Ferdinand Springer junior

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Ferdinand Springer junior (born August 29, 1881 in Berlin ; † April 12, 1965 in Heidelberg ) was a German publisher .

Life

Born the son of the publisher Ferdinand Springer senior , Springer studied three trimesters in Oxford after graduating from high school and learned the book trade in Bern . In 1904 he joined his cousin Julius Springer the Elder. J. entered the Springer publishing house . Springer initially turned to building up a medical publisher with manuals, textbooks, monographs and journals. As early as 1914, this branch of publishing had reached a level almost equal to that of the technology publishing house, which was overseen by his cousin Julius Springer. The acquisition of other publishers contributed to the further strengthening of the company: 1912 Behrend & Co. (library system, social policy), 1917 JF Bergmann(Medicine), 1921 August Hirschwald (1774–1848) (bookstore and publisher; medicine), 1931 FCW Vogel (medicine). In 1924 the Springer publishing house in Vienna was founded. The publishing house increased its activities in the fields of mathematics , physics , chemistry , biology and philosophy . Further growth was supported by a high proportion of scientific journals.

In the Third Reich , the publishing house was always at risk because of the Jewish origin of its owners. Thanks to its worldwide reputation and the importance of its export business, which at times generated more than half of the turnover, the closure or the planned division was not carried out. Springer achieved this by appointing Tönjes Lange as general representative (1934). After the Nuremberg Race Laws came into force , Springer's cousin Julius Springer had to leave the publishing house in 1935. By transferring his shares to Tönjes Lange and Otto Lange, a split was achieved. Springer, who was only allowed to work with a special permit that could be revoked at any time, largely held back in foreign traffic during these years. Production was cut back sharply in politically sensitive areas, while neutral specialist areas were favored. Overall, production declined, as the potential for authors and consultants was severely weakened by emigration or the elimination of stressed scientists (mathematics: Richard Courant ; physics: James Franck and Max Born ; chemistry: Richard Goldschmidt and Richard Willstätter ; philosophy: Karl Jaspers ; Technique: Georg Schlesinger ).

In November 1942 Springer had to withdraw completely from the publishing house as a "mixed breed 1st degree in the sense of the Nuremberg legislation" and left his shares in trust to the brothers Otto and Tönjes Lange. After the war he was able to resume his work in the publishing house. Because of the severe destruction of the Berlin publishing house, which was also in the east of Berlin, Springer rebuilt the scientific and medical publishing house from Heidelberg , supported by his future partner Heinz Götze . His cousin Julius Springer ran the technology publishing house in Berlin (West). Production at both sites reached 1932 levels again around 1960. Due to the declining importance of German as a scientific language, a branch was established in New York City in 1964 , which was active in sales and soon also in the production of English-language scientific works.

Springer was in 1922 by the Medical Faculty of the University of Frankfurt am Main Dr. med. hc and in 1930 from the Philosophical Faculty of the University of Göttingen to Dr. phil. hc doctorate.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ute Felbor: The Institute for Hereditary Science and Race Research at the University of Würzburg 1937–1945. In: Würzburger medical history reports , Volume 11, 1993, pp. 155–173, here: p. 170.
personal data
SURNAME Springer, Ferdinand junior
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German publisher
DATE OF BIRTH August 29, 1881
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH April 12, 1965
Place of death Heidelberg