Weitbrecht (entrepreneurial family)

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Coat of arms of the Weitbrecht family

Weitbrecht (older variations: Wyperlin, Weyprecht, Wiprecht ) is the name of an evangelical family based mainly in Baden-Württemberg , whose members were best known as publishers , artists , pastors , teachers and missionaries . It can be traced back to the 15th century and has been preserved in large numbers in several branches to this day.

development

According to the records of the genealogist Hans-Thorald Michaelis , the Weitbrechts - at that time still Wyperlin , Weyprecht or Wiprecht - have been mentioned since around 1410 via their probable progenitor Hans Wyperlin (* 1410). According to the records of the chief forest master and genealogist Paul Weitbrecht (1891–1963), the Weitbrechts may have been derived from a woman Luitgard de Wiprechtin (* approx. 1280 in Fellbach ). In addition, a Saxon-Franconian origin and not an Alemannic origin is assumed for the ancestors lying in the distant past, since the real name Wiprecht was mainly the administrator of the Meißen Sorbian country (period between 950 and 1124), in the Prignitz , in the Havelland , in the Altmark or in the Wolmirstedt area appears. However, this cannot be proven in a sustainable and unambiguous manner and it can be assumed that the bearers of the name proven in eastern Germany are to be regarded as an independent family and are not related to the Württemberg law. In Württemberg, the name Weitprecht appeared as early as the 9th century as part of donations to local monasteries. There is also a hamlet called “ Weitprecht ” east of Ravensburg in Upper Swabia , but its age and origin are unknown.

Weitbrecht name distribution

Today there are three main lines in Baden-Württemberg: the Schorndorfer , the Franconian and the Nagold Weitbrechts, although it has not been conclusively proven whether these all descend from a common progenitor. From the latter main line, a large family evidenced from the 17th century in the Emmendingen area has formed, from which Johann Georg Weitbrecht, jun. (before 1800–1869) settled a branch in Dabie in the Łódź Voivodeship as the progenitor , some of whose descendants emigrated to Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil after the First World War .

Schorndorf main line

Of particular importance is the Schorndorf main line of the Weitbrecht family, which was originally a small-town family, the majority of whose members worked in civil and manual professions. Since the 18th century there has been a large number of evangelical pastors, some of whom moved to America in the 19th century and settled there successfully. In addition, numerous missionaries who mainly are found in the family India and South America had worked, including the East India -Missionar Johann Jakob Weitbrecht .

Furthermore, the originally Schorndorf main line mentioned here, which in the meantime had spread to Esslingen , Göppingen and Stuttgart, among others, includes several important Baden-Württemberg writers , visual artists and doctors . With the appointment of the anatomist Josias Weitbrecht to St. Petersburg , who was followed by other family members at about the same time, a small but important branch of the family developed there through their descendants, whose members worked as high officials and officers in the Mitau area in Latvia . Of these, the imperial forest adviser Alexander Eduard Weitbrecht (* 1801), great-grandson of the anatomist and son of the lieutenant governor of Livonia Johann Friedrich Weitbrecht (1772-1821), was raised to hereditary nobility.

From around the 18th century, a new focus of activity developed in the main line of the Württemberg family through entry into the book trade and publishing industry, which made the name Weitbrecht known nationally and internationally.

The namesake, who descended from the mission secretary Theodor Friedrich Weitbrecht (1831–1887) and who settled in Hamburg in the mid-19th century and worked there as booksellers, publishers and writers there as well as in East Germany, are demonstrably also belonging to the Schorndorfer Line . These include, for example, the bookseller Theodor Weitbrecht (1862–1939), his son Günther Theodor Weitbrecht (1898–1966), publisher at Sibyllen-Verlag in Dresden and from 1935 manufacturer in Hamburg and his sister Oda Weitbrecht-Buchenau , author and from 1924 to 1929 head of her own press in Potsdam, press printer at Kiepenheuer & Witsch and managing partner of the bookstore Weitbrecht & Marissal . Finally, Günther Theodor Weitbrecht's son, Andreas Theodor Weitbrecht (1929–2016), began an artistic career as a poet , sculptor and restorer .

Publishing companies

Already in 1776 Johann Jakob Weitbrecht , nephew of Josias Weitbrecht, who worked there, founded the printing and publishing house Weitbrecht & Schnoor together with his partner Johann Karl Schnoor (1738-1812) in St. Petersburg and in 1778 a branch in Moscow , both of which existed until 1781 . Subsequently, as court bookseller, he was commissioned by decree to develop the imperial typography for the needs of the cabinet and the external college.

After all, the family became known as a successful entrepreneur in the publishing industry in the early 19th century. Over several generations, several family members in responsible positions took over the management of the printing and publishing company JF Steinkopf from Stuttgart and Thienemann Verlag and founded their own company, Edition Weitbrecht, later renamed Weitbrecht Verlag.

