Rudolf Huch (28 February 1862 – 13 January 1943) was a Brazilian- born German jurist, essayist and author, primarily of satirical novels and short stories.

At the time of his birth his father, Richard Huch (1830–1887) was running a wholesale importing business in Brazil which he had acquired following the death of an older brother.

However, when Rudolf was approximately eighteen months old the family returned to Germany, and it was here, in Braunschweig, that the child grew up and attended school, while his father pursued his business career, trading in "colonial goods" from, in particular, Brazil.

As teenagers, at the recommendation of the family doctor, Rudolf and Ricarda Huch took lengthy annual holidays at the spa resort of Bad Suderode in the hill country between Braunschweig and Leipzig.

[6] Huch remained in Braunschweig for some months, employed as a "Gerichtsassessor" (loosely, "trainee judge"), but the bankruptcy of his father's business ruled out any immediate possibility of a career in the government justice service.

His work betrays an underlying pessimism and melancholy, possibly driven by a belief that as a writer he would always be overshadowed by more confident relatives who would leave their own larger footprints on literary history.

[a] in which he employed his satirical wit to uncover the contradictions in the book business, and to ridicule the fashionable superman archetypes of the time and the accompanying Nietzsche cult.

[8][9] His mostly satirical narratives, critical of contemporary society, including a number of autobiographical pieces, found a wide readership during the first part of the twentieth century.

It differs from earlier works in the extent to which the author moves beyond simple caricatures and stereotypes, demonstrating a hitherto undisclosed skill in respect of careful character development and an understanding of the positive nature of "true humanity" with all its overlapping elements.

[2] In 1925 Huch also produced a new edition of Rudolf von Jhering's respected 1872 work "Der Kampf ums Recht" (loosely, "The Fight over Law and Justice") for the Leipzig-based Reclam-Verlag publishing house.

It has done nothing for Huch's posthumous reputation that after they came to power the National Socialists exploited the social criticism of the petty bourgeoisie the ooze from the pages of his novels to denigrate their political adversaries and infer endorsement of their state-mandated antisemitism.

A number of those who signed, when later they were moved to understand in greater depth the sheer inhumanity of Hitler's vision for Germany, recanted with varying levels of openness and conviction.