Axel Springer

Axel Springer
Axel Springer
	Bronze sculpture of Springer at the court yard of the Hamburger Abendblatt
Born	Axel Cäsar Springer; 2 May 1912; Altona, German Empire
Died	22 September 1985 (aged 73); West Berlin, West Germany
Occupation	Business, Publishing
Spouse(s)	Martha Else Meyer (1933–1938) divorced; Erna Frieda Berta Holm (1939–) divorced; Rosemarie Alsen (1953–1961) divorced; Helga Ludeweg(1962–) divorced; Friede Springer (1978–1985)
Children	Barbara (born 1933); Axel Springer Jr. (1941–1980); Raimund Nicolaus (born 1962)
Parent(s)	Hinrich Springer

Axel Cäsar Springer (2 May 1912 – 22 September 1985) was a German journalist and the founder and owner of the Axel Springer SE publishing company.

Early life

Springer was born in Altona near Hamburg, where his father worked as publisher. As a young man, from July 1941, Springer acted as projectionist at the Waterloo cinema, near the Dammtor railway station, which presented American films for the well-to-do youth of Hamburg until Germany's declaration of war against the United States in December 1941.[1]

Axel Springer bore no relation to the 19th century publisher Julius Springer.[2]

Journalist career

Springer's career started as an apprentice compositor and publisher at the publishers Hammerich & Lesser-Verlag, his father's company. After that, he received practical training in the news agency "Wolffs Telegraphisches Bureau" and worked as a local reporter for the newspaper Bergedorfer Zeitung.

Starting in 1934, he worked as a journalist for Altonaer Nachrichten until the compulsory closure of said newspaper in 1941. From 1941 to 1945, he published literary works in Hammerich & Lesser Verlag.

Publisher

Springer founded his own publishing company, Axel Springer GmbH, in Hamburg in 1946. He published the Hamburger Abendblatt newspaper, preceded by some magazines, including the popular radio and TV program magazine Hörzu. In 1952, Springer started the publication of the tabloid Bild, becoming the daily newspaper for millions in Germany and an important influence on public opinion.

He went on to launch and acquire a string of papers and magazines characterized by entertainment and conservative politics such as Die Welt . Today, the Axel Springer AG is one of the major magazine, newspaper and online media companies in Europe, with over 230 newspapers and magazines as well as more than 80 online offerings.

Controversy

In the late 1960s, Springer was attacked by the German student movement for the political opinions propagated through the tabloid Bild and the other Springer media, and became a target of protest marches and direct actions. Antistudent campaigns in his papers were in particular blamed for the murder attempt against Rudi Dutschke. Springer was swift to denounce those who questioned the equity and social costs of the West German Wirtschaftswunder, the so-called "economic miracle" of the 1950s and 1960s.

In 1974, Springer's Bild was attacked in Lost Honor of Katharina Blum by Heinrich Böll. In 1977 Günter Wallraff, a noted German writer and journalist, worked for four months as an editor for Bild in Hannover, under the name "Hans Esser". In his books Der Aufmacher – a pun meaning both "Lead Story" and "the one who opens" – and Zeugen der Anklage ("Witnesses for the Prosecution") he portrays his experiences among the editorial staff of the tabloid and the journalism he encountered there.

Corporate principles

Part of the articles of association of Axel Springer AG are the five sociopolitical preambles that were written by Axel Springer in 1967, amended in 1990 following German reunification, and supplemented in 2001, one day after 9/11.

To uphold liberty and law in Germany, a country belonging to the Western family of nations, and to further the unification of Europe.
To promote reconciliation of Jews and Germans and support the vital rights of the State of Israel.
To support the Transatlantic Alliance, and solidarity with the United States of America in the common values of free nations.
To reject all forms of political extremism.
To uphold the principles of a free social market economy.

The corporate constitution defines fundamental sociopolitical convictions but does not offer opinions.[3]

Death

Springer died in West Berlin in 1985.[4] His heiress is his fifth (and last) wife Friede Springer (born 1942) who, 30 years Springer's junior, had been his son’s nanny.[5]

gollark: Exactly!

gollark: Biden seems less insane and definitely less annoying.

gollark: * here

gollark: I will be VERY HAPPY when Trump's idiotic voice and rhetoric gets off the radio Herr.

gollark: It was clearly rigged. Obama was in the lead until the mail-in votes started arriving.

References

Richard J. Evans, "The Third Reich at War", p. 578. New York: Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 2009. ISBN 978-1-59420-206-3.
"". Verkehrs Rundschau.
Corporate Principles, Values and Guidelines of Axel Springer AG Archived September 27, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
"Brief Biography of Axel Springer on www.axelspringer.com". Archived from the original on July 18, 2011. Retrieved August 6, 2010.
Karacs, Imre; Koenig, Peter (May 31, 1998). "It's like watching two run-down old elephants perform a dance". The Independent. Retrieved July 2, 2014.

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[1] Richard J. Evans, "The Third Reich at War", p. 578. New York: Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 2009. ISBN 978-1-59420-206-3.

[2] "". Verkehrs Rundschau.

[3] Corporate Principles, Values and Guidelines of Axel Springer AG Archived September 27, 2007, at the Wayback Machine

[4] "Brief Biography of Axel Springer on www.axelspringer.com". Archived from the original on July 18, 2011. Retrieved August 6, 2010.

[5] Karacs, Imre; Koenig, Peter (May 31, 1998). "It's like watching two run-down old elephants perform a dance". The Independent. Retrieved July 2, 2014.