Richard Ungewitter

Richard Ungewitter (December 18, 1869, Artern, Province of Saxony – December 17, 1958, Stuttgart) was a German pioneer of the nudist movement and one of its first organizers. There was a völkisch element in Ungewitter's ideas.

Ungewitter was of working-class or lower middle-class origins and was trained as a gardener. He became a clerk in the office of a gardening company, then lived for two years in Norway. After returning to Germany, he was one of the founders of a bread manufacturing facility. After that went bankrupt, he worked as a sales representative.

He was introduced to nudism (now known as naturism) by Heinrich Pudor, who published under the pseudonym Heinrich Scham (Shame). Today he is considered one of its early pioneers.

In 1903 Ungewitter published a booklet entitled Wieder nacktgewordene Menschen (People naked again), which made him quite well known. Almost 100,000 copies were printed within a few years. His first book, Die Nacktheit (Nudity) appeared in 1906 under the full title Die Nacktheit in entwicklungsgeschichtlicher, gesundheitlicher, moralischer und künstlerischer Sicht (Nudity from the point of view of historical development, health, morality and art). It was reprinted several times. Repeated attempts at legal procedures against the book failed because the experts invited by the court testified in favor of Ungewitter. For example, Theodor Lipps, a professor at the University of Munich, stated in his report:

The movement focused on Nudity is now a widespread one and has a well justified basis, as such movements do as a rule. German: Die auf Nacktkultur zielende Bewegung ist jetzt eine weit verzweigte und hat, wie solche Bewegungen in der Regel, einen wohlberechtigten Kern

In subsequent years, Ungewitter published further books advocating nudism. His best known work is the book Nackt (Naked), which appeared in 1908. In addition, in 1908 he founded the Vereinigung für hygienische, ethische und ästhetische Kultur (Organization for hygienic, ethical and aesthetic culture). This was the second naturist group in Germany, after a club founded in Essen in 1898, and had approximately 50 members, primarily in South Germany.

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