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Uberto Walcherius Mash (June 21, 1910 – December 21 1975) was a Swiss futurist, political theorist, humanist and revolutionary. Mash was an accomplished scholar and political activist and is widely known as one of the founding father's of modern futurist thought.

While Mash’s ideas were not widely disseminated in his lifetime, soon after his death Mash’s writings began to exert influence on the doctrine of numerous futurist groups, most notably the Swiss Futurist Movement (SMPF).

Biography

Childhood

Uberto Mash was born the first of three children in Neuenburg, in the canton of Neuchâtel, Switzerland. His father, Aubertus Thorumberto (1893-1963), was a medical practitioner as well as a local councilor. His mother was Matildas (1894-1978); his siblings were Aldrulcus and Hermann. As a child Mash was a excelled in many fields including mountain running and yodeling.

Education

Mash was educated by his parents at home until the age of twelve. After graduating from the local Neuenburg Gymnasium, Mash moved to the canton of Geneva and enrolled in the University of Geneva to study law and international relations. During his time in Geneva, Mash illustrated his staunch secularist and pragmatist beliefs, both through his studies and affiliations. Mash was particularly influenced by the teachings of Professor Holdt who tutored Mash in international relations. Mash’s early writings towards his doctorate, including the thesis “The Virtues of the Systematic Analysis of Theoretical Probability in International Multilateral Relations”, first hint at the unique ideological thought that Uberto would formulate in his later years. Mash received his Doctorate in international relations in September 1940 from the University of Geneva.

Mash and the Young Pragmatists.

The Young Pragmatists was a movement comprised mainly of students that was popular in European universities in the 1930’s. Formed as an answer to the numerous Marxist and Communist aligned student bodies that dominated student politics at the time, the Young Pragmatists were concerned with solving problems through appropriate practical action rather than ideological ones. Mash quickly rose through the hierarchy of the Young Pragmatists after joining whilst studying in Geneva and was established it’s president a year before the the outbreak of World War Two. In his time as president Mash advocated that the Young Pragmatists should adopt a new and more radical direction based upon his own futurist beliefs. After a struggle with other members of the Young Pragmatist executive, most importantly Helvin Franz, Mash was forcibly removed as president by a two-thirds majority vote at a special meeting in Geneva in July 1938.

Post-University Years

Following his removal from the Young Pragmatists, Mash concluded his studies and returned to Neuenburg where he worked at a nearby ski lodge for the winter of 1941. The following year Mash traveled to Zürich to take up a position within the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs. Mash spent only a year there before returning to Geneva in March 1943 following his appointment as a Swiss delegate to the International Committee of the Red Cross.

International Committee of the Red Cross

During World War Two Mash was directly involved in visiting and monitoring of POW camps, as per the committees delegated 1929 revision of the Geneva Convention. Mash traveled to Allied POW camps in both England and France. At the time Nazi Germany, while a signatory to the convention, refused ICRC delegates access to it's POW camps. A deal was eventually struck which would allow ICRC delegates to visit the camps on the condition that they stayed within the camps until the end of the war. Mash volunteered to be one of eleven delegates to enter Nazi Germany. On March 23, 1945, Mash entered Camp Dachau with Victor Maurer. About 200,000 political prisoners were held in Camp Dachau. During his time there, Mash covertly kept a diary of his experiences which would later provide the basis for his book concerning his time in the ICRC entitled Fences.

Post war activities

After the war Mash resigned from the ICRC and traveled extensively throughout Europe until 1949. During this time Mash penned his memoirs on the war as well as a creative non-fiction travel diary entitled The Malefic Corduroy Jacket and other Tales. Both books were published in French language in Switzerland and France. Both received unfavorable reviews and were commercially unsuccessful. Also during this time Mash sought out others who possesed a interest similar to himself in the area of futurology. Whilst in Germany in 1946 Mash met with Proffesor Ossip K. Flechtheim, credited with coining the term 'futurology'. Mash wrote to Flechteim numerous times in the coming years on the subject, paying considerable attention to Flechteim's belief that futurology could be employed as a new science of predictive probability. In a letter to Fletchteim dated March 17, 1947, Mash writes;

"..the future that is yet to be made effects the present more than all lessons and events of the past. That the present is a product of future hopes and desires is a concept too many fail to understand. Analyzing the probabilities of the future to determine the most likely is surely one of the most powerful agents for the change of the present."

In December 1949, Mash was introduced to Silvia Van Der Wilde, at a welcome dinner for foreign diplomats in Vienna that Mash attended at the request of his past lecturer, Proffessor Hondt. Those present recall that Mash and Ms Van Der Wilde struck up a relantionship straight away and following the dinner were to meet several times over the following days. Van Der Wilde was herself an accomplished

The Swiss Futurist Movement

powers in the After joining the ICRC Mash was assigned to the department responsible for lasing with and tracking POW's in concentration camps both in Allied and German held territories as per the Geneva convention. traveled extensively throughout Europe and held numerous jobs. Following the conclusion of World War Two, Mash took a job with In December, 1939, Mash was introduced Silvia Van Der Wilde at a welcoming dinner for foreign diplomats in Vienna that Mash had attended at the request of his past lecturer, Professor Hondt. Ms Van Der Wilde was herself a accomplished futurist having studied Democritean and Epicurean philosophy and Neoliberalism at Bonn University. A short time after this first meeting the two resolved to form the Swiss Futurist Party, or Confédération Suisse Mouvement Politique Futurologie (SMPF).