Karl Otten

{{Short description|German writer}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

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Karl Otten (29 July 1889 Oberkrüchten – 20 March 1963, Minusio) was a German expressionist writer and broadcaster.

Karl was an anti-militarist activist during the First World War, but was arrested for his actions. On 16 November 1918 he signed the Appeal published by the Antinational Socialist Party.{{cite book|last1=Ehrenstein|author-link=Albert Ehrenstein|first1=Albert|title=Aufsätze und Essays|date=2004|publisher=Wallstein Verlag|location=Gottingen}} In 1919 he co-founded Der Gegner with Julius Guomperz.

In 1930 he met Ellen Kroner with whom he worked closely and married her in 1939.

Following the Nazi seizure of power in 1933, Otten first went to Spain and fought in the Spanish Revolution. Following its defeat he went to London, where he wrote 120 radio broadcasts for the BBC.{{cite book|last1=Ritchie|first1=J. M.|article=Expressionism in Exile|editor1-last=Behr|editor1-first=Shulamith|editor2-last=Fanning|editor2-first=David|editor3-last=Jarman|editor3-first=Douglas|title=Expressionism Reassessed|date=1993|publisher=Manchester University Press|location=Manchester}} He went blind in 1944 and later moved to Switzerland.