Christian Kaiser Publishing House

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Publisher's logo as a weather vane on Albert Lempps house in Munich-Schwabing

The Christian Kaiser Verlag was founded in 1845 by Wilhelm Heinrich Christian Emperor (1814-1866) in Munich founded and specialized early on Protestant writings. The publisher became known by publishing works by Karl Barth and Dialectical Theology . During the period of National Socialism , Kaiser-Verlag published publications by the Confessing Church , which was critical of the regime , which led to the closure of the publishing house by the National Socialists in 1943 . The publishing house was re-established in 1946, remained true to its tradition and was taken over by the Gütersloh publishing house in 1993 .

history

1845 to the First World War

After Wilhelm Heinrich Christian Kaiser had completed a four-year book trade apprenticeship, he applied for the so-called book trade commission in a Stuttgart branch of the Cotta literary and artistic establishment and at the Chamber of the Interior of the royal government of Upper Bavaria. But it was only after tough negotiations with the magistrate that Kaiser was granted the license in 1845. Then he was able to open his first bookstore opposite the Residenztheater at Residenzstrasse 18. Twelve years later, Kaiser bought the house at Residenzstrasse 24 and expanded its display and warehouse there.

At the beginning the range had no real profile. He had success with home, trade fair and travel guides as well as with militaria . Kaiser expanded his publishing program from 1850 and was able to make considerable profits by selling books with the help of colportage in southern Germany. With this, the publishing house took the step from the in-house publishing house of the small Protestant community in Munich and a collection point for Protestant scholars to a supraregional publishing house that was listed in the Leipzig Stock Exchange from 1856 onwards.

Kaiser died in 1866. For the next 31 years, his wife Albertine Kaiser took care of the business. The publishing share in the company decreased more and more. When the children died before their mother, Albertine Kaiser was forced to lease the bookstore. The company was sold to Oskar Haßler in 1892 , who took over all employees.

In 1911, the 27-year-old Albert Lempp (1884–1943) acquired the company. Lempp is still considered to be one of the most important Protestant publishers. He opened a new bookstore at the town hall and at the same time expanded the publishing program again. In this context, Christian Kaiser Verlag gradually included the writings of "free" Bavarian Protestantism in its program. Three liberal Protestant theologians from Nuremberg were particularly important: Pastor Friedrich Rittelmeyer (1872–1938) (co-founder and arch superior of the Christian Community ), Pastor Christian Geyer (1862–1929) and theologian Georg Schott (1882–1962), who later sympathized with the National Socialists . They all had violent arguments with the Munich Evangelical Lutheran senior consistory . During the First World War (1914-1918), various "patriotic" titles were included in the publishing program, as was the case with many other cultural publishers.

Weimar Republic - publisher of dialectical theology

At the beginning of the Weimar Republic (1918 / 19–1933) there was a decisive turning point in the history of the publishing house: Georg Merz (1892–1959), pastor in Munich-Laim and friend of Lempp, came across a text published in 1919 in Baeschlin in Bern The publisher was: the expressionist- anti-historical Roman letter commentary by Karl Barth (1886–1968). Merz was enthusiastic about Barth's remarks and prophesied that Barth would determine the course of theology for a long time. Despite the euphoric response from Protestant theologians, the Swiss publisher was only able to sell a few hundred copies. On Merz's advice, Lempp bought up the remaining edition and was able to sell it quickly, so that a new edition was printed in 1922, which was then published by Christian Kaiser Verlag. This was the breakthrough for Karl Barth. He became one of the most important Protestant theologians of the 20th century and had a decisive influence on the then new, anti-liberal dialectical theology ( God's Word Theology ), the most important medium of which was the Kaiser Verlag. The second edition of Karl Barth's " Der Römerbrief " was particularly successful, as was the epoch-making journal dialectical theology " Zwischen der Zeiten ", which appeared in eleven volumes from 1922 to 1933 (the follow-up journal appeared until 1942).

Rudolf Bultmann

Georg Merz was given the job of chief lecturer at Kaiser-Verlag and from then on acted as theological advisor to Lempp. In addition to Karl Barth, Merz also published the writings of other contemporary theologians such as Eduard Thurneysen , Rudolf Bultmann and Friedrich Gogarten at Christian Kaiser Verlag and published theological series - e.g. B. "Between the Times" , "Theological Existence Today" , "Evangelical Theology" , "Theological Studies" or "Confessing Church" . With this the Kaiser-Verlag made " kerygmatic theology " known in Germany.

