Heinrich Simon (publisher)

Heinrich Simon before 1916 on a photograph by Jacob Hilsdorf

Heinrich Viktor Simon (born July 31, 1880 in Berlin , † May 6, 1941 in Washington DC ) was a German journalist and publisher .

Origin and family

Heinrich Simon was the third son of the banker Felix Simon, who in turn was the son of the banker, owner of the company J.Simon Witwe & Sons, banking business, later Ostdeutsche Bank, in Königsberg (Pr.) And Privy Councilor Moritz Simon, and Therese Simon , the only child of the founder of the Frankfurter Zeitung , Leopold Sonnemann . His siblings were Fridolin, Walter, Kurt and Annemarie.

Heinrich Simon was married to Irma Freiin von Schey, b. 1894, a daughter of the lawyer Josef Freiherrn von Schey , who mainly teaches at the University of Vienna, and Henriette Lang.

Life

After completing his schooling at the Ernestinum Gotha high school , Heinrich Simon studied philosophy , economics, and the history of art and literature in Berlin, Freiburg im Breisgau and Erlangen. appeared to Dr. phil. PhD. He then joined the Frankfurter Societäts- Druckerei founded by his grandfather Leopold Sonnemann and worked in the features section of the Frankfurter Zeitung . In 1910 he received power of attorney. Together with his brother Kurt, who was responsible for the commercial part, he has since headed the family business as chairman of the management board and the editorial conference of the FC. From 1916 he was co-publisher and managing director of the book publishing company he had built, the Societäts-Druckerei.

In the twenties and thirties, Simon significantly influenced the appearance of the Frankfurter Zeitung through the influence of his personality and his own journalistic contributions . His personal relationships with leading intellectuals during the Weimar Republic were reflected here. He had the reputation of the publisher of Frankfurt , who made great contributions to the cultural life in the city of Frankfurt am Main .

He was u. a. friends with Max Beckmann , who portrayed him in two lithographs in 1922 and 1927. He was also a member of the Halcyon Academy of Applied Sciences . Otto Erich Hartleben , the founding father of the academy, referred to the much younger friend as his son . As a lover and connoisseur of the arts, Simon also promoted modern musical life. B. through the appointment of Theodor W. Adorno as head of the Frankfurt music studio. He was also one of the guests at Villa Rothschild , where Rudolf von Goldschmidt-Rothschild was a valued host for numerous artists and journalists. His firm commitment to the Zionism cause has been criticized by the political right, anti-Semites and others.

In 1933 the Nazi regime took over the government of the German Reich (" takeover of power "); In 1934, the baptized Jew Simon had to resign as chairman of the editorial conference because of the continued existence of the Frankfurter Zeitung .

In 1934 Simon emigrated to Tel Aviv via Paris , where in 1936 he became managing director and temporarily director of the Palestine Philharmonic Orchestra , which he co-founded . In 1939 Simon came to Washington via London , where he gave music lessons. For reasons that have not yet been clarified, he was the victim of an apparently apolitically motivated murder there in 1941.

In 1931 Simon wrote a biography about the youth of his grandfather Leopold Sonnemann. Much has been read and a. his writing How do I read the commercial section of a daily newspaper? .

Own works

• Fragments from Novalis . Selected by Heinrich Simon , Munich, Albert Langen, 1905
• The magical idealism - studies on the philosophy of Novalis , Heidelberg, Winter's university bookstore 1906
• Poems 1900–1910. Without publisher information. Bibliophile equipment. Printed in July 1910 by Poeschel & Trepte in Leipzig. Only traceable in the Marbach literature archive.
• Day work. Frankfurter Zeitung 1906–1926. Frankfurt 1927
• Max Beckmann . Berlin u. Leipzig 1930
• Leopold Sonnemann . His youth history up to the creation of the "Frankfurter Zeitung". Frankfurt 1931
• The Orchestra and The Public in The Advocate , Volume 49, 1939

literature

• Simon, Heinrich. In: Lexicon of German-Jewish Authors . Volume 19: Sand – Stri. Edited by the Bibliographia Judaica archive. De Gruyter, Berlin a. a. 2012, ISBN 978-3-598-22699-1 , pp. 265-269.
• Robert Volz: Reich manual of the German society . The handbook of personalities in words and pictures. Volume 2: L-Z. Deutscher Wirtschaftsverlag, Berlin 1931, DNB 453960294 , p. 1786.
• Anti-Nazi Editor Is Slain in Capital , Art. New York Times, May 7, 1941: http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10915FD3F5E167B93C5A9178ED85F458485F9
• Barbara von der Lühe : Music was our salvation, the German-speaking founding members of the Palestine Orchestra . With a preface by Ignatz Bubis , page 156 ff., Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 1998, ISBN 3-16-146975-5 .
• Elisabeth Berger:  Schey, Josef Freiherr von. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 22, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-428-11203-2 , p. 719 f. ( Digitized version ). (Mention)

Web links

• Simon, Heinrich Viktor in the Hessian biography
• The Ostpreußenblatt , February 6, 1982, p. 12: http://archiv.preussische-allgemeine.de/1982/1982_02_06_06.pdf
• Sonnemann's descendants - Vanishing Point America , Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , October 29, 2009, p. P7

Individual evidence

1. ^ Marie-Anne von Goldschmidt-Rothschild
2. ↑ Heinz Sturm-Godramstein: "Jews in Königstein, Life-Meaning-Fates", Königstein 1998, p. 43
3. ↑ FAZ.net: This picky relationship ( memento of the original from April 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. - on the 100th anniversary of the birth of Dolf Sternberger