»A call to arms« An interview with Karl Kraus (1874 – 1936)
By Horst Pöttker | Karl Kraus was born on April 28, 1874 in Jičín, then in Bohemia in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, now in Czechia, and died on June 12, 1936 in Vienna. He came from an upper middle class family, who moved to the capital, Vienna, in 1877. Having begun studies in Law and Philosophy, and following initial forays as a journalist for various magazines and daily newspapers, he published the cultural policy magazine Die Fackel from 1899 until his death – for most of this time as its sole author. The book edition of his pacifist drama Die letzten Tage der Menschheit [The last days of humanity], whose enormous length meant that it was only ever performed in abridged versions, sometimes edited by the author himself, came out in 1922. As a journalist, satirist, poet and playwright, Karl Kraus was sharply critical of what he called the »yellow press« and its language. He also gave opinions on other problems, such as the questionable benefits of intellectual involvement, the accusation of antisemitism, and the rejection of the war.