Karl Kraus (1874-1936), a multi-faceted talent, including poet, actor, and journalist, is considered a controversial figure of fin-de-siècle Vienna. A Jew by birth, Kraus converted to Catholicism in 1911 and became increasingly vocal in his anti-Semitism; he is often referred to as a self-hating Jew. He is best remembered as the editor of the magazine Die Fackel [The Torch], his forum to castigate the decadence and aestheticism of Viennese society and its hypocrisy.