Kurt Tucholsky

Kurt Tucholsky
Tucholsky in Paris, 1928
Tucholsky in Paris, 1928
Born(1890-01-09)9 January 1890
Berlin, German Empire
Died21 December 1935(1935-12-21) (aged 45)
Gothenburg, Sweden
OccupationJournalist, author

Kurt Tucholsky (German: [kʊʁt tu.ˈxɔls.ki] ⓘ; 9 January 1890 – 21 December 1935) was a German journalist, satirist, and writer. He also wrote under the pseudonyms Kaspar Hauser (after the historical figure), Peter Panter, Theobald Tiger and Ignaz Wrobel.

A politically engaged journalist and temporary co-editor of the weekly magazine Die Weltbühne, he was simultaneously a satirist, an author of satirical political revues, a songwriter, and a poet. He saw himself as a left-wing democrat and pacifist and warned against anti-democratic tendencies — above all in politics and the military — and the threat of Nazism. His fears were confirmed when the Nazis came to power in January 1933. In May of that year he was among the authors whose works were banned as "un-German"[1] and burned;[2] he was also among the first authors and intellectuals whose German citizenship was revoked.[3][4]

According to Istvan Deak, Tucholsky was Weimar Germany's most controversial political and cultural commentator. He published over 2,000 essays, manifestos, poems, critiques, aphorisms, and stories.

In his writings he hit hard at his main enemies in Germany, whom he identified as haughty aristocrats, bellicose army officers, brutal policemen, reactionary judges, anti-republican officials, hypocritical clergymen, tyrannical professors, dueling fraternity students, ruthless capitalists, philistine burghers, opportunistic Jewish businessmen, fascistic petty-bourgeois, Nazis, even peasants, whom he considered generally dumb and conservative….He is admired as an unsurpassed master of satire, of the short character sketch, and of the Berlin jargon.[5]

His literary works were translated into English, including the 1912 Rheinsberg: Ein Bilderbuch für Verliebte, translated as Rheinsberg: A Storybook for Lovers; and the 1931 Schloss Gripsholm: Eine Sommergeschichte, translated as Castle Gripsholm: A Summer Story.

  1. ^ "German Book Dealers Ban Works of 12 Noted Authors" (article preview only; subscription required). New York Times. 17 May 1933. Retrieved 22 May 2017. "A blacklist of twelve 'un-German' authors whose works are to be barred from the German book trade has been compiled by the German Bookdealers' Association and the Militant League of German Culture." Kurt Tucholsky is among the 12 authors named in the article, and his four pen names are also noted.
  2. ^ "Kurt Tucholsky". Encyclopædia Britannica. britannica.com. Retrieved 22 May 2017.
  3. ^ Freeman, Thomas (1997). "1914. Kurt Tucholsky withdraws from the Jewish community", in Sander L. Gilman and Jack Zipes (Eds.), Yale Companion to Jewish Writing and Thought in German Culture, 1096–1996. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300068245. pp. 327–335; here: p. 332. "[Carl Ossietzky and Kurt Tucholsky] were both among the first writers and intellectuals whose books were burned and whose citizenship was revoked."
  4. ^ "8.6.1935 [8 June 1935]: German writers stripped of their citizenship". Today in History. Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
  5. ^ Istvan Deak, "Tucholsky, Karl," in Dieter K. Buse and Juergen Doerr, eds. Modern Germany: An Encyclopedia of History, People, and Culture 1871–1990 (1998) 2: 1016.