Karl Kraus was born in Jicin (Gitschin), Bohemia, (now in the Czech Republic). His family moved to Vienna when he was a child where he lived for most of his life. Kraus is considered one of the greatest stylists in the German language. In 1899 he founded Die Fackl, a satirical magazine, one of the most important journals in Vienna, which he edited until his death. As a conservative moralist he tirelessly attacked liberalism and the permissive intellectual atmosphere. His most pungent criticism, however, was turned against the corrupters of the German language. In 1898 he converted to Catholicism. He had no kind words for Judaism or Jews either, and he blamed the Jews themselves and the Jewish press for anti-Semitism.
His satirical essays have been collected in six volumes (1908-1937) amongst them Sittlichkeit und Kriminalitaet (Morality and Criminality) published in 1908 and Heine und die Folgen (Heine and the Results), in 1910. His epigrams and aphorisms appeared in four volumes (1909-1927). One of his most important works Die letzten Tage der Menschheit (The last Days of Mankind), a gigantic stage drama, could not be produced on stage due to it’s length. It wasn’t recognized until 1980 after which it appeared in nine volumes, entitled Woerte in Versen. Auswahl aus dem Werk, a selection from 11 of his works was published in 1961.
K. Kraus died in Vienna in1936.