In addition, the marriage of Otto Carl Weitbrecht (1880–1936) with Frieda Mohn (1883–1965) and the marriage of his brother Richard Conrad Weitbrecht (1883–1914) with Sophie Mohn (1887–1972), both daughters and part heirs of the publisher Johannes Mohn , links between the Weitbrecht family and the Bertelsmann publishing house.

Steinkopf Publishing House

The family's entry into Steinkopf-Verlag began with the marriage of Conrad Christian Weitbrecht (1847-1893), son of a bookseller in Calw , to the company's heiress Marie, née Steinkopf (1852-1909), daughter of the publisher Friedrich August Steinkopf (1824 -1903). Through this connection, the Weitbrecht family took over a partnership in the printing and publishing company JF Steinkopf , which was then inherited by Conrad Christian's sons Friedrich Weitbrecht (1874–1925) and the aforementioned Otto Carl Weitbrecht. For more than four generations, the descendants of these brothers held the management of the publishing house, whose name only reminds of the company founder, whose book trade, printing and the antiquarian bookshop managed by Frieder Weitbrecht still exist today as an independent limited liability company .

Thienemann publishing house

In the meantime, at the instigation of the Weitbrecht brothers, the Steinkopf-Verlag took over the long-established Thienemann Verlag in 1911, which is known for its extensive range of children's and young people's books and especially for the writers Otfried Preußler , Michael Ende and Max Kruse . Only five years later Otto Carl Weitbrecht spun off Thienemann Verlag from Steinkopf Verlag and took over its sole management after he had given up his partnership with Steinkopf Verlag. After Otto Carl's death, the publishing house was first run by his daughter Lieselotte (Lotte) Weitbrecht (* 1907) and from 1951 by her brother Richard Weitbrecht (1915–1995). In 1975 Richard Weitbrecht's son, the political scientist and Germanist Hansjörg Weitbrecht, joined the management of Thienemann-Verlag, which was finally taken over in 2001 by the Swedish media group Bonnier from Stockholm .

Edition Weitbrecht / Weitbrecht-Verlag

In the meantime, Hansjörg Weitbrecht founded Edition Weitbrecht as a subsidiary of Thienemann Verlag in Stuttgart in 1981 , which mainly covered the area of fiction and non-fiction and was renamed Weitbrecht Verlag a little later , as well as smaller branches in Vienna and Bern . Some of the most successful books published by Weitbrecht were Hans Bemmann's fantastic novel “ Stein und Flöte ”, which appeared in numerous translations, Das Druidentor by Wolfgang Hohlbein and the book series The Library of Babel by Jorge Luis Borges . Furthermore, Hans Jörg Weitbrecht was also able to convince Michael Ende, whose publishing editor he continued to be, to publish a large part of his successful novels in Edition Weitbrecht and to win the fantasy author Monika Felten as an author.

Finally, after Thienemann Verlag went to the Bonnier Group in 2001, the Weitbrecht Verlag was affiliated with the Piper Verlag in Munich as Imprint Piper Fantasy a year later . Then in 2003 Hansjörg Weitbrecht, together with the former head of Thienemann-Verlag, Günter Ehni, acquired the rights to Edition Erdmann based in Lenningen , a subsidiary of Thienemann Verlag, also founded in 1981, with a focus on adventure and travel literature . Together with the editor Gudrun Kolb-Rothermel, they again built up an independent company, which, however, was taken over by the Marixverlag Wiesbaden in 2008 .

Known family members (selection)

literature

  • Walter Killy, Rudolf Vierhaus: Dictionary of German Biography , Vol. 10, KG Saur, Munich, 2006; P. 435/436 (engl.) Google-online
  • Genealogical documents Archive Hans-Thorald Michaelis
  • Paul Weitbrecht (1861–1922): The Schorndorfer Weitbrecht ; Heilbronn 1895; Private printing, Steinkopf-Verlag Stuttgart
  • Paul Weitbrecht (1891–1963): The descendants of Jakob Friedrich Weitbrecht and Rosine Elisabethe, b. Schumann , Stuttgart 1934.
  • Paul Weitbrecht (1891–1963): “ News from the history of the Weitbrecht, Duensing, Sattler and Hölder families ”, private print 1945, Stuttgart
  • Hans-Thorald Michaelis: Nine difficult years of development in German parishes in the United States of America (1848–1857) - memoirs of a Swabian pastor's wife in: GENEALOGIE Jhrg. 29 (1980); Issue 2, pp. 52-62

Web links

Commons : Weitbrecht (Family)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Vita Andreas Theodor Weitbrecht