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1874-1936 |
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1874-1936 Biography Karl Kraus was born on April 28, 1874 in Gitschin, Bohemia. His father was a wealthy Jewish papermaker who supported his son financially throughout his life. In 1877, the family moved to Vienna. After the Gymnasium, Kraus first studied Law at the University of Vienna but decided to switch to Philosophy and German Literature two years later. During his four years at the university he contributed to the paper Wiener Literaturzeitung. In 1896, Kraus dropped out of university without earning a degree. He had been a frequent visitor of Café Griensteidl and had become a member of the group Jung Wien. In 1897, however, Kraus published his satire Die demolierte Literatur, in which he delineated the animosity he felt towards his contemporaries including many of his fellow writers at Griensteidl. In another essay entitled Eine Krone für Zion he ferociously attacked Theodor Herzl for his Zionist movement. Kraus renounced his Jewish faith one year later. He joined the Catholic Church in 1911 but renounced his faith again in 1923. In 1899, Kraus founded his own newspaper, Die Fackel, a small journal with a bright red cover and a sketch of a torch. Kraus was the sole editor and publisher and, for long periods of time, the only contributor. The journal existed until his death, resulting in 37 volumes which were published on an infrequent basis. Kraus used his journal as a venue to harshly criticize current politics, the Habsburg Empire and the hypocritical Viennese society. His criticism was often scathing and his urge to tell the truth unrelenting. At the beginning many authors and artists such as Peter Altenberg, Else Lasker-Schüler, Adolf Loos, August Strindberg, and Oscar Wilde contributed to his journal but after 1911 Kraus mainly published his own articles. With the benefit of only his own funds, he could choose his topics without restraints, frequently targeting the corruption of journalists whom he considered his enemies like Alfred Kerr or Hermann Bahr. Kraus was not only known for his writings but in particular for his public performances. His public readings were extremely popular and he fascinated his audience with his eloquence. Between 1892 and 1936 he gave 700 performances where he, an actor manqué, would read pieces by Bertolt Brecht or Goethe and pay attention to every detail in the form of dialect, mimic or gestures. Even though he was a gifted entertainer on stage, he was rather a recluse in real life and enormously nervous before his performances. Kraus' most noted play is generally considered Die letzten Tage der Menschheit, which depicts the cruelties of World War I. It is a gigantic montage of war propaganda and portraits of Kraus’ minor and major protagonists. Both allegory and anti-war drama, it highlights brutality, harshness, and desperation associated with wartime. Kraus never married, but the two women that were most dear to his heart were Annie Kalmar and the Baroness Sidonie Nádherný. With the latter he had a close relationship until his death but never married her for class reasons. In general, Kraus had a very ambiguous relationship to women: on the one hand he was a fervent advocate of gender equality, but on the other hand he considered women to be intellectually inferior and rather emotional creatures. Kraus died on June 12, 1936 in Vienna. -Gabi Eichmanns-
