Philipp Gurt

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Reading in Chur
Memorial plaque at Remembrance Square

Philipp Gurt (born January 9, 1968 in Chur ) is a Swiss author .

Work and life

Philipp belt has been especially 2016/17 by his bestseller Shadow Child and the documentary of Swiss television from Schattenkind successful author in Switzerland known. His autobiography Schattenkind remained on the bestseller list (non-fiction) for 13 weeks without interruption . Philipp Gurt received the Swiss Author's Prize for it. A total of thirteen books have been published by him since 2006, including the biography of Swiss biathlete Selina Gasparin .

In Schattenkind , Philipp Gurt is committed to ensuring that abused children in Switzerland have a voice. Gurt, who was born the seventh of eight children to a financially disadvantaged family in Graubünden and spent the first four years of his life in Maladers , tells of his childhood and adolescence in this autobiography. In 1972 all eight children were separated from each other due to compulsory welfare measures . In the following twelve years, Philipp Gurt experienced, in addition to his admission to various children's homes, among other things, forced psychiatry, custody, sexual abuse by educators and brute force. The author describes his fateful years in detail and vividly describes his strategies that he had to adopt early on in order to survive the incomprehensible. But he also writes about how he repeatedly sought and found moments of happiness in his destroyed world, so that he never lost hope and his laughter. Personal photos and images of documents give an insight into the injustice system of that time.

Due to its social and political commitment, the Graubünden government, namely government councilor Jon Domenic Parolini , apologized in November 2017 at a memorial event to all victims of compulsory welfare measures (up to 1981). On Friday, November 9, 2018, the Memorial Square (Waldhausstall Chur-Prasserieweg) was inaugurated.

Published books

  • The Reaper (2006)
  • The Executioner's Daughter (2009)
  • Twilight of Man (2010)
  • The fifth direction (2012)
  • In the garden of oblivion (2013)
  • Bündner Wisp (2014)
  • Bündnerfleisch (2015)
  • Selina Gasparin (2016)
  • Shadow Child (2016)
  • Leaves Whisper (2017)
  • Grisons hunt (2019)
  • Chur 1947 (2019)
  • Grisons nightmare (2020)

Awards / prizes

  • December 2016: Number 1 award on the Swiss bestseller list (GfK Entertainment) and the Swiss Booksellers and Publishers Association (SBVV) for the book Schattenkind

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ From shadow child to successful author. Swiss Radio and Television SRF, January 19, 2017, accessed on May 2, 2017 (Swiss Standard German).
  2. ↑ BuchMarkt Verlag K. Werner GmbH: GfK Entertainment awards the Swiss author prize to Philipp Gurt | Book market. Retrieved on May 2, 2017 (German).
  3. ^ Philipp Gurt · Books. Retrieved May 2, 2017 .
personal data
SURNAME Gurt, Philipp
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss author
DATE OF BIRTH January 9, 1968
PLACE OF BIRTH Chur