frisch gave a speech at the Solothurner Literaturtage: "Am Ende der Aufklärung steht das Goldene Kalb".

Awarded the Neustadt Prize by the University of Oklahoma (prize money donated to build a school in Nicaragua).

"Gespräche im Alter": several hours of televised conversation with Philippe Pilliod, broadcast by WDR.

1987

February: travelled to Moscow, invited to the "Forum for a nuclear weapon free world and the survival of the human race".

June: honorary doctorate from the Technical University of Berlin.

Vote after his platform speech in Boswil: "Demokratie – ein Traum".

1989

In the context of the national referendum on the abolition of the Swiss Army, Frisch wrote his piece in dialogue form "Schweiz ohne Armee? Ein Palaver".

First performances of the stage version of "Jonas und sein Veteran" in Zurich (Schauspielhaus, 19 October, directed by Benno Besson) and Lausanne (Théâtre de Vidy, 24 October).

Speech at Basel Theatre: "Der Friede widerspricht unserer Gesellschaft".

Awarded the Heinrich Heine Prize by the city of Düsseldorf.

1990

"Schweiz als Heimat? Versuche über 50 Jahre".

In March, Frisch was diagnosed with cancer.

The Secret files scandal: Max Frisch discovers that he, along with numerous other Swiss citizens, had been spied on by the authorities for forty years. His typescript "Ignoranz als Staatsschutz?" was published posthumously in 2015.

1991

4 April: Max Frisch died at his home in Zurich.

9 April: memorial service at St. Peter's church. At his request, there were speeches by his partner in his final years, Karin Pilliod-Hatzky, as well as Michel Seigner and Peter Bichsel.