Holtz, Karl (1899 - 1978)

During the November Revolution in Germany after the First World War, Karl Holtz’s cartoons were published in the newspaper The Red Flag and the journal Die Aktion. Holtz took part in 1919 in the fighting in Berlin. From 1920 to 1923 he traveled through Germany, Italy, France and Tunisia. He drew cartoons for the anti-Nazi magazine Der Wahre Jacob, which was closed down when Hitler came to power in 1933. After the Second World War Holtz lived in East Germany where he participated in the Ulenspiegel magazine.nWhen the Swiss satirical magazine Nebelspalter published a caricature of Stalin by him, Holtz was arrested. A Soviet military court sentenced him in 1949 to a prison sentence of 25 years, which was enforced in Bautzen prison. On 25 July 1956, he was released by way of a pardon, but was not in rehabilitation at that time.