The Last Days of Mankind () is a grotesque drama by Karl Kraus. The play is a perceptive and bitter reckoning with the horrors of World War I. One third of the play is drawn from documentary sources.Knight, Charles A. (2004) Literature of Satire p.255 Written between 1915 and 1922, the drama consists of more than 200 scenes. Kraus depicts the depths of war in all its grotesque and equally unbearable absurdity — from the cynical delusion of politicians to the disinformation of the press to indifference and dullness of the population.
The Last Days of Mankind is considered one of the most important of Kraus's works. It was written as a reading piece; the author could not imagine a performance onstage given the megalomania of the work. It has to this day never been staged in its entirety.
Preface It was written for a "Martian theater" because no earthly stage could ever fully recreate this pandemonium, according to the preface. The play wasn't released for the stage until 1928.
Most of the play is highly realistic, except the final scenes which are of expressionist genre.Knight, Charles A. (2004) Literature of Satire p.255
Performances 2004 La Mama Theatre (Melbourne), d: Justus Neumann 2014 Salzburg Festival, d: Georg Schmiedleitner 2025 Salzburg Festival, d: Dušan David PařízekSalzburger Festspiele: „Vor dem Totenbett der Zeit stehe ich …“, retrieved on 9 August 2025 2026 Peacock Theatre, Salamanca Arts Centre (Hobart), d: Justus Neumann
Notes and references
Further reading "Die letzten Tage der Menschheit" im Bunker, Spiegel Online, April 22, 1999
External links
Hanns Eisler Die letzten Tage der Menschheit, in German at Project Gutenberg Website with iconography to all scenes www.letztetage.com