Victor Gollancz

Sir Victor Gollancz
Gollancz in the late 1940s
Born	(1893-04-09)9 April 1893 Maida Vale, London, England
Died	8 February 1967(1967-02-08) (aged 73) London, England
Nationality	British
Education	St Paul's School, London
Alma mater	New College, Oxford
Occupation(s)	Publisher and humanitarian
Organisation	Victor Gollancz Ltd
Spouse	Ruth Lowy ​ (m. 1919)​
Children	5, including Livia and Vita
Relatives	Hermann Gollancz (uncle) Israel Gollancz (uncle)

Sir Victor Gollancz (/ɡəˈlænts/; 9 April 1893 – 8 February 1967) was a British publisher and humanitarian. Gollancz was known as a supporter of left-wing politics. His loyalties shifted between liberalism and communism; he defined himself as a Christian socialist and an internationalist. He used his publishing house chiefly to promote pacifist and socialist non-fiction, and also launched the Left Book Club.

In the postwar era, he focused his attention on Germany and became known for his promotion of friendship and reconciliation based on his internationalism and his ethic of brotherly love. He founded the organisation Save Europe Now (SEN) in 1945 to campaign for humane treatment of German civilians, and drew attention to their suffering, especially children, and atrocities committed against German civilians. He received an honorary doctorate at the University of Frankfurt in 1949, the Großes Bundesverdienstkreuz of Germany in 1953 and the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade in 1960, and several streets in Germany, including the Gollanczstraße in West Berlin, and two schools, the Victor Gollancz Elementary School^[1] and the Victor-Gollancz-Volkshochschule Steglitz-Zehlendorf,^[2] were named in his honour. He also campaigned for friendship with Soviet Russia. Gollancz once said: "I hate everything that is pro and anti (different peoples). I am only one thing: I am pro-humanity." Since 2000, the Society for Threatened Peoples has awarded the Victor Gollancz Prize.