Siegfried Buchenau

Biography

Book designer, publisher. Born 3 April 1892 in Hannoversch Münden. 1915-18: military service (wounded 1915). 1918-21: worked for Reinhard Pipers Verlag. 1923: founded Munich publishing firm of Phantasus Verlag S. Buchenau & A. Häger, later Buchenau and Reichert Verlag, which published books and the journal Die Bücherstube (1919-27); by 1933 the firm had been dissolved. By 1926: working for Rowohlt Verlag; became managing director of Rowohlt Verlag, dedicating himself to Rowohlt books, creating a well-designed, distinguished list. 1927: married Oda Weitbrecht. From 1930: typographical director and publisher (later with Konrad F. Bauer) of the yearbook Imprimatur. From 1932: worked for the publishers Weitbrecht & Marissal, and Marion von Schröder (Hamburg). The latter was one of the first to be allowed by the English occupation authority to resume publishing after the war’s end. July 1943: premises destroyed in air raid.

‘On 23 January 1945 conscription to the Volkssturm; on 26.1 transportation to the East, to Schwedt an der Oder. Involvement in battle action. Sent back to Hamburg by the batallion doctor, arriving there on 10.2.’ (SB, Begegnung mit Siegfried Buchenau, 1964, p. 105; tr. SM)

1947: director of von Schröder. 1951-60: editor/publisher of the new Imprimatur. 1953-4: production director for the publisher Wolfgang Krüger (Hamburg-Wellingsbüttel). 1954: production director at Rowohlt. 1955: editor-in-chief at Rowohlt. 1960: retired. Died 8 July 1964 in Schwenningen/Neckar.