»Für Jeden Etwas«
-
Roland Jaeger
Abstract
The history of the publishing house Neufeld & Henius, Berlin, is presented here for the first time. The company was founded in 1886 by the Jewish business partners Siegfried Neufeld and Sigmar Mehring as a publishing house and antiquarian bookstore Neufeld & Mehring. In addition to publishing books, the main activity was the resale of remainders from other publishers. After Mehring’s departure in 1888, Neufeld ran the company alone before making his brother-in-law Julian Henius, who also came from a Jewish family, a partner in 1889. From then on, the publishing house was called Neufeld & Henius and grew primarily through the acquisition of light fiction titles and literature for young readers, which were published in new, often attractively illustrated editions, in various book series, and due to high print runs at affordable prices. After Neufeld’s death in 1905, Julian Henius took his son Max Henius (1877-1944) into the publishing house, who from then on successfully expanded it through further acquisitions and new book series, including sheet music albums. While the resale of remainders declined, the publishing house Neufeld & Henius experienced steady growth in the 1920s, which made the publisher wealthy. However, the program was rather commercial and conservative, while the modern themes and authors characteristic of the era were ignored. Henius was baptized as a Christian in 1924 and leaned politically to the right. From 1929 onwards he increasingly published national-conservative titles, some of which even compliant with National Socialism. Nevertheless, the publisher, who was racially classified as Jewish, was expropriated by the National Socialists without compensation in 1934/35 and his successful book titles were transferred to other publishers. Max Henius also lost his villa on the Havel and his apartment in the Tiergartenviertel. In 1943 he was arrested for »not wearing the Jewish star« and was later sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp, where he died in 1944. The once important publishing house Neufeld & Henius has since fallen into oblivion. This article brings it back into the history of the book trade.
Abstract
The history of the publishing house Neufeld & Henius, Berlin, is presented here for the first time. The company was founded in 1886 by the Jewish business partners Siegfried Neufeld and Sigmar Mehring as a publishing house and antiquarian bookstore Neufeld & Mehring. In addition to publishing books, the main activity was the resale of remainders from other publishers. After Mehring’s departure in 1888, Neufeld ran the company alone before making his brother-in-law Julian Henius, who also came from a Jewish family, a partner in 1889. From then on, the publishing house was called Neufeld & Henius and grew primarily through the acquisition of light fiction titles and literature for young readers, which were published in new, often attractively illustrated editions, in various book series, and due to high print runs at affordable prices. After Neufeld’s death in 1905, Julian Henius took his son Max Henius (1877-1944) into the publishing house, who from then on successfully expanded it through further acquisitions and new book series, including sheet music albums. While the resale of remainders declined, the publishing house Neufeld & Henius experienced steady growth in the 1920s, which made the publisher wealthy. However, the program was rather commercial and conservative, while the modern themes and authors characteristic of the era were ignored. Henius was baptized as a Christian in 1924 and leaned politically to the right. From 1929 onwards he increasingly published national-conservative titles, some of which even compliant with National Socialism. Nevertheless, the publisher, who was racially classified as Jewish, was expropriated by the National Socialists without compensation in 1934/35 and his successful book titles were transferred to other publishers. Max Henius also lost his villa on the Havel and his apartment in the Tiergartenviertel. In 1943 he was arrested for »not wearing the Jewish star« and was later sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp, where he died in 1944. The once important publishing house Neufeld & Henius has since fallen into oblivion. This article brings it back into the history of the book trade.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Inhalt V
- »Für Jeden Etwas« 1
- »Wendepunkte der Weltgeschichte« 51
- Nürnberger Kupferstecher und Kunsthändler des 17. Jahrhunderts als Buchverleger 87
- Die »Pflege der Literatur« als »Lebensaufgabe« 111
- Bücher aus Prag 137
- Ein »gewagtes Unternehmen« 153
- Formatwechsel 181
-
Berichte und Miszellen
- Ernst Umlauff (1896–1976) oder der Gang der Geschäfte 229
- The Library and the Garden 233
-
Rezensionen
- Ursula Rautenberg und Ute Schneider (Hrsg.): Das Buch als Handlungsangebot. Soziale, kulturelle und symbolische Praktiken jenseits des Lesens 243
- Bernhard Fischer / C. Taszus (Hrsg.): Friedrich Arnold Brockhaus – Carl August Böttiger. Briefwechsel 1807–1823 247
- Annika Haß: Europäischer Buchmarkt und Gelehrtenrepublik. Die Transnationale Verlagsbuchhandlung Treuttel & Würtz 251
- Michael Knoche, Georg Kessler u. a.: 300 Jahre Gräfe und Unzer 254
- Katharina Grabbe und Christian Schmitt (Hrsg.): Kolportageliteratur. Medialität, Mobilität und Literarizität populärer Texte im 19. Jahrhundert 259
- Petra McGillen: Der Fontane-Workshop. Realismus- Manufaktur im Zeitalter der Druckmaschinen 262
- Kristina Mateescu: Engagement und esoterische Kommunikation unterm Hakenkreuz 265
- Patricia F. Blume: Die Geschichte der Leipziger Buchmesse in der DDR 269
-
Anhang
- Historische Kommission des Börsenvereins des Deutschen Buchhandels e. V. – Bericht 1. Juni 2023 bis 31. Mai 2024 271
- Register 273
- Anschriften der Autorinnen und Autoren 284
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Inhalt V
- »Für Jeden Etwas« 1
- »Wendepunkte der Weltgeschichte« 51
- Nürnberger Kupferstecher und Kunsthändler des 17. Jahrhunderts als Buchverleger 87
- Die »Pflege der Literatur« als »Lebensaufgabe« 111
- Bücher aus Prag 137
- Ein »gewagtes Unternehmen« 153
- Formatwechsel 181
-
Berichte und Miszellen
- Ernst Umlauff (1896–1976) oder der Gang der Geschäfte 229
- The Library and the Garden 233
-
Rezensionen
- Ursula Rautenberg und Ute Schneider (Hrsg.): Das Buch als Handlungsangebot. Soziale, kulturelle und symbolische Praktiken jenseits des Lesens 243
- Bernhard Fischer / C. Taszus (Hrsg.): Friedrich Arnold Brockhaus – Carl August Böttiger. Briefwechsel 1807–1823 247
- Annika Haß: Europäischer Buchmarkt und Gelehrtenrepublik. Die Transnationale Verlagsbuchhandlung Treuttel & Würtz 251
- Michael Knoche, Georg Kessler u. a.: 300 Jahre Gräfe und Unzer 254
- Katharina Grabbe und Christian Schmitt (Hrsg.): Kolportageliteratur. Medialität, Mobilität und Literarizität populärer Texte im 19. Jahrhundert 259
- Petra McGillen: Der Fontane-Workshop. Realismus- Manufaktur im Zeitalter der Druckmaschinen 262
- Kristina Mateescu: Engagement und esoterische Kommunikation unterm Hakenkreuz 265
- Patricia F. Blume: Die Geschichte der Leipziger Buchmesse in der DDR 269
-
Anhang
- Historische Kommission des Börsenvereins des Deutschen Buchhandels e. V. – Bericht 1. Juni 2023 bis 31. Mai 2024 271
- Register 273
- Anschriften der Autorinnen und Autoren 284
