Ross Publishing House

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Artist postcard from the publishing house "Ross"

The Ross-Verlag in Berlin was a German publisher that issued postcards and photos with portraits of actors and singers as well as postcards with film scenes in the 1920s to 1940s.

Publishing history

On the occasion of his 60th birthday, the 1930 Film Week honors the work of Heinrich Roß

The Ross publishing house was founded in 1912 by Heinrich Ross (born August 10, 1870 in Rokytno , Austria-Hungary , now the Czech Republic ; † August 3, 1957 in Chicago , Illinois ). The horse as the company logo of the publisher refers to the name of the founder. The company headquarters was at Alexandrinenstrasse 10 in Berlin SW68.

In the 1920s and 1930s, Ross-Verlag was the leading publisher in Europe for postcards with portraits of well-known film actors and postcards with film scenes - initially only for Germany, later also for international filmmaking. It is estimated that up to 40,000 different motifs were issued. Wanda von Debschitz-Kunowski (1870–1935) and Hanni Schwarz , who had lived in Berlin since 1921, were among the photographers whose photos the publisher published in the 1920s .

In addition to his professional activity, Heinrich Ross was involved in the Jewish community of Neukölln , as its first chairman from 1922 to 1934. His wife, Berta Ross, who died in 1936, had been secretary of the Israelite Women's Association in Berlin-Neukölln since 1926 .

In the time of National Socialism , the Ross publishing house was " Aryanized " in 1937 and integrated into Tobis Filmkunst GmbH . Heinrich Ross emigrated and embarked on May 13, 1939 in Hamburg on the St. Louis that was to take him to Cuba . He involuntarily became a participant of the

and had to return to Europe in June 1939. Ross was lucky and received an entry permit for Great Britain , from where he was allowed to travel to the USA on October 29, 1942. On April 19, 1943, an application for naturalization was made there, which was not granted until 1947. In Germany, he was later granted reparation, but this was out of proportion to the assets he had to leave behind in Germany. Up until old age he was therefore forced to work as a machine worker.

Von Ross' three children - Edith (* 1899; † January 14, 1966), married to the opera singer Gerhard Pechner , Egon (* 1900; † December 10, 1978 in Chicago) and Helene - Edith and Egon were able to live in the USA emigrate. Daughter Helene stayed in Berlin. Ross only found out about her fate after the war. She died on May 8, 1945 at the age of 48 in Berlin.

The company founded by Heinrich Ross operated as Film-Foto-Verlag for a few years after the Second World War until it was renamed UFA / Film-Foto . The portrait cards published by Ross-Verlag are now sought-after collector's items.

Rotophot AG

The distinctive logo of Rotophot Verlag: the letters RPH enclosed in a circle .

Heinrich Ross was also a member of the supervisory board of Rotophot AG and Rotophot Bromsilberdruck GmbH, companies at the same address. The well-known Rotophot Berlin RPH logo can be found on many of the pictures. Rotophot GmbH (since 1912 Rotophot AG ), a picture publisher for photographs and posters, was founded around 1900 and was probably Heinrich Ross's employer before he founded his publishing house.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b THE MAN BEHIND THE CARDS: HEINRICH ROSS
  2. ↑ a b c d Bettina Müller: A story of fame and longing , taz on the weekend, 13./14. June 2020, p. 51
  3. ↑ Edith Hamann: The father of the artist postcard, in: Die Filmwoche, No. 33, year 1930, p. 1053

Web links

Commons : Ross-Verlag  - Collection of Images
Commons : Rotophot AG  - Collection of images, videos and audio files