Friedrich Bernhard Marby (May 10, 1882 - December 3, 1966) was a German rune occultist and Germanic revivalist. He is abest known for his revivalism and use of the Armanen runes row. He was imprisoned during the Third Reich, which may have been due to a denunciation by Karl Maria Wiligut. According to the Odinist magazine Vor Trú, issue 69, Marby "was one of the most (if not the most) important figures in the realm of runic sciences" with an impact felt not only by contemporaries but "among today's researchers and practitioners."[1]
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Born on May 10, 1882 in Aurich / Ostfriesland, Friedrich Marby was trained as a printer and served professionally as an editor.[2] Marby developed a set of occult exercises he called "runic gymnastics", as a means of "channeling runic power and forms through and around the self". From 1924, he began publishing his theories and research.[2]
While there was a school of rune scholars who interpreted the Eddas completely in anti-Semitic fashion, Alan Baker in the book Invisible Eagle singles out Marby as one of the exceptions.[3] Marby, along with Siegfried Adolf Kummer, was criticized by name in a report made to Heinrich Himmler by his chief esoteric runologist Karl Maria Wiligut. Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke states that Wiligut censured them "for bringing the holy Aryan heritage into disrepute and riducule" suggesting that "this criticism may have led to Marby's harsh treatment in the Third Reich."[2]
According to Vor Trú, Marby spent 8 years and 3 months in the camps at Flossenbürg, Welzheim, and Dachau before being released on 29 April 1945.[1] Thereafter, he resumed publishing in his magazine Forschung and Erfahung (Research and Experience) and in books. On December 3, 1966, he died.[2]