Berlin – a Publishing City

Berlin – a publishing city From the contents Page Editorial On the way to Number 1 – That publishing houses are commercial retailing, of authors, libraries and archives, a potted history of the publishing entities is not a revolutionary statement. museums and theatres, universities and city Berlin 2 But publishers are also private sector academies. More than 300 publishing A present with a future – Berlin as a institutions for culture, learning and houses alone benefit from it by making publishing city, today and tomorrow 3 science, without which our world would use of the unique cultural and knowledge not be what it is, and without whose work infrastructure in our city. A place to deal books – disseminating culture and knowledge from book supermarkets of our society‘s future development is I am proud that Berlin is in the process to specialist book shops 5 scarcely imaginable. In the same way as of regaining its former pre-eminence as A place to write – authors in Berlin 7 a book itself is both merchandise and a a German publishing metropolis. We are cultural artefact and therefore belongs to doing all we can to support and acceler- both the sphere of the mind and that of ate this progress, which was originally set commerce, publishing houses are centres in motion by reunification. This brochure, of economic thought and action on the which provides an overview of the past one hand, but also valuable sources for and present situation in the publishing understanding where we come from and city Berlin and the benefits it offers pub- laboratories for future developments. lishing houses, is part of these endeavours. Cultural SectorCultural In order to fulfil their role in the interest Harald Wolf, Senator for Economics, Technology of the company and as service providers and Women‘s Issues for society, publishers need appropriate local conditions. Our brochure provides an eloquent demonstration of the fact that in this respect Berlin‘s cup truly run- neth over. Berlin is the capital of book 1 On the way to Number 1 A short history of the publishing city Berlin The Royal Library at the Opernplatz, opened in 1784 and nicknamed „the Librarians with the catalogue of the Royal Library in commode“ 1905 Up until the 1880s Leipzig was the cen- and industrial development Berlin chosen as one would select a business tre of book retailing in Germany. It was became a competitor to Leipzig and location today. People moved to the where the only German book fair took as a cultural metropolis it attracted towns where their relatives and friends place and the seat of the national book publishers. Above all though, the cultu- had ended up, or where they had or dealers and publishers association (Bör- ral atmosphere in the capital not only could easily organise professional con- senverein des Deutschen Buchhandels). led to the development of new artistic tacts, as publishing required a licence. The publishing houses could draw on schools and movements, but also to This meant that in the post-war period a unique infrastructure of specialised the establishment of numerous pub- the publishing business developed suppliers. Measured by the number of lishing houses which provided a written along decentralised lines. After 1945 publishers, titles published and reve- accompaniment to them. no city in West Germany was able to nues, Leipzig was far and away the most achieve the same status as a publishing important publishing city in Germany. By 1885 Berlin had already overtaken metropolis that Leipzig had held in the traditional book city Leipzig. In that the nineteenth century or Berlin in the Two revolutionary events, the establish- year 2,743 new titles were published twentieth. ment of the German empire in 1871 in Berlin, whilst Leipzig only managed and the proclamation of Berlin as the 2,664. By the 1920s at the latest, Berlin In the post-war period Berlin lost inter- German capital, had far-reaching con- stood alone at the summit of book nationally renowned publishing houses. sequences for publishing in Germany. publishing in Germany. The best known, amongst many others, The pull exerted by the new capital were the publishing houses of Samuel was enormous and affected all areas However, Berlin‘s halcyon days as the Fischer and Ernst Rowohlt. The building of society. As the capital of research leading publishing city did not last long of the Berlin Wall in 1961 finally comple- - until the end of the Weimar Republic ted the city‘s isolation. From then on the in fact. With the National Socialists‘ large scientific publishers formed the takeover of power in 1933 began an backbone of the publishing business unprecedented destruction of the in Berlin. In the late 60s, following the publishing landscape in Berlin. student movement, Berlin became the Samuel Fischer, clandestine capital for small publishers, founder of the After the Second World