Cartoons from Simplicissimus, 1896.
Thomas Theodor Heine was a German art painter and (satirical) artist. Although raised in a Jewish family, Heine eventually converted to Protestantism. He studied at the Düsseldorf Art Academy from 1884 to 1889, then settled in Münich, where he took on painting and did contributions to the magazines Fliegende Blätter and Die Jugend. He was also involved in design and typography, and has designed several posters for the Berliner Secession around the turn of the century.
Simplicissimus covers of issues #34 and 36 of volume 2.
Heine was one of the founding artists of the satirical magazine Simplicissimus, together with Albert Langen, in 1896. Heine and his team satirized everything, from everyday life to the emperor and the church. They were pressed charges on several occasions. In 1899 Heine even served prison time for a couple of months on the accusation of lèse-majesté.
Text comic from Simplicissimus #2, 1897.
With the rise of antisemitism in Germany, Heine encountered difficulties to maintain his position on the editorial board of the magazine. Heine wanted to continue and criticize Nazism, but the other editors saw him as a risk, because of his Jewish background.
Cover illustrations for Simplicissimus, respectively 11 May 1914 and 6 July 1931.
The editorial offices of Simplicissimus were raided by the Sturm Abteilung in 1933, but thanks to the intervention of sculptor Karl Loesche and writer Hans Kiener of the Ministry of Internal Affairs the magazine could continue its publication. However, Heine was removed from his function, which he later blamed on fellow editors like Olaf Gulbransson.
Pantomime comic from Simplicissimus #6, 1927.
Heine had to go into hiding, and fled from Hamburg and Berlin to Prague. In Prague, he tried to launch an alternative version of Simplicissimus, but the magazine lasted for only a couple of months. Heine then moved to Oslo and eventually Stockholm, while his wife and daughter were living in a pension in Munich, because of the confiscation of all of the family's possessions.
Simplicissimus #37, 1932.
Cover illustration for Simplicissimus 27 April 1931, depicting Adolf Hitler as Baron Münchausen in the famous scene where this literary character is sitting on half of his horse. Translation: "And even if half of the party went to the Devil - as long as my half remains up front, I don't care."