Axel Springer

Axel Springer (d. May 2, 1912, Hamburg – September 22, 1985, West Berlin), was a German journalist and the founder of the Axel Springer Verlag publishing house.

Springer was born as Axel Cäsar Springer in Hamburg, where his father worked as publisher.

Springer's career started with the foundation of Axel Springer GmbH in Hamburg in 1947. He publishes the Hamburger Abendblatt newspaper, followed by some magazines, including the popular radio and TV programme magazine Hör zu. In 1952, Springer starts the publication of the tabloid Bild, becoming the daily newspaper for millions in Germany and one important influence on public opinion.

He went on to launch and acquire a string of papers – most resolutely anti-intellectual, in line with his comment that too much reflection was bad for Germans – and magazines characterised by entertainment and conservative politics. The Axel Springer Verlag today is one of the major magazine and newspaper publishers in Germany with over 180 newspapers and magazines in circulation- 23.7% of the German market in 1999.

In the late 1960s, Springer was attacked by the leftist students movement for the political opinion pushed forward via Bild and the other Springer media and became the goal of their protest marches and direct actions. Springer was swift to denounce those who questioned the economic miracle of the fifties and sixties. The attempted assassination of Rudi Dutschke can be connected to Bild's condemnation of the protesters.

Springer's Bild newspaper was attacked most famously in 1974's Die Verlorene Ehre der Katharina Blum by Heinrich Böll.

Springer died in West Berlin in 1985.