e.o.plauen

Erich Ohser, universally known by his pen name E. O. Plauen, was born on 18 March 1903 in the German town of Plauen (the source of his pseudonym). He is best remembered for his wordless newspaper strip *Vater und Sohn* ("Father and Son"), a warm, gently humorous series that ran from 1934 to 1937. After studying art and working as a political cartoonist, Ohser found a safer creative outlet with the apolitical family strip during the Nazi era. His signature style was clean, expressive linework, relying on pantomime and subtle body language to tell complete stories without dialogue. The strip’s success led to several collected editions, including *Die schönsten Geschichten von Vater und Sohn* and *Ich male Vater und Sohn*, which later saw international publication as *Vater und Sohn - Père et fils*. Tragically, Ohser was arrested in 1944 for anti-regime remarks; he died by suicide in his cell on 5 April 1944. Though his life was cut short, *Vater und Sohn* remained in print for decades, with his work credited in collections well into the 2010s. Posthumous honors include a major retrospective at the Wilhelm Busch Museum and a commemorative stamp issued by the German postal service.