We were to play at being postmen and to deliver the 'Lokalanzeiger', this odious, warmongering newspaper, to the petit bourgeoisie of the district of Grunewald along with their letters. At Christmas, it was in 1914 – at that time we had been promised that the war would be long over – we were ordered to go to the post office in Grunewald. And when we marched to Hallesches Tor and we ordinary people could be seen, the people shouted at us: 'Ah, Germany's last resort' and we replied: 'Germany's very last'. I was never allowed to leave the Kaiser Franz Josef barracks. I joined the Kaiser Franz Josef regiment in Neukölln. 'I was drafted as early as September 1914 and joined the guard. Heartfield creates his first photomontage So sieht der Heldentod aus! Hellmuth Herzfeld takes on the name John Heartfield in order to protest against the anti-British hate campaign Heartfield destroys his early art works, mostly landscape paintings Release from military service, allegedly due to a simulated mental condition.

Military service at the infantry regiment N☂ of the Kaiser-Franz-Garde in Berlin

John Heartfield, Curriculum vitae, 1951, JHA 666.12 At that time, I was in receipt of a scholarship from the City of Berlin Charlottenburg.' But I wanted to be a freelance artist and moved to Berlin a year later to attend Charlottenburg College of Applied Arts and Crafts, where I continued my studies until the outbreak of the First World War. I earned my fees through my own craftwork. In 1908, I went to Munich to attend Munich College of Applied Arts. 'In Wiesbaden, I became an apprentice at a book shop that belonged to the husband of one of my mother's sisters, but I didn't stay there for long, but instead wanted to be an artist and took lessons with a painter. He wins first price for a mural he designs for the Werkbund exhibition in Cologne Heartfield studies at the Kunst- und Handwerkerschule Berlin-Charlottenburg, (his professors include Ernst Neumann) Participation in various poster competitions Heartfield's first book design for Ausgewählte Werke, a book by his father Franz Held is published Work as a graphic designer for advertisement with the printing firm Gebrüder Bauer, Mannheim He takes up studies at the Royal School of Applied Arts in Munich Heartfield paints The Hut in the Forest for his sister Hertha 'Ĭharlotte Herzfeld on a postcard to Wieland Herzfelde, ca. So said Uncle Ignaz, you can no longer remember that of course. Only ten days after I was born, Mama moved to the corner house on Aignerallee with us. 'Dear Wieland, the house in the middle in front of the Gaisberg Mountain is my birthplace. John Heartfield, Curriculum Vitae, 1951, JHA 666.12 Then, at the age of fourteen, I came to Wiesbaden (1905) after I had finished primary school.' 'I lost my parents in 1899 and lived with various families as an orphan until 1905 in Salzburg, Austria with a country innkeeper and with a postman. He returns to live with the Varnschein familyĪpprenticeship as a book dealer in Wiesbaden. Hellmuth Herzfeld attends elementary school having allegedly been involved in a 'students' revolt', he is sent to the reformatory Johannäum in Salzburg. A year later Helene Stolzenberg, an aunt who lives in Wiesbaden, is appointed legal custodian for the Herzfeld children The parents disappear under unknown circumstances and abandon their children.

And yet it moves john heartfield