John Knittel enrolled at the Gymnasium am Münsterplatz and was a schoolmate of Carl Jacob Burckhardt.
In London, he met his future wife Frances White Mac Bridger, whom he married in 1915 against the will of her parents.
In Egypt, he was impressed by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and supported a Schweizer Project dedicated to improving the life of poor fellaheen.
After the beginning of World War II, he visited Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels and with an introduction by Hans Carossa became a member of the Europäische Schriftsteller-Vereinigung (European Writers' League).
He was denounced by his Swiss colleagues as a "Nazi Friend" (Nazifreund) and was expelled from the Schweizer Schriftsteller Verband (SSV).