Lyricist, playwright, novelist, art historian, Etruscologist, historian, fighter for republican Spain, and committed journalist of the far left - all of this was Hans Mühlestein (born 1887 in Biel, died 1969 in Zurich). He evolved from a defender of Germany in World War I to an antifascist and admirer of Stalin. He ended up in political, literary, and academic obscurity. Not everything he wrote was good - but there was good among it! Already at the age of twenty, Mühlestein received an award from the Schiller Foundation for his first lyrical work. He studied philosophy and art history in Germany; in 1914, his first major work on Hodler was published, followed by a second in 1942. After returning to Switzerland, he wrote several works on Etruscan culture; in 1928, he earned his doctorate at the University of Zurich.