Christian Scholz (publisher)

Christian Scholz

Christian Scholz (born June 20, 1806 in Wiesbaden ; † March 21, 1880 in Mainz ) was a publisher and founder of the German Catholic Community of Mainz (later, from 1912: Free Religious Community of Mainz ). As a politician, he was a member of the pre-parliament of the Frankfurt Paulskirche and the Nassau state estates.

family

He was born in Wiesbaden as the sixth child of the company's founder Joseph Scholz (born April 16, 1768 in Peterwitz / Silesia, † July 12, 1813 in Mainz). The father was the son of the chief forester Balzer Scholz. The mother was Magdalena Catharine Adelburg nee Stark († July 8, 1831), the daughter of the lathe master Stark. In contrast to her husband, who was a Catholic, she was of the Protestant denomination. Christian Scholz married Katharina born May on October 18, 1829 in Mainz (born February 2, 1808 in Biebrich; † December 24, 1875 there), the daughter of the mill owner Bernhard May and his wife Katharina. Scholz had four daughters and two sons, including Bernhard Scholz .

publisher

Christian Scholz attended the private school de Laspée in Wiesbaden and then worked as a traveling salesman for his father's stationery company. His travels took him to Holland and Switzerland. The publishing house "Jos.Scholz" moved to Mainz in 1830, where Christian Scholz expanded it into a successful international company. From 1832 to 1835 he was the owner together with his brother Anton, then sole owner. The publishing house gained importance in the production of lithographs for various purposes. In addition, from 1840 he positioned himself as one of the first children's book publishers . The production encompassed "the needs of the children's world": picture books , picture sheets , coloring templates , board games , paper theater, etc. General knowledge and good behavior should be conveyed in the children's and youth books. In addition, the publisher published narrative literature with a moral claim. The Mainz writer Kathinka Zitz-Halein (1801–1877) particularly distinguished herself as the author of such moral narratives. The archive of the publishing house, which was dissolved in the 1970s, was destroyed in the war in 1945. Numerous products from the range (books, paper theater, etc.) can be found in the Mainz city library .

In 1859 he bought the hammer mill in Biebrich from his father-in-law. In 1862 he was a co-founder of the Rheinische Versicherungsgesellschaft in Mainz.

Founder of the German Catholic Congregation

Together with the stove manufacturer JF Schneider, Scholz founded the German Catholic Community of Mainz (later the Free Religious Community of Mainz ) in 1847 , which was part of a religious reform movement that broke away from Christianity and renounced formal teachings and confessions.

Politician

The early fate of the free religious movement was closely linked to that of the revolution of 1848/49 . As a free-spirited thinker, Scholz welcomed the movement of those years. He was a member of the elected citizens' committee in Mainz and, in addition to leading figures from the German Catholics, for example Johannes Ronge , Robert Blum , Martin Mohr, etc., was also a member of the Frankfurt pre-parliament, which prepared the national assembly . Here he belonged to the wing that was supposed to declare the assembly permanent in order to create a revolutionary organ based on the French model of 1789. Despite this radical sentiment, he took a more moderate stance in the Mainz Citizens' Committee. He distanced himself from left-wing Republicans such as the Mainz lawyer Franz Zitz and the editor Ludwig Bamberger . After moving to the Duchy of Nassau , he was a member of the Nassau State Parliament in 1864/65 . He was elected in the first election by the group of landowners in constituency VI (Wiesbaden).

Chairman of the German Catholics in Mainz

Until 1853 Scholz was chairman of the German Catholic community in Mainz. In this capacity in 1851 he publicly dealt with the Mainz bishop Ketteler , who attacked the German Catholics in a pastoral letter. The bishop railed against the "spirit of unbelief", described the German Catholics as "weeds" and German Catholicism as "heresy of corruption". For those disciplined in this way, Scholz replied in an open letter in which he referred to the recognition that his community in Mainz enjoyed. He did not respond to the offensive attacks. From 1860, Scholz took over the chairmanship for another decade. As such, he and the council of elders of the community succeeded in buying the " Heilig-Geist-Spital " in Mainz , where the community celebrations were now taking place.

Christian Scholz died at the age of 73. The " Mainzer Zeitung " (No. 73 of March 23, 1880) and the " Mainzer Tagblatt " (No. 71 of March 24, 1880) dedicated detailed obituaries to him.

literature

• Silja Geisler-Baum: The joy of pictures. The publishing production of Jos. Scholz Mainz in the 19th century (= publications of the libraries of the city of Mainz. Vol. 58). Libraries of the City of Mainz, Mainz 2010.
• Jochen Lengemann : MdL Hessen. 1808-1996. Biographical index (= political and parliamentary history of the state of Hesse. Vol. 14 = publications of the Historical Commission for Hesse. Vol. 48, 7). Elwert, Marburg 1996, ISBN 3-7708-1071-6 , p. 342.
• Nassau parliamentarians. Part 1: Cornelia Rösner: The Landtag of the Duchy of Nassau 1818–1866 (= publications of the Historical Commission for Nassau. 59 = Prehistory and history of parliamentarism in Hesse. 16). Historical Commission for Nassau, Wiesbaden 1997, ISBN 3-930221-00-4 , pp. 157-158.
• Cornelia Schneider (Red.): Play along! Paper games from the publisher Jos. Scholz Mainz. Gutenberg Museum, Mainz 2006, ISBN 3-9805506-9-9 .
• Bernhard Scholz : Faded Wise Men. Memories. Jos. Scholz, Mainz 1911.
• Jürgen Späth: History of the Free Religious Community Mainz. Revised 2nd edition with an afterword. Free religious community, Mainz 2007.

Web links

• Scholz, Christian. Hessian biography. (As of March 21, 2020). In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Scholz, Christian. Hessian biography. In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).