Martin Carbe

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Martin Carbe (born February 26, 1872 in Berlin as Martin Cohn , † April 28, 1933 in Locarno ) was a German lawyer .

Career

Martin Cohn was the eldest son of the Jewish publisher Emil Cohn and nephew of Rudolf Mosse . He studied law in Berlin. In 1914 he married the non-Jew Klara Mucks. They had two sons together who left Germany before 1930. On October 2, 1917, Cohn changed his last name to Carbe , presumably in connection with his conversion to Christianity.

In 1904 he joined the Mosse Group as head of the legal department. In 1907 he became the general representative of the publishing house and represented the Mosse company among others:

When Rudolf Mosse died in 1920, he worked his successor Hans Lachmann-Mosse into the publishing business . Martin Carbe had a doctorate in law and was considered prudent, capable and prudent; Above all, however, according to various statements, he worked “in the spirit of old Mosse”. In 1922 he introduced the Rudolf Mosse Code , with which messages could be transmitted in a standardized and cost-effective manner in international telegraphic trade.

From 1925 he came increasingly into conflict with Hans Lachmann-Mosse and with the editor-in-chief of the Berliner Tageblatt Theodor Wolff . In contrast to Rudolf Mosse, during whose lifetime strict attention was paid to journalistic impartiality and neutrality, Wolff pushed through increased politicization in all Mosse newspapers. Carbe foresaw the existence of the publisher in jeopardy, because the one-sided, partisan positioning was associated with considerable decreases in circulation and thus a reduction in advertising expeditions . In fact, from 1927 at the latest, the group had to record immense drops in sales for all of its publications . Carbe constantly asked for corrections. Wolff, who lacked any understanding of business administration, did not allow himself to be deterred from his journalistic policy - and Lachmann-Mosse tried to compensate for the losses with real estate transactions and borrowed capital , which Carbe also considered a mistake.

In November 1927, Deutsche Bank was the first creditor to give up its majority stake in Rudolf Mosse OHG. In the spring of 1928, the house bank of the publisher pointed out an impending insolvency , which the management ignored. Carbe recommended opening an orderly bankruptcy process . At this point in time, at least parts of the Mosse group could have been saved. With the onset of the Great Depression in 1929 , this became impossible. The publisher continued to take out loans in the millions, which legally represented nothing more than a delay in bankruptcy . Carbe adamantly, but unsuccessfully, pointed out the economic and also criminal consequences . Increasingly he got into a conflict of conscience. On the one hand, he had close family ties with the publishing house, on the other hand, as an authorized signatory , he refused to accept responsibility for the economically inevitable collapse of the Mosse group .

Carbe found no alternative but to leave the company. In December 1930 he moved to Ullstein Verlag , the main competitor of Rudolf Mosse OHG. This step was a much-discussed event in the entire Berlin press landscape. Right-wing media in particular shot themselves at Carbe and vilified him as a “typical Jew” who would always cause damage but refuse to stand up for the consequences. This culminated in an entry in the anti-Jewish "Semi-Kürschner-Lexikon" , according to which Martin Carbe (Cohn) was the godfather of the anti-Semitic ridiculous song " Little Cohn ".

Martin Carbe, who was always loyal to Mosse-Verlag, was aware of the signal effect of his resignation. He didn't like the whole circumstances, including the working atmosphere at Ullstein. Rudolf Olden , Kurt Tucholsky and Ernst Feder described him as a “completely broken man”. A little later, on a business trip in the spring of 1933, he committed suicide in a hotel in Locarno . His wife also committed suicide in Berlin in 1947.

See also

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The family's obituary in the Vossische Zeitung of April 30, 1933, p. 20. in: ZEFYS Historical Newspapers, accessed on December 26, 2018
  2. ↑ Theodor Wolff, Bernd Sösemann (eds.): Diaries Theodor Wolff 1914-1919: The First World War and the emergence of the Weimar Republic in diaries, editorials and letters from the editor-in-chief of the "Berliner Tageblatt" and co-founder of the "German Democratic Party". H. Boldt, 1984, p. 517.
  3. ↑ Joseph Walk (ed.): Short biographies on the history of the Jews 1918–1945. Edited by the Leo Baeck Institute, Jerusalem. Saur, Munich 1988, ISBN 3-598-10477-4 , p. 52.
  4. ↑ See marriage certificate in the Landesarchiv Berlin, P Rep. 711, No. 351, Bl.22f.
  5. ↑ Ulrich Heitger: From time signals to political means of leadership: Development tendencies and structures of the news programs of broadcasting in the Weimar Republic 1923-1932. LIT Verlag Münster, 2003, p. 75.
  6. ^ Elisabeth Kraus: The Mosse family: German-Jewish bourgeoisie in the 19th and 20th centuries. CH Beck, 1999. p. 494.
  7. ^ Elisabeth Kraus: also, p. 494.
  8. ↑ Dan Diner: Encyclopedia of Jewish History and Culture: Volume 1: A – Cl. Springer-Verlag, 2016, p. 108.
  9. ^ Elisabeth Kraus: also, p. 152 f.
  10. ↑ Ernst Feder : Today I spoke with: Diaries of a Berlin journalist 1926-1932. Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 1971, p. 343.
  11. ^ Elisabeth Kraus: also, p. 220 f.
  12. ↑ Ignatz Wrobel alias Kurt Tucholsky: Sigilla Veri , Weltbühne , September 29, 1931, No. 39, p. 483.
  13. ↑ Kurt Tucholsky , Antje Bonitz (ed.): Kurt Tucholsky. Complete edition 14th texts 1931. Rowohlt Verlag GmbH, 1998, p. 666.
  14. ↑ https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/plg/spiel/2002/00000021/00000001/art00003?crawler=true
  15. ^ Elisabeth Kraus: also, p. 537.
personal data
SURNAME Carbe, Martin
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Cohn, Martin (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German lawyer and notary
DATE OF BIRTH February 26, 1872
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH April 28, 1933
Place of death Locarno