Joseph La Ruelle

Joseph La Ruelle, photograph by Jacob Wothly around 1850. The illustration, a daguerreotype , is the oldest traditional photograph of La Ruelle. It shows the future publisher in clothing typical of the time, long sideburns and a stick with a decorative knob. It is questionable whether this is a stabbing weapon .

Joseph La Ruelle (born March 31, 1822 in Aachen , † August 8, 1900 in Aachen) was a German lithographer , merchant , newspaper publisher and printer owner . He is considered to be the creator of the general gazette type in Germany, who founded the first of its kind in 1871 with the Aachener Anzeiger . The Aachener Anzeiger and the Politische Tageblatt , which he later published , were primarily official papers for official announcements.

Life

In 1871 there were around 1,000 political newspapers in Germany , and in 1881 there were more than 2,000. The satirical weekly magazine Figaro by the publisher Xaver Brammertz, the center paper Echo der Gegenwart from the Kaatzer'schen publishing house and the liberal Aachener Zeitung appeared in Aachen around 1872. Alongside these party papers, Joseph La Ruelle first published the Aachener Anzeiger on July 28, 1871 as an impartial daily newspaper. This was the hour of birth of the general gazettes published in numerous German cities over the next thirty years , which described themselves as politically and denominationally independent and which, for the first time, gained broad sections of the population as readers as a mass edition .

After the sales quota was still quite meager in the first few years, La Ruelle converted the Aachener Anzeiger into a free advertising paper combined with a feature section in 1875 . In the same year he tried to expand outside of Aachen by founding the Generalanzeiger of the City of Cologne , because the Cologne newspaper there did not have a large readership. However, due to the publication of the Stadtanzeiger der Kölnische Zeitung by the publisher M. DuMont Schauberg a few months later, he was exposed to high competitive pressure and La Ruelle had to discontinue the publication of the Generalanzeiger of the City of Cologne with the edition of November 15, 1876 .

La Ruelle now concentrated on its roots in Aachen and from 1878 also published the Politische Tageblatt . It appeared twice a day and became an integral part of the industrial, civil servant and merchant circles in Aachen.

A few years later, La Ruelle attempted another expansion and published the general gazette for the Monschau, Eupen, Schleiden, Jülich, Geilenkirchen, Düren, Heinsberg, Erkelenz and Aachen districts once a week for the then Prussian administrative district of Aachen . With this it extended its distribution area to Trier . Only a year later, the cheapest newspaper for rich and poor followed , which was enriched with mishaps and feature pages and should be read from East Prussia to Brussels . However, due to lack of interest and insufficient sales proceeds, this sheet was discontinued after a few issues.

Joseph La Ruelle had his newspaper editions printed in his commercial printer , La Ruellesche Accidenzdruck , which he equipped with a rotary press in Aachen in 1887 due to the increased requirements . The ad was received in Karlshaus, then in Hartmannstrasse and then on Büchel. Joseph Deterre, Joseph La Ruelle's son-in-law, took over the commercial printing company a few years before La Ruelle's death and expanded it further in the spirit of his father-in-law. Many Aachen scientists and authors also had their publications printed here.

After the death of Joseph La Ruelle, the widow, daughters and sister Katharina Müller (* 1842) received the Aachener Anzeiger and the Politische Tageblatt as a result of the division of the estate . Katharina Müller was already active as managing director of the publishing house shortly after it was founded and in 1925, at the age of 82, was still in charge of the company. As a result of the division of the estate, the company name was now La Ruelle'scher Zeitungsverlag GmbH . The editors-in-chief were Otto Dresemann for 16 years and Konrad Büttgenbach for 30 years. The Politisches Tageblatt boasted quick coverage and provided information on the stock market, art, science, technology and sport. Components of this medium were as a special supplement : The narrator, the selection, the world of women, Alt-Aachen, Oecher Leäve, the colorful freight and the Aachener Illustrierte . The publication of the Aachener Anzeiger was stopped on September 12, 1944.

Joseph La Ruelle found his final resting place in Aachen's Ostfriedhof .

Works (selection)

• 1871: Aachener Anzeiger , daily, until 1944
• 1878: Politisches Tageblatt
• 1881: Generalanzeiger , once a week, administrative district Aachen
• 1882: Cheapest newspaper for rich and poor , throughout Germany, East Prussia and Brussels, few issues

literature

• Joachim-Felix Leonhard , Hans-Werner Ludwig and Dietrich Schwarze: Media Studies. A handbook for the development of media and forms of communication , Vol. 1, de Gruyter, 1999, p. 935 ff, ISBN 978-3110139617
• Jürgen Wilke : Fundamentals of media and communication history, Böhlau-Verlag, Cologne, Weimar, Vienna, p. 267ff ISBN 978-3-412-20169-2
• Aachener Anzeiger. Political daily paper. in: Albert Huyskens : Aachen. Deutscher Architektur- und Industrie-Verlag (DARI), Berlin-Halensee 1925, p. 306f.