Johann Nepomuk Vernay Druckerei- und Verlags AG

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The Johann N. Vernay Druckerei und Verlagsaktiengesellschaft (Vernay AG) was one of the largest printing and publishing companies in Austria during the interwar period.

Vernay AG was founded in 1913 by five Viennese families under the leadership of the Anglo-Austrian Bank . The Comanditgesellschaft for book printing, lithography, type foundry and stereotype Johann N. Vernay as well as all publishing rights of Compass Verlag, founded in 1867, were brought in .

The first chairman of the board of directors was Johann Thomas Wancura . In addition to Wancura, Rudolf Hanel, Siegfried Rosenbaum, Sigmund Rosenbaum and the brothers Gustav and Bernhard Plaut were on the board of directors.

Around 1918 Vernay AG was one of the largest graphic companies in Austria. The loss of sales markets due to the collapse of the monarchy was countered with the integration of downstream production stages: in 1920 a large bookbindery was added. The printing of magazines and newspapers continued, including the Viennese daily newspapers Bécsi Magyar Ujság (Wiener Ungarische Zeitung), Wiener Mittagspost, The Evening , The Hour and The (Wiener) Tag . In the course of the 1920s, the company was supplemented by its own newspaper and magazine publisher. The »Compass« was run as a separate publishing department.

In 1921, Vernay AG shares were listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange. In 1926, after the "Bekessy collapse" , Vernay AG participated in a consortium to take over Kronos Verlags AG and acquired shares in Tag AG.

Daily newspapers such as Der Tag , Die Stunden , and weekly papers such as Die Bühne , Die Börse, Rätselzeitung, Die Sphinx, Mein Film and Illustrierte Film- und Kinorundschau were part of Vernay's publishing house in 1930. The Compass, financial yearbook in editions for Austria, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Hungary and Romania, the Industrie-Compass in editions for Austria, Czechoslovakia and Hungary, the Büro-Compass in editions for Austria and Czechoslovakia, the address book of the administrative boards and directors of Austria , Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Romania and Hungary, Ehrenzweig's Assekuranz-Jahrbuch, Baldass' guide through Vienna and weekly reports from Compass-Verlag as a supplement to the financial yearbooks were published. A modern book printing plant with 26 high-speed presses, 3 newspaper rotary presses and 600 employees, the large bookbindery, a printing system set up in 1928 with a 32-page rotary copper rotogravure printing machine, as well as branches and holdings in Prague and Zagreb rounded off this media group.

In 1936 Vernay AG settled. At that time there were two groups of roughly equal shareholders - Rudolf Hanel and Particité SA Geneva - a company owned by the Czechoslovak Foreign Ministry. In the course of negotiations to finance the compensation, both groups agreed to split the company. Hanel took over the Compass publishing house. In return, he transferred his Vernay shares to the Particité.

Shortly after the “Anschluss” in 1938 , most executives of the Vernay publishers, newspapers and magazines were arrested. The publication activity was stopped and the company was placed under temporary administration. The company was leased to the specially founded company Frohwerk-Erwin Metten & Co, in which Erwin Metten held a 25% stake. Erwin Metten had a fatal accident in 1940. In 1941, his son and main heir, Heinz Metten, sold the printing company to Helmut Seidl, Hans Misar, Hannes Dietl and Hermann Hess. These initially formed a KG, whose sole owner at the end of the war was only Helmut Seidl.

Erwin Metten NfG Helmut Seidl still had 522 employees in 1955. In 1958 the company was run under the name Erwin Metten-Betriebs-GmbH. From the end of the 1960s, the company was continuously downsized and several changes of ownership took place. The Austrian Economic Association and the Central Bank of Austria's Volksbanks had invested in the company. In 1974 the company was taken over by the real estate agent Alfred Marek and in 1975 the company was shut down. In 1979 a bankruptcy petition was rejected for lack of assets. In 1984 it was deleted from the commercial register.

literature

  • Tano Bojankin: The history of the Compass publishing house - an intermediate result. In: Sylvia Mattl-Wurm , Alfred Pfoser (ed.): Die Vermessung Wiens, Lehmann address books 1859–1942. Metroverlag, Vienna 2011, p. 339 ff.
  • Peter Eigner, Andreas Resch: Steyrermühl and Vernay. The two largest Viennese newspaper groups in the interwar period. In: Herbert Matis, Andreas Resch, Dieter Stiefel (ed.): Entrepreneurship in the field of tension between politics and society. Lit, Vienna 2010, p. 143 ff.
  • Peter Melichar : Aryanizations and liquidations in the paper and wood sector. In: Ulrike Felber, Peter Melichar, Markus Priller, Berthold Unfried, Fritz Weber: Economy of Aryanization Part 2: Economic sectors, industries, case studies. Forced sale, liquidation and restitution of companies in Austria from 1938 to 1960. Publications by the Austrian Historical Commission 10/2, Vienna / Munich 2004, pp. 279–741 (here on Johann N. Vernay, Druckerei- und Verlags AGS 573–580).