Johann Hugo Wyttenbach

Johann Hugo Wyttenbach (6 April 1767, Bausendorf – 22 June 1848, Trier) was a German librarian, historian and school master.

In 1788 he dropped out of his studies and became a follower of the Enlightenment and was especially interested in the works of Rousseau and Kant.

[1] During the French period, he became a supporter of the revolutionary Republican government and applied at the French central administration of the Saard department, becoming a member of the school commission during the Napoleonic rule in 1799, and a librarian and professor of the central school as well as the first city librarian from 1804 to 1848.

Because of his position during French rule and his liberal sympathies, he was under supervision of the Prussian government and therefore a co-principal, Vitus Loers, was appointed alongside him, who played the role of an informer for the authorities.

[3] Wyttenbach kept in touch with the leading German writers of his time, including Goethe, Jakob Grimm, Hofmann von Fallersleben, and Clemens Brentano.