S. Fischer

Fischer, S., a prestigious publishing house, founded in 1886 by Samuel Fischer (1859-1934) in Berlin with the aim of combining the promotion of new ideas with the preservation of classical literature. Fischer's reforming zeal and feel for quality first showed in his support of naturalism (see Naturalismus) and non-German avant-garde literature. From 1890 he published the periodical Freie Bühne für modernes Leben (see Freie Bühne), out of which grew the monthly Die neue Rundschau. He also published specialist books and periodicals on scientific and technological subjects. Prepared to take a financial risk by accepting an exceptionally long first novel, Fischer published Th. Mann's Buddenbrooks (1901); it soon became a spectacular success. From 1891 he published the novels of Gabriele Reuter, one of the first of his women authors. Throughout the decades during which he was solely in charge, he was supported by his (chief) editor Moritz Heimann (1868-1925); Heimann was succeeded by his friend O. Loerke who had joined the house in 1917. In 1925 Gottfried Bermann, Fischer's future son-in-law, took over as manager, and in 1933 Peter Suhrkamp became editor of Die neue Rundschau. But in the same year the National Socialists rose to power and the house entered its critical phase. After Fischer's death in 1934, Gottfried Bermann-Fischer, his successor, decided to move abroad. Having been rejected by the Swiss, he went to Vienna where he founded the Bermann-Fischer Verlag in April 1936; in December of that year Peter Suhrkamp acquired the rights of the now 50-year-old Fischer Verlag. Authors like Th. Mann, Döblin, Hofmannsthal, and Musil remained with Bermann-Fischer who in 1938, the year of the Anschluß, emigrated to Sweden where he made a fresh start (see Exilliteratur). But the worsening political situation made a collaboration between him and the two Dutch houses Querido (F. H. Landshoff) and Allert de Lange (W. Landauer) expedient; it resulted in the successful ‘Forum’ series whose advisory committee consisted of Th. Mann, R. Schickele, F. Werfel, and S. Zweig. In 1940 Bermann-Fischer emigrated with his family to the USA, where he founded with F. H. Landshoff, who had escaped arrest in Holland, the L. B. Fischer Publishing Corporation (1941-5), though his Stockholm house continued to function. In the late 1940s Bermann-Fischer returned to Vienna, but in 1950 reached a settlement with Suhrkamp enabling him to re-establish the S. Fischer Verlag. A special feature of the house became the successful paperback (Taschenbuch) series, launched as ‘das gute Buch für jedermann’. Gottfried B. Fischer: Bedroht—Bewahrt, an autobiography, appeared in 1967, Lebendige Gegenwart. Reden und Aufsätze, ed. W. Killy, in 1977, and Wanderer durch ein Jahrhundert in 1994. The memoirs of S. Fi-scher's daughter, Brigitte B. Fischer, appeared as Sie schrieben mir (1978); it was translated by Harry Zohn under the title My European Heritage. Life among Great Men of Letters (1986).

Peter Suhrkamp (1891-1959) operated from 1936 as Suhrkamp Verlag vorm. S. Fischer. After Loerke's death in 1941, his friend H. Kasack replaced him as editor. In 1944 Suhrkamp was arrested, and although a charge of treason was dropped, he was detained for ten months in prison and in Dachau concentration camp from which he emerged seriously ill. During his prolonged absence he was represented by Kasack. After the war he began again with an American licence and, following his settlement with Bermann-Fischer, founded his own house, Suhrkamp Verlag, in 1950. It soon rose to prominence, included a Theaterverlag, and attracted authors like Adorno, Bloch, Brecht, Enzensberger, Hesse, Kasack, T. S. Eliot, and Proust. Suhrkamp's correspondence with Hesse, Briefwechsel 1945-59, appeared in 1969, Briefe an Autoren in 1963, both edited by Siegfried Unseld, Suhrkamp's successor. H. Kasack edited the volume Der Leser. Reden und Aufsätze (1960).