According to the Odinist magazine Vor Trú, Marby "was one of the most (if not the most) important figures in the realm of runic sciences" with an impact felt not only by contemporaries but "among today's researchers and practitioners.
"[1][full citation needed] Born in Aurich, Ostfriesland, Friedrich Marby trained as a printer and worked as an editor.
[2] There was a school of rune scholars who interpreted the Eddas completely in anti-Semitic fashion, but Alan Baker in his book Invisible Eagle singles out Marby as one of the exceptions.
[3][page needed] Marby, along with Siegfried Adolf Kummer, was criticized in a report to Heinrich Himmler by the Reichsführer's chief esoteric runologist, Karl Maria Wiligut.
Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke states that Wiligut censured the two men "for bringing the holy Aryan heritage into disrepute and ridicule", suggesting "this criticism may have led to Marby's harsh treatment in the Third Reich.