Ulrich von Hutten
#onthisday, August 29th, 1523, Ulrich von Hutten, poet, humanist, reformer and rebellious knight died on Ufenau island in lake Zurich. His fight against tyranny and corruption, his humanist thinking and support for intellectual freedom made him an icon on both the left and the right. Caspar David Friedrich painted “Hutten’s Grave” in 1823 as a protest against censorship and repression (see picture). The motto of Stanford university “Die Luft der Freiheit weht” comes from Ulrich von Hutten’s writings.