Despite the success, the publishing program remained relatively small. Only five to 16 titles were advertised annually between 1919 and 1930. In addition, series have been published - e.g. B. the Münchner Wanderbuch (six books - 1922 to 1925), the Münchner Laienspiele (137 books - 1923 to 1939), the individual works from the church history of Bavaria (20 volumes - 1925 to 1940) or the yearbook of the Luther Society (1926 to 1936) . The publishing program also included a range of magazines: Several volumes of the pacifist-ecumenical quarterly journal Die Eiche (9th - 16th year - 1921 to 1928) (edited by Friedrich Siegmund-Schultze ), which is the German equivalent of the British magazine The Peacemaker (since 1915 : The Goodwill ) as well as the magazine for Bavarian Church History (1st – 15th year - 1926 to 1940), the Christian German Voices (12th – 16th year - 1932 to 1936), Das Deutsche Volksspiel (1st - 5th year - 1933 to 1939) (supported by the Reich Office for the Promotion of Spiritual Literature ) or the Evangelische Schulblatt (68th-71st year - 1934 to 1937, 72nd year from 1938 with a new title: Evangelical instruction ) .

Friedrich Siegmund Schultze

Through his work as a publisher, Albert Lempp and Christian Kaiser Verlag made Catholic Munich an important center for Protestant theologians, although at that time there was no Protestant theological faculty at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich . The support of his friend and chief lecturer Pastor Georg Merz was essential. Conversely, Lempp was an outstanding publisher for Merz, who, according to Merz, could "smell" important literature and at the same time had the courage to publish these titles later - despite the reprisals of the Nazis.

Albert Lempp bought the house at Isabellastraße 20 in Schwabing in the 1920s . It served the Christian Kaiser Verlag as a publishing house until it was sold by the family in 1986 together with the bookstore in the town hall. The Kassel illustrator , wood cutter , book and lettering artist Fritz Lometsch (1900–1992) gave Christian Kaiser Verlag a characteristic appearance by 1924 at the latest and also designed the publisher's logo .

Even when Lempp's bank "Ruederer & Lang" went bankrupt from July 1931 due to losses, the publishing house was able to continue to operate smoothly. With the support of the Notgemeinschaft der Deutschen Wissenschaft , Peter Barth (1888–1940) (brother of Karl Barth) published a critical, five-volume Calvin edition at Christian Kaiser Verlag between 1926 and 1936 .

Period of National Socialism - publisher of the Confessing Church

Theological Existence Today , Issue 1 (1933)

During the period of National Socialism (1933–1945), Christian Kaiser Verlag was an important publisher of the Confessing Church, which was critical of the regime, and also published programmatic texts such as Karl Barth's "Theologische Leben heute" (1933). In a series of the same name, individual titles such as "Reformation as a decision" (1933), "Revelation, Church, Theology" (1934) or "God's will and our wishes" (1934) appeared. From 1935, the series "Confession Sermons" was included in the publisher's program. 1939 appeared "Again it is written" by Hans Asmussen (1898-1968) and since 1940 has been preaching and research of the Evangelical Theology settled semi-annually.

The publication of these texts was not without consequences: From 1934 onwards, books were confiscated in Lempp's bookshop on Marienplatz, and works were repeatedly banned by the Nazi regime. When Lempp continued to publish writings of the Confessing Church in addition to the drawing by the imprisoned Penzberg vicar Karl Steinbauer "View from the Weilheim prison cell" , he was finally excluded from the Reich Press Chamber in 1937 as "unreliable".

In 1939 he was expelled from the Reichsschrifttumskammer after further publishing titles were banned. In 1940 it was forced to rename the publishing house to "Ev. Verlag A. Lempp / Munich formerly Chr. Kaiser Verlag" . In 1943, all works that were published between 1940 and 1943 were finally confiscated. The editing of the Reichsschrifttumsstelle of the Reich Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda carried out a manuscript check, which led to the fact that the publishing house was finally closed and the old production stocks were removed for "war-related" reasons. Lempp himself did not experience this anymore, since he died on June 9, 1943 at the age of 59 as a result of a stroke.

The most prominent authors of Kaiser-Verlag in the Nazi era were, besides those already mentioned, among others Paul Althaus (1888–1966), Rudolf Bultmann (1884–1976), Emil Brunner (1889–1966), Gerhard Ebeling (1912–2001) , Karl Heim (1874–1958) Walther von Loewenich (1903–1992) or Eduard Thurneysen (1888–1974).

post war period

Dietrich Bonhoeffer in August 1939

After the Second World War , the publishing house was re-established in early 1946 and remained true to its tradition. Furthermore, theological writings of the Word of God theologies and the Confessing Church , which were influenced by Karl Barth, were published. This included B. the series of publications "Theological Existence Today" , which appeared for the first time in 1933 and served as a forum for theologians who felt obliged to Barth.

