Axel Springer

For the publishing house, see Axel Springer SE.

Axel Springer
Springer in 1966
Born
Axel Cäsar Springer

(1912-05-02)2 May 1912
Altona, Hamburg, German Empire
Died22 September 1985(1985-09-22) (aged 73)
West Berlin, West Germany
Occupation(s)Business, publishing
Spouse(s)Martha Else Meyer (1933–1938, divorced)
Erna Frieda Berta Holm (1939–?, divorced)
Rosemarie Alsen (née Lorenz) (1953–1961, divorced)
Helga Alsen (née Ludewig) (1962–?, divorced)
Friede Springer (1978–1985)
Children3
RelativesWerner Lorenz (father-in-law)

Axel Cäsar Springer (2 May 1912 – 22 September 1985) was a German publisher and founder of what is now Axel Springer SE, the largest media publishing firm in Europe. By the early 1960s his print titles dominated the West German daily press market. His Bild Zeitung became the nation's tabloid.

In the late 1960s, Springer entered into confrontation with the emergent New Left. Hostile coverage of student protests and a continuing rightward drift in editorial comment were met with boycotts and printing-press blockades, and later in 1972 with the bombing of the company offices by the Red Army Faction (the "Baader Meinhof Gang").

In the late 1970s, exposés of journalistic malpractice by the investigative reporter Günter Wallraff led to Press Council reprimands. Sometimes referred to as Germany's Rupert Murdoch,[1][2] Springer, with counter suits and minor divestments, was able to ride out public criticism of his editorial ethics and market dominance.

Springer engaged in private diplomacy in Moscow in 1958 and, with greater recognition, in Jerusalem in 1966 and 1967. In addition to promotion and defence of the values of the "Western family of nations" and NATO, Springer declared "reconciliation of Jews and Germans and support for the vital rights of the State of Israel" to be a leitmotif of his company's journalism.[3]

  1. ^ "Germany's Rupert Murdoch turns 100". The Local de. 2 May 2012. Archived from the original on 7 December 2021. Retrieved 14 February 2021.
  2. ^ Kirchick, James. "The German Murdoch". Tablet. No. 8 May 2013. Archived from the original on 25 September 2021. Retrieved 14 February 2021.
  3. ^ Corporate Principles, Values and Guidelines of Axel Springer AG Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine