Erich Knauf

Erich Knauf (21 February 1895 – 2 May 1944) was a German journalist, writer, and songwriter. He was executed for making jokes about the Nazi regime.

Biography Knauf was born in Meerane, Saxony, the son of a tailor and party secretary of the Social Democratic Party. The family later moved to Gera, where he learned the typesetting trade. After the First World War, Knauf went to university, studying history, political economy and culture.

He was a close friend of Erich Kästner and Erich Ohser (pen name, e. o. plauen) and together, they became known as "the three Erichs from Saxony". An erotic poem by Kästner, with a frivolous illustration by Ohser, became a scandal, forcing all three to leave Saxony, whereupon Knauf moved to Berlin. After the Nazi Party seized power in 1933, the guild became "nazified" and Knauf quit in disgust, taking his secretary, Erna Donath with him. Knauf and Donath then got married.

Knauf was arrested on 28 March 1944. On 6 April 1944 he was sentenced to death by judge Roland Freisler at the Volksgerichtshof for "undermining military morale" and "denigrating the Führer" (Wehrkraftzersetzung and Verunglimpfung des Führers).

Legacy

Kästner wrote an essay about the bill received by Knauf's widow. There is a commemorative plaque for Knauf and Ohser at Am Feldberg 3 in Kaulsdorf, where Knauf and Ohser were living at the time they were denounced. The plaque was installed in 1999.

There are streets named for Knauf in Brandenburg an der Havel, Plauen and Zwickau.

In 1998, Wolfgang Eckert published a biography of Erich Knauf, written from his 1985 interviews with Knauf's widow. In 1987, she bequeathed all of Knauf's papers and all rights to his works to Eckert.