Its success was stymied by politics, as the editors first clashed with the American authorities in occupied Germany in 1948, accused of being too "left-wing"[citation needed], and then after the magazine moved to the Soviet sector of Berlin, ran afoul of the Communists in 1950.

[note 1] Called "one of the most important satirical journals of the postwar period",[1] it was named after Till Eulenspiegel, a popular jester and hero from German folklore.

In High German, Eulenspiegel means "owl mirror", but he respected no authority and played practical jokes,[2] thus acting out the Plattdeutsch version of his name: ulen, "to sweep" or "clean", and Spiegel, which is hunter's jargon for "hind parts" or "backside", so that in the original Plattdeutsch, his surname means "wipe my ass", in essence, "kiss my ass".

[6] Peter de Mendelssohn, who was responsible for establishing the first American sector newspaper,[7] at the Office of Military Government, United States (OMGUS), and Carlebach acted as founding sponsors.

[1] In their journal, satire, humor, cartoons, and caricature played a special role, with artwork by Alfred Kubin, Karl Hofer, and Max Pechstein among others.

[1] Ulenspiegel took a strong anti-Nazi position, portraying Nazi concentration camps and crimes in its artwork, and declaring the complicity of the German people.

It described denazification as a half-hearted, failed exercise, and mockingly criticized the German-American partnership as an unequal and unholy alliance between ex-Nazis and dollar-wielding Americans.

[13] In an attempt to censor and punish Ulenspiegel for its editorial positions, OMGUS cut the magazine's paper allotment by one-half [13] and began to look for new editors.

Fuffzehn für Vergnügte und Verärgerte, edited by Lothar Kusche[16] was also a satirical weekly magazine briefly published by Ulenspiegel Verlag in 1949.

Ulenspiegel continued to appear, censored by the Soviets,[6] until August 1950, when its publishing license was rescinded for being too modern and "lacking a basis in the Masses".