Dürrenmatt, Friedrich

Friedrich Dürrenmatt was a German-language, Swiss author, playwright and social critic. He was born in the town of Stalden in Konolfingen, Bern, to a Protestant pastor who was the son of the famous politician and poet Ulrich Dürrenmatt. In 1935, his parents moved with their two children, Friedrich and his younger sister Verena, to Bern where he attended Freie Gymnasium between 1935 and 1937, and later Humboldtianum where he barely passed his baccalaureate in 1941. He later described his school years as the most boring period of his life.