Erich Wewel

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Erich Wewel

Erich Wewel (born April 16, 1894 in Sanditten ( East Prussia ), † October 11, 1974 in Freiburg im Breisgau ) was a German publisher .

Childhood and studies

Erich Wewel was born in Sanditten, East Prussia, into a Westphalian family. His father had ended up there as rent master and head of office. After completing high school, Wewel studied philosophy, theology and art history in Königsberg , Breslau , Heidelberg and Freiburg . His teachers included Edmund Husserl , Martin Heidegger , Josef Geyser and Engelbert Krebs . Interrupted by the First World War and a stay in Spain as a teacher of Archduke Carlos of Spain, Wewel completed his doctorate in 1924 with the Freiburg historian Heinrich Finke . During his studies he volunteered at the bookstore Gräfe und Unzer in Königsberg. Since 1913 he was a member of the Catholic student association AV Tuisconia Königsberg.

journalist

Lively interested in current political and cultural events, Wewel went to the press after completing his academic training, first as a freelance correspondent and later as an editor. In 1928 he founded the cultural correspondence "Görresdienst", in 1931 he became editor of the Westphalian Volksblatt in Paderborn. Because of his warnings about National Socialism and the policies of Reich Chancellor von Papen , he had to give up his position in 1933. He moved to Munich and in 1935 became chief editor of the Augsburger Postzeitung, one of the oldest German daily newspapers. Because his political attitude was seen as “intolerable” there too and he refused to join the party, he was dismissed without notice after just a few months. With his wife Maria geb. Mai [1903–1976] and four children (Annette [1926–2006], Godehard [1928–1977], Meinolf [* 1931] and Monika [1935–1983]), he kept himself afloat by working for various Catholic monthly publications.

publisher

In 1936 Wewel founded the publishing house “Das Wort in der Zeit” and took over the magazine of the same name from Manz Verlag and the magazine Der Prediger und Katechet in their 86th year. In 1937 he moved to Krailling near Munich, and in 1938 both magazines were banned. Wewel renamed the publisher to Erich Wewel Verlag and published the first publisher's brochure in 1939. This too was confiscated by the Gestapo after an English magazine had printed it with the comment that there were still intellectual independent publishers in Germany. Wewel had chosen the eagle of the Evangelist Johannes as the publisher's signature. Underneath was the verse of Hölderlin: “ Because the poets have to stick to the eagle so that they do not interpret themselves angry with their own senses, dwell above the flight of the bird ... the prophetic ones. "

In 1938 Wewel became the main editor of the Munich Catholic church newspaper . He did some of his work from the Fürstenfeldbruck military airfield, where he was drafted as a radio operator on the first day of the war. In 1941, the Reich Ministry of Propaganda banned the "church newspaper".

One of the first works by Erich Wewel Verlag was the book by Josef Sellmair Der Mensch im Tragik , with which Wewel precisely hit the inner situation of many people who suffered for themselves and their time. The book by Joseph Pascher Inwendiges Leben in der Werkgefahr , published in 1940 by his publishing house, was indicative of his ecumenical attitude, which was ahead of its time . His publishing house also brought out books for children and young people with artistic equipment. But since he did not comply with the request of the Reich Propaganda Ministry to remove everything Christian and religious from these books, he had to stop their production again. Other books were banned by the Gestapo. The first decommissioning decision was issued in 1943, the second, final one in 1944.

Suspected of belonging to the " White Rose " resistance movement , Wewel was arrested by the Secret State Police on May 19, 1943 after a house search and interrogated for three weeks at the Munich Gestapo headquarters in the Wittelsbacher Palais on Brienner Strasse . However, since there was no evidence of a direct connection, he was released after three weeks.

As at the beginning of the war, Wewel had to do military service again as an anti-aircraft gunner in January 1945 at the age of 51 and was placed on the so-called “Goebbels list” of “undesirable, superfluous cultural workers”. Discharged sick, weakened by the constant hardships and hardship of the previous years, he took over the editorial management of the "Munich Catholic Church Newspaper" for a short time after the war .

It was not until 1948 that he was able to publish books again. With the freedom of thought finally regained it was now possible for him to realize long-cherished plans, above all the German complete edition of the works of Wladimir Solowjew in eight volumes, the typography of which was taken care of by Jan Tschichold .

In 1951 he moved with his family and the publishing house to Freiburg im Breisgau. The three-volume moral theological work The Law of Christ by Bernhard Häring was a great success , which in a short time had eight editions and was translated into eleven languages. As a consultant, the author was significantly involved in the Second Vatican Council and, in the spirit of the Council, incorporated the Council documents into the various editions of his work. Other works published by Wewel were also groundbreaking for the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, especially with regard to the ecumenical movement.

It was mainly philosophical, theological and religious studies works that Wewel published. Some of its authors are: Eugen Biser , Emerich Coreth , Julius Cardinal Döpfner , Heinrich Fries , Hanna-Barbara Gerl-Falkovitz , Josef Goldbrunner, Andreas Evaristus Mader , Joseph Möller, Nikolaus Monzel , Ludolf Müller , Thomas Ohm , Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger .

Wewel's great concern was the reunification of Christianity. That led him to Soloviev. He would never have published a book that could harm this cause. It was always important to him that the intellectual statement, linguistic statement form, sentence and print as well as the layout of a book should be in harmony. His publisher's books have repeatedly received the award of being among the “most beautiful books of the year”.

In 1965, for health reasons, Wewel attached his publishing house to the GJ Manz publishing house in Munich, but retained the spiritual direction, which is why Munich and Freiburg i. Br. Were considered the place of publication. 1966 Wewel was from Pope Paul VI. Awarded the Knight's Cross of the New Year's Eve “for great services to the Church and Catholic journalism” . He died after a long illness on October 11, 1974. He is buried in the main cemetery in Freiburg .

Documents and sources

  1. ↑ The Word in Time. Journal for the creation of life based on Christian ideas . Years 1 and 2, 1933 to 1935, edited by Adalbert von Neipperg and Theodor Abele in Verlag Manz , Munich. In 1936 Erich Wewel took over the magazine in his newly founded publishing house "Das Wort in der Zeit" in Krailling near Munich. In October 1937 issue 4 of the 5th year was published under the editorship of Theodor Abele, Joseph Aussen and August Heinrich Berning. In 1938 the magazine was banned.
  2. ↑ 1953 began its publication with volume VII, which was awarded at the competition of the "most beautiful books". (Database of the Book Art Foundation )
  3. ↑ On the history of reception cf. * Augustin Schmied and Josef Römelt (eds.): 50 years of "The Law of Christ". Bernhard Häring's contribution to the renewal of moral theology. Contributions by Klaus Arntz , Raphael Gallagher, Bruno Hidber, Josef Römelt, Eberhard Schockenhoff and Marciano Vidal. (Studies of moral theology, supplements, vol. 14.) Münster: LIT Verlag 2005. ISBN 3-8258-9060-0
  4. ↑ In the takeover agreement of November 4, 1965, Manz had to undertake to design new books from Erich Wewel Verlag “in terms of content and language so that Christians of other denominations cannot feel offended.” It also states that “the typographical design of the future books should be done with the care that has been exercised up to now ”.
personal data
SURNAME Wewel, Erich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German publisher
DATE OF BIRTH April 16, 1894
PLACE OF BIRTH Sandits
DATE OF DEATH October 11, 1974
Place of death Freiburg in Breisgau