Walter de Gruyter

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Walter de Gruyter [ ˈɡʁɔʏ̯tɐ ] (born May 10, 1862 in Ruhrort ; † September 6, 1923 in Berlin - Lichterfelde ) was a German merchant and publisher .

Life

Walter de Gruyter was the son of the coal wholesaler Albert de Gruyter (1829–1901). After high school and a commercial apprenticeship he studied from 1883 German in Berlin , Bonn and Leipzig , where he in 1887 at Friedrich Zarncke Dr. phil. received his doctorate . In the same year he began to work in his father's coal wholesaler. After the sale of his father's business in 1893, he became interested in a partnership in publishing. In 1894 he started as a trainee at the Georg Reimer publishing house in Berlin and bought this renowned publishing house in 1897.

In the following 20 years he pursued his entrepreneurial goal to unite several scientific publishers under one roof through acquisitions and partnerships. Stations on this path were:

From 1923 the publishing group operated under the name Verlag Walter de Gruyter in Berlin. Walter de Gruyter campaigned for the establishment of an arbitration tribunal to settle disputes between publishers and authors.

His grave is in the Lichterfelde Park Cemetery in Berlin Lichterfelde-West .

family

Walter de Gruyter was married to Eugenie Müller (1869–1950). They had two sons, Hans (born August 10, 1889) and Georg (born May 28, 1895), who both died in World War I, and two daughters: The older Clara (born September 16, 1891) married Herbert Cram (1890– 1967), who took over the management of the publishing house. The younger Ellen (born July 26, 1900) was first married to the lawyer Karl-August Crisolli (1900-1935), from this marriage the son Rudolf (1932-1970) emerged, her second marriage to the art historian and publisher Burkhard Meier (1885-1946).

literature

  • Gerhard Lüdtke : The Verlag Walter de Gruyter & Co. Sketches from the history of the former companies that formed its structure, along with an outline of the life of Dr. Walter de Gruyter’s . Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / Leipzig 1924.
  • Gerhard Lüdtke: Walter de Gruyter. A picture of life . Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / Leipzig 1929.
  • Bernhard Sommerlad : On the 100th birthday of Walter de Gruyter on May 10th . In: Börsenblatt für den deutschen Buchhandel Vol. 18, 1962, pp. 821–823
  • Helmut Hiller:  de Gruyter, Walter. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 7, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1966, ISBN 3-428-00188-5 , p. 240 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Doris Fouquet-Plümacher: From the archive of the Walter de Gruyter publishing house. Letters, certificates, documents. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 1980, ISBN 3-11-008513-5 (catalog of the exhibition of the same name, Free University of Berlin, October 17 to December 6, 1980).
  • Anne Katrin Ziesak: The publisher Walter de Gruyter 1749–1999. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-11-016698-4 (catalog of the exhibition of the same name, Berlin State Library, September 30 to November 20, 1999).
  • Hellen Müller: Science and the market around 1900. The publishing company Walter de Gruyters in the literary field of the turn of the century. Max Niemeyer, Tübingen 2004, ISBN 3-484-35104-7 .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Gruyter, Walter de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German merchant and publisher
DATE OF BIRTH May 10, 1862
PLACE OF BIRTH Ruhrort
DATE OF DEATH September 6, 1923
Place of death Berlin - Lichterfelde