He also became politically engaged: in 1917 he started to publish the periodical Der Ziegelbrenner (The Brick Burner) with a clearly anarchistic profile (its last issue appeared in 1921).

What is more, Otto Feige's father was a potter, which would correspond with the title of the periodical "Der Ziegelbrenner" ("The Brick Burner") published by Marut.

Traven's fear of being sent back to Germany stemmed, Mrs. Lujan said, from his involvement in revolutionary politics immediately after World War I as an editor of a fiery anarchist journal called Der Ziegelbrenner (The Brick Burner).