Helmut Presser

Helmut Presser (born August 28, 1914 in Passau ; † August 27, 1995 in Mainz ) was a German librarian , archivist and historian .

Life

Helmut Presser was born in Passau shortly after the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914. He came to Mainz at the age of eleven and attended school there. Shortly before graduating from high school, he dropped out of school and went to the State School for Arts and Crafts in Mainz to study book art there. Here, under the guidance of Christian Heinrich Kleukens, he found interest in the beautiful book. He made up his Abitur and studied German, philosophy and art history in Heidelberg, Berlin and Bonn. He was significantly influenced by the Gutenberg researcher Adolph Tronnier (1875–1962). At the University of Bonn , he was in 1939 when Hans Naumann Dr. phil. PhD. The title of the dissertation was "The Word in the Judgment of the Poets". He did military service in World War II and was seriously wounded in his left arm on New Year's Eve 1942. During the period of convalescence he led a. a. started a puppet show and learned to write with his left hand.

After the Second World War Presser was a research assistant at the city of Mainz and served as library director for several years, the City Library Mainz . In 1963 he succeeded Aloys Ruppel as director of the Gutenberg Museum in Mainz and managed it until his retirement in 1977. He brought the books that had been outsourced to the newly opened museum and expanded the museum's holdings by numerous new ones. Ua acquired the famous volume of the Gutenberg Bible.

During Presser's tenure, over 300 exhibitions were designed in the Gutenberg Museum. Relations at home and abroad were greatly expanded. Presser has published over 140 publications.

Helmut Presser was married to the artist Ursula Presser-Saelzer. The two sons Manuel and Claudio emerged from the marriage.

Publications

• 1940: The word in the judgment of the poets, Würzburg-Aumühle.
• 1962: Das Buch vom Buch, Bremen.
• 1968: Gutenberg Museum of the City of Mainz - World Museum of Printing Art, Munich.
• 1967: Johannes Gutenberg, Reinbek near Hamburg.

literature

• Peter Krawietz 2014: Poet, philosopher and long-time director of the Gutenberg Museum: Helmut Presser was born 100 years ago, in: Allgemeine Zeitung Mainz, August 26, 2014.

Web links

• Literature by and about Helmut Presser in the catalog of the German National Library