Jakob Flach

Jakob Flach (26 March 1894, Winterthur — 30 September 1982, Locarno) is identified in the dossier chiefly through the founding of the Ascona puppet theatre in 1937, which he directed for twenty-four years.

Alongside this theatrical activity, he wrote some forty plays for the theatre and published several books, including the novel Brautfahrt ohne Ende (1959), the collection Blühender Zweig (1964), and the report Das schwarze Afrika für Anfänger (1965).

Born in Winterthur in 1894 and deceased in Locarno in 1982, he appears in the sources as being of Protestant confession; the dossier further mentions a reference to Katharina Früeh in 1974.

He studied botany and geology at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, but interrupted his studies in 1917.

Active in the Schweizer Wandervogel youth movement between 1910 and 1919, he subsequently obtained his teaching certificate in 1919.

The dossier notes relationships with writers and artists — notably Hermann Hesse and Emil Ludwig — and states that he managed Emil Ludwig’s villa in 1921–1922.

After extensive travels in Europe, the Near East, Africa, and India, he settled chiefly in Ticino and moved in 1925 into an old mill situated between Ronco and Arcegno.

His directorship of the Ascona puppet theatre constitutes one of the recurring strands of his local cultural activity: there he wrote a significant part of the repertoire intended for the puppet stage.

An edition of his works (Werkausgabe), edited by A. Imer, has been recorded from 1990 onwards, and bibliographic authorities (GND, VIAF) are mentioned in the dossier; the usual spelling retained is Jakob Flach.