Johannes Hermann August Wilhelm Max Spohr (November 17, 1850 in

Braunschweig Braunschweig () or Brunswick ( , from Low German ''Brunswiek'' , Braunschweig dialect: ''Bronswiek'') is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany, north of the Harz Mountains at the farthest navigable point of the river Oker, which connects it to the Nor ...

– November 15, 1905 in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

) was a German bookseller and

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 ...

. He was one of the first publishers worldwide who published

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

publications. Later

Adolf Brand Gustav Adolf Franz Brand (14 November 1874 – 2 February 1945) was a German writer, egoist anarchist, and pioneering campaigner for the acceptance of male bisexuality and homosexuality. Early life Adolf Brand was born on 14 November 1874 in Be ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

published the first LGBT periodical magazine Der Eigene. Spohr was born in 1850 as the son of businessman ''Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Spohr'' and ''Ferdinande Lisette''. He worked in Pécs,

Hannover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German States of Germany, state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germa ...

and

. With Rudolf Wengler he founded the publishing company ''Wengler & Spohr'' in Braunschweig. On December 20, 1880, he married Elisabeth Hannöver-Jansen, and fathered three sons with her. In 1897, Magnus Hirschfeld founded the

Scientific Humanitarian Committee The Scientific-Humanitarian Committee (, WhK) was founded by Magnus Hirschfeld in Berlin in May 1897, to campaign for social recognition of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, and against their legal persecution. It was the first LGBT ...

with Spohr, the lawyer

Eduard Oberg Eduard Model Accessories is a Czech manufacturer of plastic models and finescale model accessories. Formed in 1989 in the city of Most, Eduard began in a rented cellar as a manufacturer of photoetched brass model components. Following the succ ...

, and the writer

Franz Joseph von Bülow Franz Vollrath Carl Wilhelm Joseph von Bülow (11 September 1861 – 18 October 1915) was a German author, soldier and homosexual activist. Life Franz Vollrath Carl Wilhelm Joseph von Bülow was born on 11 September 1861 in Frankfurt am Main ...

. In 2001, 96 years after his death, a street in Leipzig was named by his family name. In honor of Max Spohr, the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

organisation ''Völklinger Kreis'' established the ''Max-Spohr-Management-Preis'' for companies in Germany that have a good record of diversity management.Zeit:Bunt gemischt zum Erfolg Unternehmen setzen zunehmend auf 'diversity management' (german)
/ref>

References

Mark Lehmstedt Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * Fi ...

: ''Bücher für das „dritte Geschlecht“. Der Max Spohr Verlag in Leipzig''. Verlagsgeschichte und Bibliographie (1881-1941). Harrassowitz. Wiesbaden 2002. .in ''Reihe Schriften und Zeugnisse zur Buchgeschichte''. Veröffentlichungen des Leipziger Arbeitskreises zur Geschichte des Buchwesens; Bd. 14 *

Albert Knoll Albert Knoll (12 July 1796, at Bruneck in what was central Tyrol – 30 March 1863, at Bolzano) was an Austrian Capuchin dogmatic theologian. Life He was ordained to the priesthood in November, 1818, and five years later was appointed to teach d ...

(ed.): ''Die Enterbten des Liebesglücks'': Max Spohr (1850 - 1905). pioneer of gay literature. ''Forum Homosexualität und Geschichte München e.V.''. 2001.

External links

Literature by and over Max Spohr in catalog of Deutschen Nationalbibliothek.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spohr, Max 1850 births 1905 deaths German publishers (people) 19th-century German businesspeople LGBT rights activists from Germany