Axel Springer
Born	(1912-05-02)May 2, 1912 Altona, German Empire
Died	September 22, 1985(1985-09-22) (aged 73) West Berlin, West Germany
Occupation	Business, Publishing
Spouse	Martha Else Meyer (1933-1938) divorced Erna Frieda Berta Holm (1939-)divorced Rosemarie Alsen (1953-1961) divorced Helga Alsen(1962-) divorced Friede Springer (1978-1985)
Children	Barbara (born 1933) Axel Springer jun. (1941-1980) Raimund Nicolaus (born 1962)
Parents	Hinrich Springer

Axel Cäsar Springer (May 2, 1912 – September 22, 1985) was a German journalist and the founder and owner of the Axel Springer AG publishing company.

Early life[link]

Springer was born in Altona near Hamburg, where his father worked as publisher. As a young man, from July 1941, Springer acted as projectionist at the Waterloo cinema, near the Dammtor railway station, which presented American films for the well-to-do youth of Hamburg until Germany's declaration of war against the United States in December 1941.^[1]

Journalist career[link]

Springer's career started as an apprentice compositor and publisher at the publishers Hammerich & Lesser-Verlag, his father's company. After that, he received practical training in the news agency "Wolff's Telegraphisches Bureau" and worked as a local reporter for the newspaper Bergedorfer Zeitung.

Starting in 1934, he worked as a journalist with Altonaer Nachrichten until the compulsory closure of the newspaper in 1941. From 1941 to 1945, he published literary works in Hammerich & Lesser Verlag.

Publisher[link]

He founded his own publishing company Axel Springer GmbH in Hamburg in 1946. He published the Hamburger Abendblatt newspaper, preceded by some magazines, including the popular radio and TV programm magazine Hör zu. In 1952, Springer started the publication of the tabloid Bild, becoming the daily newspaper for millions in Germany and an important influence on public opinion.

He went on to launch and acquire a string of papers and magazines characterised by entertainment and conservative politics, Die Welt among others. The Axel Springer AG today is one of the major magazine, newspaper and online media companies in Europe with over 230 newspapers and magazines as well as more than 80 online offerings.

Contention[link]

In the late 1960s, Springer was attacked by the radical-leftist, communist and anarchist student movement for the political opinion pushed forward via Bild and the other Springer media and became a 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 has by some been connected to Bild's condemnation of the protesters.^{[citation needed]}

Conservative view[link]

Springer's political views and that of his publications are often characterized as conservative by German standards: Part of the articles of association of Axel Springer AG are the five socio-political preambles that were written by Axel Springer in 1967, amended in 1990 following German reunification and supplemented in 2001, one day after 9/11. They represent a world view that they themselves label as liberal.

1. To uphold liberty and law in Germany, a country belonging to the Western family of nations, and to further the unification of Europe.
2. To promote reconciliation of Jews and Germans and support the vital rights of the State of Israel.
3. To support the Transatlantic Alliance, and solidarity with the United States of America in the common values of free nations.
4. To reject all forms of political extremism.
5. To uphold the principles of a free social market economy.

The corporate constitution defines fundamental sociopolitical convictions but does not offer opinions.^[2]

Springer's Bild newspaper was attacked most famously in 1974's The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum by Heinrich Böll.

Death[link]

Springer died in West Berlin in 1985.^[3] His heiress is his fifth (and last) wife Friede Springer (born 1942).

References[link]