In 1918, John Heartfield becomes a founding member of Berlin Club Dada.
On December 30, he joins the German Communist Party (KPD), together with his brother, Wieland, George Grosz, and Erwin Piscator.
The KPD was one of two communist parties in Germany. The KPD was the party that was the greatest opposition to the rise of Adolf Hitler’s National Socialist Party. Hitler’s National Socialist Party would come to be known by its opponents as The Nazi Party.
The members of the KPD were in direct opposition to the other German communist party, the SPD. The KPD were convinced the SPD were closely aligned with Hitler’s National Socialists.
On May 13, 1918, Heartfield’s son, Tom George Heartfield, is born. As an adult, Tom Heartfield fought as an American Army soldier during World War II. After the war, he spent the remainder of his life in New York City, chasing the American Dream.
John Heartfield and Tom Heartfield always remain very close. Tom is a lifelong admirer and supporter of his father, both financially and emotionally.
Tom Heartfield and his wife, Lina (an Italian Partisan) were the parents of the exhibition’s curator, John Joseph Heartfield. It is because Tom treasure every memento of his father’s life that the John J Heartfield Collection exists today.