Printing Process in Germany

Heidelberg Press and Germany's Printing Process

       Because I discussed typography a couple blogs ago, I have decided to delve into the printing processes in Germany.  In 1439, Johannes Gutenberg first used movable print.  Gutenberg was a German that facilitated the printing process, using dark oil-based inks.  He is popularly known for his 42-line Gutenberg Bible.  This famous German introduced movable type to all of Europe.  

Heidelberg Press today

           In 1934, the Heidelberg Press revolutionized printing, and continues to do so now.  The Heidelberg Press was a fully automatic cylinder press. During WWII, the Heidelberg Press actually kept its distance from the NSDAP.  When the Allies marched into Heidelberg, the soldiers neither occupied the factory or dismantled it! There was a small halt to production, but it resumed before the official end of the war.  According to the company's website, there are 400,000 Heidelberg presses in 240,000 companies worldwide ("the Heidelberg.") 
        The German Heidelberg Press has expanded and adapted with the times. Today, not only is it a leading company in earnings but also one in developing new technologies.  It has developed a CO2 neutral machine that reduced the output of carbon dioxide. The company has championed a movement to greener technology (CO2 Neutral Machines.)

        As I discussed a couple of weeks ago, German typography was not exactly unique to Germany, using the Gothic Fraktur type.  However, during the 20s and 30s, Germany kept utilizing this type where other countries moved on.  
       Rudolf Koch had a private workshop in Germany and worked as a teacher and typographer after WWI.  He designed the Wallau type in the 30s, which was his personal version of Rotunda.  Koch had Eichenauer as a punch-cutter during this time as well.  I included a small video on punch-cutting which shows how the metal is cut, etc.  
   In 1919, the Weimar Republic founded the Bauhaus which taught the craft of typography.  A famous typographer Marcel Breuer was employed here.  This organization tried to test the restrictions on color and form of the type, but failed later (1933) due to the impracticality of their works (Chappell 204-227.)
    During the war, several typographers, including some of Koch's co-workers, fled Germany due to rising fascism.  When the Nazi's rose to power, they took over the presses and consolidated individual presses into one state-run industry.  This was done to limit freedom of press, protecting the Nazi rule.  

Until Next Week!
Alexis S.
    

 Citations:

Chappell, Warren. A Short History of the Printed Word. New York: Knopf, 1970. Print.
"CO₂ Neutral Machines". Heidelberg Druckmaschinen AG, n.d. Web. 25 Feb. 2015.
"The Heidelberg." Corrdigital. N.p., 17 Mar. 2013. Web. 24 Feb. 2015.