Karl Kraus (April 28, 1874 to June 12, 1936) was an Austrian writer whose fame as a satirist is most often caught today in his aphorisms. He criticized all aspects of German culture, such as psychoanalysis, nationalism, laissez-faire economics. His play, The last days of mankind: a tragedy in five acts,(1922) includes this scenario:
Naschkatz (nibbling cat), speak[s] into the ears of the dead soldiers. [The scene includes a].... tango of the hyenas around the corpses and their ghostlike burlesque song on the delights of forcing up prices...
Inherited wealth allowed Kraus his own newspaper, Die Fackel. or in English, The Torch, from which to conduct his attack on corruption and hypocrisy. He also supported a number of other artists. Money was a thin shelter from Nazi hysteria.
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