Fritz Schnabel

Fritz "Federico" Schnabel (born February 5, 1886 in Elberfeld , † October 1, 1948 in El Sauce de Calamuchita , Province of Córdoba , Argentina ) was a German publisher.

Life

His parents were the shoemaker August Hermann Schnabel and his wife Emilie (née Braches). The parents were both members of the Lutheran congregation. Apparently Fritz Schnabel did not attend a high school in Elberfeld. In 1919 Schnabel joined the Anthropos Verlag in Prien, founded in 1912 by Emil and Gerda Kampmann and Fritz Koslowsky. In 1921 he also founded the Kampmann & Schnabel Verlag für Kulturprobleme together with Emil Kampmann. In both publishers they published works on life reform, psychotherapy and sexuality. The published authors include the reform pedagogue Ludwig Gurlitt (1855–1931), the philosopher August Horneffer (1875–1955) and the occult researcher Ernst Schertel (1884–1958). The sexologist Hans Blüher (1888–1955) became an in-house author at the Kampmann & Schnabel publishing house. “Wandervogel. History of a Youth Movement ”in 5th and 6th editions as well as various provocative writings on homosexual aspects of the migratory birds, religious topics and National Socialism. The writer Ricarda Huch (1864–1947) published her 3rd and 4th edition of “Vom Wesen des Menschen. Natur und Geist ”1922. The philosopher August Vetter from Elberfeld published his“ Critique of Feeling ”(1923) in Priener Verlag.

Lauensteiner Round Table

In the 1920s, Fritz Schnabel had various disputes with the German book trade association . Anthropos Verlag was part of the Association of German Publishers for Oppressed Literature, which campaigned against censorship and for freedom of expression. From 1922 Schnabel also took part in the “Lauenstein Round Table”, in which publishers met who were dissatisfied with the Börsenverein. In the magazine “Der Zopfenscheider. Lauensteiner Mitteilungen ”they published their demands from November 1923 onwards. Fritz Schnabel emphasized in the booklets how important different forms of advertising are for the book trade. He suggested book weeks (exhibitions with current books) in public spaces, advertising in the new media of radio and film, and collaboration with parents and schools.

Publishing director at the League of Nations

On April 1, 1927, Fritz Schnabel moved to Geneva as the head of the publishing department of the League of Nations . There he was fascinated by the international contacts. However, when staff had to be cut in his department at the end of the 1930s, he offered to resign on April 1, 1939. Immediately afterwards, he and his wife Irma set off on a long-planned study trip to South America. He then settled in Argentina, where he also had contact with the writer Paul Zech . In the small town "El Sauce de Calamuchita", which is inhabited by many Germans and later known as " Villa General Belgrano " in the Argentine province of Córdoba, he bought the house and land. There he worked in 1942, among other things, as secretary of the cooperative “De Luz y Fuerza”. He died on October 1, 1948 at the age of 62 on his country estate.

Individual evidence

• Fritz Schnabel: circular from March 16, 1939
• Fritz Schnabel: The new way. In: The braid cutter. Lauensteiner communications. Oldenburg iO 1923, pp. 4-6
• Fritz Schnabel: The ox from Lauenstein. Gotha 1925, pp. 5-10