Julius Simonsen

Julius Simonsen was born in 1876 in the small town of Süderbrarup in northern Germany in the state of Schleswig-Holstein, the son of a butcher. At the age of 20, after graduating from a commercial school, he moved to Oldenburg in Holstein in search of work . Here he rented an apartment from a local photographer, Christensen, who was originally from Denmark. Christensen was planning to return to his homeland and was looking for someone to whom he could pass on his business. Simonsen, who worked as a sales agent, decided to learn photography as an additional source of income. On November 1, 1899, Christensen handed over his business to his student.

It was a time of flourishing tourism. Vacationers came to the coast of the North and Baltic Seas, and Simonsen began to publish postcards with views of popular and only just gaining popularity resorts. For the sake of sonority, he began to call his workshop Kunstverlag - "Art Publishing House". Later, Simonsen published view postcards of many places throughout Germany from Flensburg to Tilsit.

Things were going well and Simonsen opened several branches of his "publishing house". But the First World War began, and in 1915 Simonsen was called up for service in the automobile troops. His wife began to manage the affairs. At that time, the main income came from photographs for soldiers' documents. But things were going very badly, and the company was on the verge of ruin.

After returning from the war, Simonsen began to engage in a completely different business - the resale of army horses. Having saved up sufficient capital, he returned to his favorite business again, and gradually regained his former position in the publication of postcards. In addition to Northern Germany, he acquired clients in Thuringia and the Black Forest.

 

 

 

Julius Simonsen also began publishing books. The first was published in 1925. In 1929, Simonsen purchased land in Oldenburg and built a building for his publishing house on it. In 1934, Julius Simonsen died. His son Hans Simonsen took over the business. In 1941, Hans was drafted into the army. In 1945, when he returned from the front, the publishing house was in a very poor state again. The sales markets in East Prussia, Pomerania and Mecklenburg were lost, and those that remained did not give the company the opportunity to develop. Therefore, it was necessary to look for customers in Greece and Italy. In addition, the department engaged in printing books and various forms was expanded. From 1949 to 1951, Simonsen's printing house printed the newspaper "Ostholsteinische Kreis-Rundschau". At that time, the company's staff consisted of approximately 70 people. In 1957, the department that printed and distributed postcards was liquidated, and the publishing house concentrated its activities on book printing. The photo studio also continued to exist.

The company's affairs were taken over by Hans Simonsen's son, born in 1941 and named Julius after his grandfather. In 1970, the printing house moved from Oldenburg to Lensahn. In 1999, the company celebrated its centenary. The founder's great-grandchildren now work there.

Identification of postcards published by Julius Simonsen is not difficult. The back of   the postcards bears the publisher's trademark, or is also provided with the inscription "Verlag Julius Simonsen Oldenburg in Holstein". The author's collection contains postcards with at least two different trademarks of the publishing house Julius Simonsen.

 

 

(When writing this article, materials from the website www.simonsendruck.de were used )