05/01/2026
Kurt Tucholsky (1890–1935) was a brilliant satirist, poet and critic.
After studying law and serving in the First World War, Tucholsky left Germany in 1924. He lived initially in Paris and from 1929 in Sweden.
He contributed regularly to “Die Weltbühne”, a leading left-wing journal published by the pacifist Carl von Ossietzky, and also to “Rote Signale” (1931), a collection of communist poetry.
Using a number of pen names, including Theobald Tiger, Peter Panter, Ignaz Wrobel and Kaspar Hauser, Tucholsky contributed aphorisms, book and drama reviews, light verse, short stories, and witty satirical essays, in which he criticised German militarism and nationalism and other dehumanising forces of the modern age. His poetry was set to music and performed widely in German cabarets.
His work remains highly topical.
In 1933 Tucholsky’s works were denounced by the N**i government and banned, and he was stripped of his German citizenship.
Kurt Tucholsky committed su***de in Gothenburg in 1935, aged 45.
Der Schriftsteller Kurt Tucholsky hatte viele Talente: Er war als Journalist, Satiriker, Kabarettautor, Lyriker, Kritiker und Herausgeber erfolgreich und gilt als einer der bedeutendsten Publizisten der Weimarer Republik. Heute jährt sich sein Todestag zum 90. Mal.
