"Born in Berlin in 1891, John Heartfield grew up in Germany during the formative years of the main modern movements: Expressionism, Cubism, Futurism, each of which contributed recognisably to the photomontages for which he would become famous. Sharply critical of the Weimar Republic in which he flourished, in Germany his work was banned for the duration of Hitler's Third Reich. In London, where he lived as an anti-Fascist exile throughout the Second World War, he remained an outsider till after his return to East Germany in 1950, It is only since the 1970s that he has become a European, if not a world figure."--Cover

" Né à Berlin en 1891, John Heartfield grandit en Allemagne à l'époque où apparaissent les grands mouvements modernes - expressionnisme, cubisme, futurisme - dont l'empreinte est reconnaissable dans les photomontages qui le rendront célèbre. Violemment critique à l'égard de la République de Weimar qui voit grandir son talent, son œuvre est interdite en Allemagne pendant tout le Troisième Reich hitlérien. A Londres, où il passe toute la période de la guerre comme exilé anti-fasciste, il reste une figure marginale, même après son retour en Allemagne de l'Est en 1950. Ce n'est qu'à partir des années soixante-dix que sa reconnaissance devient générale en Europe, sinon dans le monde. "

The political collages of John Heartfield (1891-1968) have earned him a reputation as one of the most innovative graphic artists of the Weimar Republic. His photomontages and book covers based on collages which had their origins in Berlin's Dada scene were directed against Fascism and made him internationally famous. Their explosive power has lost none of its impact. Heartfield was a sharp and uncompromising observer who subverted the documentary character of the press photograph. He employed his art as political propaganda, and fought against war and Fascism with gripping pictures and trenchant humour. This catalogue will include not only the working materials which reveal Heartfield's method but also his trick films, work for the theatre and book design. The original art-works and documents all derive from his personal estate in Berlin. Statements by contemporary artists formulate positions and pose questions, which Heartfield's work raises in the age of fake news. Exhibition: Akademie der Künste, Berlin, Germany (21.03. - 21.06.2020) / Museum de Fundatie, Zwolle, The Netherlands (27.09.2020 - 03.01.2021) / Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK (27.06. - 26.09.2021).

"Kurt Tucholsky (1890-1935) achieved popular success in Germany before the First World War with a witty and sensitive novel of young love. But he is best known for his work as a satirist and critic, most of it written as a left-wing journalist in Berlin during the twenties and the years leading up to the Nazis, the fateful Weimar years. He is considered by some an exemplar of the intemperately critical spirit that doomed Weimar--a cautionary and bitter footnote to an era; by others, an indispensable moral and prophetic voice of the period, basically correct in his assessments and values." -- Book jacket.

This is an authoritative history of the twelve years of the Third Reich from its political takeover of January 30, 1939 to the German capitulation in May 1945.

Reproduces (translated into English) contemporary documents or writings with an introduction to each section.

Among the many studies on German National Socialism that have appeared in the last forty to fifty years, one aspect has seldom been treated in detail: the cultural representations of Adolf Hitler from the late 1920s to the present. This book focuses on the image of Hitler in literature, photography, historiography, film, philosophy, theatre, and comic books by major artists and scholars such as Ernst Ottwalt, Heinrich Hoffmann, Bertolt Brecht, John Hearfield, Leni Riefenstahl, Charles Chaplin, Theodor W. Adorno, Heiner Muller, and George Tabori.