Catalogue description Helmut Franz Josef HERZFELD, alias John HEARTFIELD: German. HERZFELD, who invariably...

Helmut Franz Josef HERZFELD, alias John HEARTFIELD: German. HERZFELD, who invariably used the anglicised version of his name, was identified by KRIVITSKY (KV 2/802) in February 1940 as an OGPU, and formerly GRU, agent. He is almost certainly identical with a cartoonist connected with the GRU network run by Alexander RADO in Germany 1926-33. Born in Berlin, HERZFELD trained as an artist and was a pioneer of the technique of photomontage. He joined the German Communist Party (KPD) in 1917 and thereafter filled numerous senior KPD propaganda-related posts. He visited Russia in 1931. Forced to leave Germany in 1933, HERZFELD applied unsuccessfully to come to the UK. He was given a UK transit visa in 1938 for travel to the USA with his brother Weiland. Weiland went, but HERZFELD stayed in London. He was interned 1939-40, being released on health grounds. He then played a prominent part in the"Free German League of Culture", a KPD"front" organisation. HERZFELD remained in London until 1950 when he took up an academic post in the German Democratic Republic. He died in East Germany in 1968. The file shows early and continuing contact with RADO's family, and much information on HERZFELD's overt propaganda activities for the KULTURBUND. KRIVITSKY's allegations did not however start to be investigated until 1949