Important works of the publishing program of the 1950s included the sermon volumes Martin Niemöller (1892-1984), by Helmut Gollwitzer (1908-1993) published collection "You got me haunted by night. Farewell letters and records of resistance 1933-1945" (1954 ) and the letters of Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906–1945) from his estate ( "Resistance and Forgiveness" ). Later other writings appeared that dealt with Dietrich Bonhoeffer and had a lasting impact on his image and perception - such as the biography of Bonhoeffer by Eberhard Bethge (1909–2000), first published in 1967 by Christian Kaiser Verlag . Finally, Christian Kaiser Verlag also published a critical complete edition by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. The publisher also turned to the areas of practical theology and Protestant religious education . The book series "Theologische Bücherei" bundles all of the publisher's essential classics, including the volumes "Beginnings of Dialektische Theologie" , which were first published in 1962 by Jürgen Moltmann (* 1926) and of which there were later several new editions.

In 1968 Christian Kaiser Verlag entered into a cooperation with the Catholic Matthias Grünewald Verlag from Mainz .

Apart from Bonhoeffer, the following authors from Kaiser-Verlag in the post-war period should be mentioned:

Decline in the 1960s and 1970s

Because of its content-related definition, the Christian Kaiser Verlag has in some cases lost touch with new trends and developments in Protestant theology since the 1960s. In addition, there were conflicts with the Barth family and famous theologians who were in Barth's tradition as the publishing in 1972 the Habilitation of Friedrich-Wilhelm Marquardt "Theology and Socialism: The Example of Karl Barth" published.

In 1967 at the Munich Ludwig-Maximilians-University of the Protestant Theological Faculty was founded, the Christian emperor took Verlag contact with the teaching there professors on. As part of the "Münchener Universitätsschriften" (Munich University Writings) , the publishing house established the series "Munich Monographs on Historical and Systematic Theology" in 1977 , in which Munich dissertations and habilitation theses were published. Thus liberal theological perspectives found their way into the publishing program - especially through the writings of the Munich ethics professor Trutz Rendtorff (* 1931). This displeased leading publishers - also because of the so-called Munich Barth interpretations.

Karl Gerhard Steck (1908–1983), a liberal Barthian, won Trutz Rendtorff in 1971 as co-editor of the series "Theological Existence Today" in order to open this series to new theological positions. This led to strong backlash over the years, which led the publisher to dismiss Rendtorff as co-editor in 1984 after Steck died in 1983. In 1986 a new series was launched: "Ecumenical Existence Today" .

Although Christian Kaiser Verlag was able to make a profit with the works of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the internationally renowned Tübingen systematist Jürgen Moltmann (* 1926), on the other hand the publisher lost money through theological writings that tend to occupy niche topics. To overcome this situation, Kaiser-Verlag held several workshops on " Practical Theology " or " Political Theology " with important authors in the Josefstal Study Center for Protestant Youth Work between Schliersee and Spitzingsee on the edge of the Bavarian Alps . But it was not possible for the publisher to use it to launch new, successful books.

Takeover by the Gütersloh publishing house

In 1993 the Gütersloh publishing house took over Christian Kaiser Verlag. Before that, the publisher had to sell its bookstore in Munich City Hall and its theological specialist bookstore on Schellingstrasse. The remnants of the publishing house archive were brought to the Bertelsmann archive in Gütersloh.

literature

  • Hannelore Braun, Gertraud Grünzinger: Personal Lexicon on German Protestantism 1919–1949. Göttingen 2006.
  • Chr. Kaiser Almanach - 125 years Chr. Kaiser Verlag. Munich 1970.
  • Georg Jäger (Ed.): History of the German book trade in the 19th and 20th centuries. Volume 1, Part 1: The Empire 1870–1918. Frankfurt am Main 2001, p. 383.
  • Erich Scheibmayr: Who? When? Where? Personalities in Munich cemeteries. Munich 1989, p. 144.
  • Estate: Christian Kaiser Verlag. Bertelsmann Archive Gütersloh: CKV 1-160.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Friedrich Wilhelm Graf, Andreas Waschbüsch: Christian Kaiser Verlag. In: Historical Lexicon of Bavaria . March 1, 2011, accessed February 25, 2015 .
  2. ↑ Gangolf Hübinger / Helen Müller, in: Jäger, Geschichte des Deutschen Buchhandels, p. 383.
  3. ↑ Armin Rudi Kitzmann: " Albert Lempp - Publishers and Christ in Resistance ( Memento of the original from September 4, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ", Www.albert-lempp.de @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.albert-lempp.de
  4. ↑ a b c d e Armin Rudi Kitzmann: " Albert Lempp and Isabellastraße 20 ( Memento of the original from September 4, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ", Www.albert-lempp.de @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.albert-lempp.de
  5. ↑ a b Markus Springer: “ Fallen among the murderers: Protestant resistance in Munich during the Nazi era - Albert Lempp from Munich and his circle ( Memento of the original from November 29, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and still Not checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. “, Sonntagsblatt issue 27/2008 of July 6, 2008 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.sonntagsblatt-bayern.de