Karl
Arnold was
born in Germany in 1883. After training
as a painter his cartoons began appearing in German magazines such
as Die
Jugend
and the Munchener
Illustrierte Presse.
In 1907 he started contributing to Simplicissimus.
He soon became a staff artist and a shareholder in the magazine.
Arnold, like most of those working for Simplicissimus,
was opposed to the foreign policy of the German government before
the outbreak of the First World War. However,
once fighting began, Simplicissimus
gave its full support to the war effort. Ludwig
Thoma, the editor, later reported: "All of us had supported
peace. With no cautious reservations we had denounced the personal
rule and all its harmful manifestations. But once the war was there
nothing mattered but our own country."
After the war Simplicissimus
led the campaign
against the Versailles Treaty. In
the 1920s Simplicissimus
defended the Weimar Republic against threats from the revolutionary
left and right-wing nationalism. It strongly opposed Adolf
Hitler and the right-wing press accused
Simplicissimus
of being under the control of the Jews.
Whereas some
German artists such as George Grosz and
John Heartfied portrayed Adolf
Hitler as dangerous and immoral, Arnold made him look silly. One
active member of the Nazi Party once asked
Arnold: "Do we really look the way you draw us?" and he
replied, "Yes, and if some knew how they look, they wouldn't
dare show themselves in the street."
When the Nazis gained power in 1933 stormtroopers
arrived at the offices of Simplicissimus
and some of the cartoonists, such as Thomas
Heine and Walter Trier left the country
but Arnold carried on working at the magazine and during the Second
World War produced pro-Hitler cartoons.
After the Second World War Karl
Arnold emigrated
to the United States where he lived until his
death in 1953.
Karl
Arnold, Simplicissimus (15th
May, 1932)
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