Emil Roniger

Emil Roniger (* 1883 in Rheinfelden ; † 1958 in Davos ) was a Swiss writer , publisher , founder of Rotapfel-Verlag, translator, patron , art and autograph collector.

life and work

Emil Roniger was the son of Theophil Roniger and the younger brother of Adolph Roniger . After aborting chemistry and music studies in Basel, Roniger founded Rotapfel Verlag (RAV) in 1919, now married to Milly Roniger-Hoffmann (1889–1969 ). The company logo was a hanging apple in a black circle.

As a writer, he wrote dramas, poems and fairy tales which he published after the RAV was founded. In addition to paperback books, he published numbered and signed special editions in special bindings. Roniger u. a. designed by Walter Cyliax , Rudolf Dürrwang, Martha Burkhardt and Martha Haffter.

Since Roniger benefited all his life from the distributions from his father's brewery, he was able to finance his diverse areas of activity and support other artists financially. He supported u. a. Ernst Kreidolf , Romain Rolland , Fritz Wartenweiler , Leonhard Ragaz , Hans Reinhart and Mahatma Gandhi .

When Kreidolf moved to Bern in 1918 , Roniger was able to engage him for his publishing house in St. Moritz in 1920 in the presence of their mutual friend Nicolaus Harmann . In 1947, Roniger founded the Ernst Kreidolf Association to promote the artist. During the First World War it had become increasingly difficult in Germany to continue to publish Kreidolf's books. In 1919, Roniger hired Eugen Rentsch (1877–1948) as managing director and the publishing house was relocated from Basel to Erlenbach . Rentsch negotiated with Kreidolfs Verlag in Leipzig about the separation of his book projects and took care of the edition in the RAV. In 1920 Rainer Maria Rilke signed a contract with Roniger for the picture book Mitsou published in 1921 . Quarante images par Balthus, with a foreword by Rilke. The book did not experience a second edition in the RAV.

Gandhi in South Africa was published by Rotapfel Verlag

Roniger translated the book by Romain and Madeleine Rolland Gandhi in South Africa - Mohandas Karemchand Gandhi an Indian patriot in South Africa into German and published it in his RAV in 1923. With this and other translations of books about Gandhi Roniger had great success; likewise with all other translations of biographies written by Romain. Both Rolland and Roniger wanted to make a contribution to international understanding, not only within Europe, but also between West and East. Until the Locarno Treaties of 1925, there was an Ice Age between Germany and France in the matter of international understanding .

The publisher was able to assert itself among the four competing German Rolland publishers. In 1922, Rolland brokered contact between Roniger and the orientalists Kalidas Nag (1892–1966). As a Rolland publisher, Roniger was enthusiastic about Rolland's project of a European-Asian world library and a house of friendship . In 1931 Rabindranath Tagore and Gandhi gave all translation rights to Roniger for the attention of the world library to be founded ; Gandhi all rights for Europe. The publishing house and Roniger were overwhelmed by this founding work and despite many unanswered questions Roniger bought rights to manuscripts at exorbitantly high prices, which he paid out of his pocket. He subtitled the RAV's Indian publications Eurasian Reports .

Added to this was the hyperinflation of the Deutsche Mark, which peaked in 1923 and drove Swiss and German publishers into crisis. Despite great doubts about Roniger's possibilities, Rolland gave him manuscripts for the attention of the world library . To reaffirm his integrity to Rolland, Roniger wrote his will in 1926, in which he bequeathed his entire Rollandiana collection to the Basel University Library in the event that his project could not be carried out before his death. He gave Rolland a copy of his will. Roniger kept his word and, as planned, definitely bequeathed his Rollandiana, along with his correspondence, to the university library .

In 1926, on Rolland's sixtieth birthday, Roniger published the monumental volume Liber Amicorum, which he financed and which was written by Maxim Gorky , Georges Duhamel and Stefan Zweig . In addition, he founded a Romain Rolland archive and a Romain Rolland library, which should expand institutions of supranational relations. Roniger's vision was to turn his publishing house into a trust agency for world literature . In the same year he tried to win the patron Georg Reinhart for his publishing house. Both were friends with the poet and musician Gustav Gamper.

Emil Roninger's grave in the Rheinfelden forest cemetery

Sales of Rolland's and Kreidolf's books were successful until 1930. After that, these could no longer be sold at a profit. Other program elements now came to the fore. This emphasized a domestic Swiss relationship. In 1934 the book was published by Fritz Wartenweiler Meister und Diener . In 1933 the publishing house in Germany was banned from selling because Rentsch had published books by German emigrants . Rentsch was later replaced by Max Niehans for a short time, but the profitability of the publisher remained the basic problem.

After Rentsch continued to run the publishing house until his unexpected death in 1948, Roniger's son-in-law Paul Toggenburger took over the management of RAV. In this way, Roniger was able to devote himself entirely to his newly founded publishing house, creative thinking . During this time he wrote his three-volume magnum opus . Rolland's sympathy for the Stalinist regime went too far for Roniger and he broke off contact with Rolland. After his death, Roniger's private Kreidolf collection went to the “Ernst Kreidolf Foundation”, which later transferred it to the “Ernst Kreidolf Association”. It is now in its deposit in the Kunstmuseum Bern .

Roniger later moved to Davos, where he died in 1958. The funeral speech for Roniger was held on March 16, 1958 by Emil Berger. His grave is in the Rheinfelden forest cemetery .

Web links

• Emil Roniger In: Swissbib
• Emil Roniger Various articles in the E-Periodica portal

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Roland Stark: Think the Vergeblichen Emil Roniger (1883-1958). Retrieved August 30, 2019 . 
2. ^ Roland Stark: Ernst Kreidolf, the painter-poet and his publishers. Huber, 2005, ISBN 3-7193-1387-5 .
3. ^ Jean-Pierre Meylan: Portrait of Roniger, group photo. Retrieved August 30, 2019 . 
4. ^ Jean-Pierre Meylan: The plan of a world library by Romain Rolland and his Swiss publisher and patron Emil Roniger (1922-1926). Retrieved August 30, 2019 .