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.

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.

Knauf was a member of the Independent Social Democratic Party, an editor of the newspaper, "Plauener Volkszeitung".

In Berlin, Knauf began directing the Büchergilde Gutenberg (Gutenberg Book Guild) in 1928. In 1930, Knauf published a semi-autobiographical novel, Ça ira ("It will" in French) about his experiences during the Kapp Putsch of the Weimar republic. 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.

In 1934, he wrote a critical review of Carmen at the German state opera, angering Ministerpräsident Hermann Göring, who was a patron of the opera house. Göring had Knauf arrested by the Gestapo. He spent three months in protective custody in Sachsenhausen concentration camp and was expelled from all professional associations, as had Kästner and Ohser previously experienced.

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