Marie Huch

Marie Huch (born Marie Gerstäcker: 19 May 1853 - 16 August 1934) was a German writer.

Biography Sophie Carla Pauline Marie "Mady" Huch was born in the Plagwitz quarter of Leipzig. She was the eldest daughter of the travel-writer and novelist Friedrich Gerstäcker (1816 – 1872) and his wife, the court playhouse actress ("Hofschauspielerin") Anna Aurora Sauer (1822 – 1861). On 6 December 1870, now aged 17, she married the lawyer Wilhelm Huch (1817 – 1888) at the St Magnus Church in Braunschweig. They embarked on married life at their home in central Braunschweig at Hagenmarkt 13 (subsequently destroyed in the Second World War). Wilhelm Huch was slightly younger than Marie's father, but he was 36 years older than she was. The marriage was nevertheless followed by the births of six recorded children, including the writers Friedrich Huch (1873 – 1913) and Felix Huch (1880 – 1952). During the 1870s and 1880s family finances became increasingly precarious. Wilhelm and Marie Huch moved house several times and by 1888 were living in rented accommodation. Marie Huch moved with her children to Dresden where the family received financial support from Richard Huch (1850 – 1914), her stepson from her late husband's earlier marriage.

After she was widowed Marie Huch moved house frequently. She lived out her final years with her son Felix Huch in Bautzen. It was here that she died, aged 81. By 1934 Marie Huch had been predeceased by at least two of her children. In the end the bodies of three of her children were buried in the same burial plot as her own at the St Magnus Cemetery in Braunschweig.