Simplicissimus

Simplicissimus (German: [zɪmplɪˈtsɪsɪmʊs]) was a German weekly satirical magazine, founded by Albert Langen in April 1896 and headquartered in Munich. It was interrupted by a hiatus from 1944–1954, became a biweekly in 1964, and ceased publication in 1967. Simplicissimus took its name from the protagonist of Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen's 1668 novel Der Abenteuerliche Simplicissimus Teutsch, which is regarded as the first adventure novel in the German language and the first German novel masterpiece. Combining brash and politically daring content with a bright, immediate, and surprisingly modern graphic style, Simplicissimus published the work of writers such as Thomas Mann and Rainer Maria Rilke. Its most reliable targets for caricature were stiff Prussian military figures and rigid German social and class distinctions, as seen from the more relaxed, liberal atmosphere of Munich. Contributors included Hermann Hesse, Gustav Meyrink, Fanny zu Reventlow, Jakob Wassermann, Frank Wedekind, Heinrich Kley, Alfred Kubin, Otto Nückel, Robert Walser, Heinrich Zille, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Heinrich Mann, Lessie Sachs, and Erich Kästner. Although the magazine's satirical nature was largely indulged by the German government, an 1898 cover mocking Kaiser Wilhelm's pilgrimage to Ottoman Palestine resulted in the issue being confiscated. Langen, the publisher, spent five years' exile in Switzerland and was fined 30,000 German gold marks. A six-month prison sentence was given to the cartoonist Thomas Theodor Heine and seven months to the writer Frank Wedekind. All the defendants were charged with "insulting a royal majesty." Again, in 1906, the editor Ludwig Thoma was imprisoned for six months for attacking the clergy. These controversies only served to increase circulation, which peaked at about 85,000 copies. Upon Germany's entry into World War I, the weekly dulled its satirical tone, began supporting the war effort, and considered closing down. Thereafter, the strongest political satire expressed in graphics became the...