Geca Kon also spelled Gaetz Kohn (; 2 August 1873 – 1941) was a Serbian

publisher Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

Early life

Kon was born in

Csongrád Csongrád ( ro, Ciongrad; tr, Conğrad sr, Чонград, Čongrad, archaically also ''Црноград/Crnograd'') is a town in Csongrád County in southern Hungary. History At the time of the Hungarian Conquest (the end of 9th century) the ...

. His father was a rich rabbi and was the director of an elementary school. Unable to complete school, Kon moved to Belgrade in 1889. In Belgrade, he found work in the bookshop owned by Frederick Breslauer. He worked in the shop until 1894, then moved to

Novi Sad Novi Sad ( sr-Cyrl, Нови Сад, ; hu, Újvidék, ; german: Neusatz; see below for other names) is the second largest city in Serbia and the capital of the autonomous province of Vojvodina. It is located in the southern portion of the Pan ...

, staying there for a year.

Publishing career

In 1901 he established a bookselling and publishing business which soon became the largest in

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

. From his premises in Belgrade he published over 3,500 books before his business was closed in 1941 with the Axis Invasion of Yugoslavia. In 1906 he began publishing the journal ''Archives of Law and Social Sciences''. The first catalogue of books of his publications Gece Kona came out in 1910. The catalogue contained 50 books, a selection that included many famous Serbian writers, including

Mihailo Gavrilović Mihailo Gavrilović ( Serbian Cyrillic: Михаило Гавриловић), (Aleksinac, May 8, 1868 – London, November 1, 1924), was a Serbian historian and diplomat. Early life Mihailo Gavrilović was born at Aleksinac in central Serbia on ...

Slobodan Jovanović Slobodan Jovanović ( sr-Cyrl, Слободан Јовановић; 3 December 1869 – 12 December 1958) was a Serbian and Yugoslav writer, historian, lawyer, philosopher, literary critic, diplomat, politician and one of the most prominent int ...

Toma Živanović

Stojan Novaković Stojan Novaković ( sr-Cyrl, Стојан Новаковић; 1 November 1842 – 18 February 1915) was a Serbian politician, historian, diplomat, writer, bibliographer, literary critic, literary historian, and translator. He held the post ...

and Gojko Niketić. He was attacked for being

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

in the anti-semitic journal ''Balkan'' and arrested when the German army arrived in Belgrade.

Marriage and family

Kon married Elsa Wiles in 1902. They had two daughters, Elvira and Malvina.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kon, Geca 1873 births 1941 deaths People from Csongrád Serbian publishers (people) Serbian Jews Serbian Jews who died in the Holocaust 19th-century Jews