Heinrich Bernhard Rosenthal

Heinrich Bernhard Rosenthal (* 1829 in Frankfurt am Main ; † March 31, 1876 in Vienna ) was a German banker and together with Leopold Sonnemann in 1856 co-founded the forerunner of the Frankfurter Zeitung .

life and work

From 1853 onwards, the banker Rosenthal published an “Annual Report” with stock market information for his customers in Frankfurt am Main . In the summer of 1856 he turned to Sonnemann, because he wanted a broader public for his information sheet because of the increasing public interest in stock market events. In doing so, he met the intentions of his banker colleague Sonnemann. From July 21, 1856, both published in Frankfurt am Main the daily stock exchange newspaper "Frankfurter Geschäftsbericht", which they designed in a newspaper-like manner from August of the same year and continued as the "Frankfurter Handelszeitung". The scope was initially limited to four pages. With Max Wirth , a permanent editor was hired, economic and stock market news, price tables, but also reports on world events and financial reports were published. A small feature section found a place on the first page.

From September 11, 1857 onwards, Rosenthal was both publisher and responsible editor. From September 1859 the joint paper was called “Neue Frankfurter Zeitung. Frankfurter Handelsblatt ”, which appeared in the Frankfurter Societäs printing company , which was newly founded on January 1, 1860 . In addition to Rosenthal and Sonnemann, the shareholders were the entrepreneurs Ludwig Braunfels , Bernhard Docter and Johann Albrecht Vogtherr , the director of Rhein-Main-Schleppschifffahrts-AG.

In the same year, Georg Friedrich Kolb, a political editor, was hired and a network of correspondents was established. With that the newspaper appeared three times a day. When the Prussian troops marched into Frankfurt in July 1866, the anti-Prussian newspaper was banned. Like the other shareholders, Rosenthal left the Societäts-Druckerei, Sonnemann became the sole owner of the newspaper and printing company. Even before that, there were differences of opinion between the politically neutral Rosenthal, who placed the stock exchange report in the foreground, and Sonnemann, who wanted to make the newspaper his political mouthpiece. Sonnermann temporarily emigrated to Stuttgart, from where he published the "Neue Deutsche Zeitung". After a deposit payment, the publication, which now belonged to Sonnemann alone, was able to appear again on December 1, 1866; it was now called "Frankfurter Zeitung" (FZ).

In 1866 Rosenthal - Prussian-critical like Sonnemann - made the former, spacious villa of the ironmonger's Zickwolff (corner of Wendelsweg / Hühnerweg) available as a domicile for Friedrich Stoltze, who was returning from exile in Switzerland .

Rosenthal was married to Felicia Pringsheim (1836-1919) and the couple had four children.

literature

• History of the Frankfurter Zeitung , Verlag der Frankfurter Zeitung (Frankfurter Societäts-Druckerei), 1911, p. 20 ff.
• Helmut Stander: Siegfried Kracauer : The journalistic work in the Frankfurter Zeitung 1921 - 1933 , Königshaus & Neumann, Würzburg, 2003 ISBN 978-3-826024627 , p. 27.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Petra Breitkreuz: Friedrich Stoltze's magazine "The true Jacob" . Published for the exhibition Frisch von der Lewwer un Freiheit for ever! in the cabinet room of the Stoltze Museum of the Frankfurter Sparkasse .