Reichs-Bücherwoche - Kauft Scherl-Bücher - Hans Rudi Erdt

August Scherl (24 July 1849 – 18 April 1921) was a German

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...

magnate.

Life

August Hugo Friedrich Scherl founded a newspaper and publishing concern on 1 October 1883, which from 1900 carried the name August Scherl Verlag. He was editor of the ''Berlin Local Advertiser'' (''Berliner Lokal-Anzeiger'') since 3 November 1883, and his publishing house started the weekly magazine ''

Die Woche ''Die Woche'' (, "The Week") was an illustrated weekly newspaper published in Berlin from 1899 to 1944. It reported on popular entertainment, including "sensationalist crime stories", and covered celebrities in sports and show business. Its publish ...

'' (The Week) in 1899. In 1904 he took over publication of the widely popular magazine ''

Die Gartenlaube ''Die Gartenlaube – Illustriertes Familienblatt'' (; ) was the first successful mass-circulation German newspaper and a forerunner of all modern magazines.Sylvia Palatschek: ''Popular Historiographies in the 19th and 20th Centuries'' (Oxford: ...

''. As a result his publishing company had the largest circulation of any in Germany at the time. Scherl was also active with theater projects, with lottery systems and a

Gyro Monorail The gyro monorail, gyroscopic monorail, gyro-stabilized monorail, or gyrocar are terms for a single rail land vehicle that uses the gyroscopic action of a spinning wheel to overcome the inherent instability of balancing on top of a single rail. ...

. These costly projects were not commercially successful, so he sold his interests in the German Publishers Association ( Deutscher Verlagsverein) and left it in 1914. His nationwide newspaper empire was taken over by

Alfred Hugenberg Alfred Ernst Christian Alexander Hugenberg (19 June 1865 – 12 March 1951) was an influential German businessman and politician. An important figure in nationalist politics in Germany for the first few decades of the twentieth century, Hugenbe ...

in 1916, and later by Max Amann (

Franz-Eher-Verlag Franz Eher Nachfolger GmbH (''Franz Eher and Successors, LLC'', usually referred to as the Eher-Verlag (''Eher Publishing'')) was the central publishing house of the Nazi Party and one of the largest book and periodical firms during the Third Rei ...

). Scherl was born in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...

. As a boy, he lived with his parents in Naunynstrasse, but in later life he remained in the central district of Berlin. He died in

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 ...

and is buried at the Luisenstadt cemetery. He had a villa constructed in Dahlem in secret, in order to surprise his wife. When she made a derogatory comment about the building, when driving past it, Scherl had the house demolished, without informing his wife. The secret of his success was his readiness to take risks, understanding of economics, foresight, innovation and unwillingness to take anything on trust. The Generalanzeiger-Presse (General Advertiser Press) in Germany was founded by Scherl.

Publications by Scherl

* 1883: ''

Berliner Lokal-Anzeiger The ''Berliner Lokal-Anzeiger'' was a daily newspaper published in Berlin, with one of the highest national circulations of its time. Its publisher was newspaper magnate August Scherl, who also owned ''Die Woche ''Die Woche'' (, "The Week") was ...

'' * since 1889: ''

Berliner Abendzeitung Berliner is most often used to designate a citizen of Berlin, Germany Berliner may also refer to: People * Berliner (surname) Places * Berliner Lake, a lake in Minnesota, United States * Berliner Philharmonie, concert hall in Berlin, Germany * ...

'' * 1894: ''Neueste Berliner Handels- und Börsennachrichten'' * 1895: ''Sport im Bild'' (first german sport illustrated) * 1899: ''

'' * 1899: ''Sport im Wort'' * 1900: daily newspaper ''Der Tag'' * 1904: Purchase of magazine ''

'' * 1905: ''Praktischer Wegweiser'', later as ''Allgemeiner Wegweiser''

External links

References

* 1849 births 1921 deaths 19th-century German newspaper publishers (people) 20th-century German newspaper publishers (people) German newspaper chain founders Businesspeople from Düsseldorf Businesspeople from Berlin {{Germany-business-bio-stub