War both key but only the fall of the Wall really ope- publishing house publishing centres in Germany, Berlin ned up new prospects for Berlin as a S. Fischer in and Leipzig, were situated in the east publishing city. Berlin of the Republic and therefore subject Cultural SectorCultural to the influence of the communist The reunification of the city fundamen- states. Many publishing houses from tally altered Berlin‘s position amongst Leipzig (or their owners or successors) towns in Germany, and despite some fled to the West and many (West) Berlin setbacks it is now on the way to regai- Egmont Harald publishers followed them due to the ning some of its former glory as a Petersen, political instability in the city. The places publishing city. founder of the in which they sought refuge and where Egmont Foun- dation they started to publish again were not 2 A present with a future Berlin as a publishing city today and tomorrow Production of titles estimates by the Berlin-Brandenburg Measured by the number of first edi- branch of the book dealers and publi- tions published in the year, Berlin was shers association. in fourth place amongst German publishing cities in 1991 with 5,500 titles, A diverse publishing environment behind Munich, Frankfurt am Main and Stuttgart. In 2006 Berlin had overtaken The vitality and diversity of the all its competitors and now leads the publishing landscape in Berlin has no league table with 9,005 first editions. equivalent anywhere in Germany. The This means that nearly 14 percent of all largest and best known internationally first editions published in Germany that are the scientific publishers. Springer year came from Berlin. Science+Business Media is not only the largest scientific publishing house in Berlin, but also heads the list of the Berlin is the best largest publishers in Germany. The ven- In the same year Berlin also achieved erable publisher Walter de Gruyter can first place amongst German publishing look back on a 250 year history in the cities by the number of publishing city and became the largest publisher houses, according to the statistical year- for humanities in continental Europe book of the German book dealers and with the acquisition of K. G. Saur and publishers association (Books and book Max Niemeyer in 2006. in the city since reunification. Publi- retailing in figures). This lists 153 publishing houses such as that belonging to shers based in Berlin and 151 in Munich. From an economic perspective the Klaus Wagenbach (who moved to Berlin According to the „Address book of book publishers of school textbooks come as other publishers were fleeing), but retailing in Berlin and Brandenburg“ second, particularly Cornelsen, the lar- also Eulenspiegel, Rotbuch, Ch. Links, edited by the local branch of the asso- gest company in Germany in the sector. Nicolai, Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, ciation, the city is home to even more Alexander, BeBra and Transit – to name than 300 regularly active publishing The return of the publishing group Ull- but a few – have continued, for decades houses. stein to its original Berlin headquarters in some cases, to enrich the German in 2004 was an outstanding contribu- book market with new publications tion to the wealth of publishing talent and provoke welcome sensations in the Revenues of publishing houses in in the city and gave Berlin a conside- literary supplements. They are part of a Berlin rable boost as a publishing location. group of medium and small publishing Seven Berlin-based publishers or The establishment of Rowohlt Berlin houses founded in the 1960s or after publishing groups are amongst the top as a subsidiary of the former Berlin- reunification. 100 in Germany. In 2006 they gene- based Rowohlt immediately after the rated revenues of EUR 1.113bn. If the fall of the Wall has also proven to be a The keyword Young Publishers revenues of the other 300 publishing milestone in the city‘s development. The is used for companies established houses in Berlin are included, total Aufbau publishers should also be men- during a spate of start-ups which began annual publishing revenues amount tioned here, which have represented around five years ago and is still con- to more than EUR 1.4bn, according to some of the greatest growth potential tinuing today. They include Berenberg, House No. 2 of the Cornelsen Ver- Ullstein House on Mariendorfer Headquarters of the Axel Springer Premises of the Aufbau Verlag on lag in Berlin Damm, built for the Ullstein-Verlag in Verlag in Berlin Hackescher Markt 1925-1927 3 © CX Huth Kookbooks, Verbrecher and Wolf Jobst eminence as a comic location and are creation of a wide range of indepen- Siedler jr. but also Matthes & Seitz, essential for both publishers and the dent groups and studio communities which moved to Berlin from Munich animation industry.

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