Leftist publishing house founded in 1917 by intellectual Wieland Herzfelde; known for its connection to the Berlin Dada movement. Named after the novel Der Malik (The malik) by the Expressionist writer Else Lasker-Schüler. Published the four-page satirical broadsheet Jedermann sein eigner Fussball (Everyone his own soccer ball) (February 15, 1919) and its successor Die Pleite (Bankruptcy) (1919–20), both censored. Also issued the radically leftist periodical Der Gegner (The adversary) (1919–22/24), with contributions by Herzfelde and George Grosz, as well as Herzfelde's brother, artist John Heartfield, among others. After relocating to larger space near the Potsdamer Platz, opened Galerie Grosz in December 1923, enabling Grosz and other artists whose illustrations were published by Malik-Verlag, such as Heartfield, Heinrich Maria Davringhausen, Rudolf Schlichter, and Otto Schmalhausen, to exhibit and sell their works. Served primarily as publisher of acerbic, socially critical portfolios and illustrated books by Grosz; issued some ten titles, including God with Us (1920), Ecce Homo (1922), and Background (1928), which resulted in three major censorship trials. Also published numerous books of history, fiction, and theory, typically marked by leftist political agenda. Herzfelde fled to Prague in March 1933; all Malik titles were subject to Nazi confiscation and were included in the infamous book burning of May 10, 1933. Continued publishing activity in exile, first in Prague and, since 1934, also in London. Emigrated to New York in 1939 and cofounded Aurora Press with other German-speaking writers in exile in 1944.

Selected Bibliography

Faure, Ulrich. Im Knotenpunkt des Weltverkehrs: Herzfelde, Heartfield, Grosz und der Malik-Verlag, 1916–1947. Berlin: Aufbau, 1992.

Herzfelde, Wieland, ed. Der Malik-Verlag. Exh. cat. Berlin: Deutsche Akademie der Künste, 1967.