Satire or Sympathy? The Fate of Germany as Perceived by the German Publicist Kurt Tucholsky

Abstract

The author examines the development of Kurt Tucholsky’s personality and his attitude towards Germany’s historical path. Kurt Tucholsky was a famous publicist, poet and satirist. The publications he worked with became certain stages of expressing his position on the fate of Germany. As early as in primary school, Tucholsky had developed a patriotic attitude towards his country. By the age of 14, his views started to change and were expressed in dissatisfaction with the policies of the ruling elite and in anti-militarism. These feelings grew even stronger During World War I. Tucholsky’s first serious attempt at writing was his work for the newspaper Vorwärts, in which he exposed the vices of the Prussian political system, often using satire. The main platform for his creativity in satirical form was the Ulk magazine; however, neither the staff nor the readers appreciated Tucholsky’s forthright statements about the problems of German society, so he left Ulk. Tucholsky was able to fully reveal his talent in the magazine Die Weltbühne, in which he freely expounded his position on anti-militarism and the path to transforming Germany. In Die Weltbühne, he received broad support from his colleagues S. Jacobson and C. von Ossietzky. His ideas were noticed by the communist W. Münzenberg, and Tucholsky was invited to the newspaper Arbeiter-Illustrierte-Zeitung. While working with Münzenberg, he persistently criticized the elite of Wilhelmine Germany, which had remained basically unchanged in the Weimar Republic. Tucholsky’s expression of his attitude towards Germany reached its apogee in the book Deutschland, Deutschland über alles, filled with satire. However, in the concluding chapter, his true attitude towards the country comes to light, permeated by sympathy and hope for change.