Complex sentence: In 1881, Eugene's father sent him to America to escape the Kaiser's military draft and to hide some of his father's socialist literature; the literature had already landed Joseph in jail a few years before.
Split into simpler sentences: In 1881, Eugene's father Joseph sent him to America in order to escape the draft of the Kaiser as well as to hide some of his father's socialist literature. Eugene had to safeguard his father's literature because it had already landed Joseph in jail a few years before.