Emil Kloth, chairman of the German Bookbinders' Association from 1904 to 1919, has received little attention in the historiography of trade unions. He is known for his journalistic work, his two-volume history of the bookbinders' association from 1910/1913, and a publication titled Social Democracy and Judaism from 1920. After joining the trade union and social democracy during the Socialist Law in the 1880s, Kloth had a rapid career in the trade union movement and, starting in 1914, supported the war policy of the German Empire, like the vast majority of union leaders. However, unlike most of his former colleagues, he did not pursue a path of democratic trade union work after the war but instead aligned himself with various positions within the right-national spectrum.