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Family members examine the stones before they are laid into the walk.
Photo Gerhard Schumm, 4.1.2014 |
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| Photo Gerhard Schumm, 4.1.2014 |
On April 1, 2014 two Stolpersteine (
Stumbling Blocks) were laid to memorialize Ernst Collin and his wife Else (nee Cronheim) in front of the entrance to their home at
Cicerostr 61
in Berlin. Stolpersteine are “monuments" created by Gunter Demnig that commemorate victims of the Holocaust. They are small,
cobblestone-sized memorials for an individual victim of Nazism – both those who died and survivors – who were
consigned by the Nazis to prisons, euthanasia facilities, sterilization
clinics, concentration camps, and extermination camps, as well as those
who responded to persecution by emigrating or committing suicide.” The
“stones” record the name of the individual, their birthday, and their
fate. In Berlin the
Koordinierungsstelle Stolpersteine works together with Stolperstein Initiatives in the various city districts, in this case
Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf.
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Ernst as editor, apartment on the ground floor
From the Adreßbuch for Berlin, 1929 |
Ernst Collin, born on 31.5.1886 was the son and grandson of court bookbinders
to the Prussian Kings and German Emperors. His grandfather W(ihelm)
Collin (12.7.1820 – 1893) was the son of a [Beuthener/Bytom] physician
Isaac Collin and Blümche (geb. Kircheim) who moved to Berlin in 1832
[Kaiserstr 13, Berliner Addressbuch]. Wilhelm apprenticed with the
Prussian Court Bookbinder Mossner in Berlin 1835-40, and is shown as
starting his own bindery in Berlin in 1845. He was later awarded the
Preussischer Kronenorden.
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Binder's ticket ca. 1886-1887 from a volume at the
Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Library. |
Ernst’s father Max Georg Collin
(10.22.1851 - 12.24.1918) followed in his father’s footstep learning the
trade with the Meister Hunzinger, followed by journeyman years in
Vienna, Paris, London (with Zaehnsdorf), among others. He returned to Berlin to
work in the family firm. During the winters between 1873 and 1875 he
instructed Prince Heinrich (brother of later Kaiser Wilhelm II) in
bookbinding. An anecdote from this experience is his response to
complaints from the court about smelly glue – his response, well we
can’t put Eau de Cologne in it, and that was that. [Bedeutende Männer
des Buchbinderhandwerks,
Der Buchbinderlehrling, 6. Jg., Nr 9,
1932] From 1878-1881 he studied painting at the Berliner Kunstakademie.
In 1886 he became co-owner of the firm W. Collin, continuing it after
the death of his father in 1893. Georg Collin was one of the leading
binders in Germany, helping to revitalize the artistic expression of the
craft with his prize-winning bindings and “Addressen,” presentation
portfolios for decrees and other official pronouncements. Among the
binders who credit Georg as their Meister are Paul Kersten and Maria
Lühr. Lühr apprenticed with W. Collin, and it was Georg’s connection to
the German court that ultimately led to the breakdown of prohibitions
against women learning the trade and practicing as Meister, something
for which Ernst was also a strong advocate. Like his father Wilhelm,
Georg was awarded the Kronenorden and was the last to carry the title of
Königlicher und Kaiserlicher Hofbuchbinder. He had three children with
his wife Regina: Gertrud, who learned the family trade and carried on
the family business, Elsa, and a son Ernst 31.5.1886. After Georg’s
Death on 24.12.1918, his widow Regina continued to manage the firm of W.
Collin until Gertrud took over. After 1930 the firm was continued as
1930 Spezialbetrieb fur Druckarbeiten unter Paetsch & Collin. The
firm moved about in Berlin over the years, finally settling along the
Kurfürstenstr. It was “liquidated” in 1939.
Following in the
family tradition, Ernst learned the trade of bookbinder. Where he
apprenticed is not known, but he describes studying with Gustav Slaby
and Paul Kersten at the Berliner Buchbinderfachschule Klasse für
Kunstbuchbinderei for a semester in 1904 – he was a student in the
first class. Ernst, however, chose to follow a different path, that of
writer in particular for the arts of the book and graphic arts. His first as yet discovered articles appeared in Volume 3 (1907-08) of
Die Werkkunst: Zeitschrift des Vereins für deutsches Kunstgewerbe and identify him as "Ernst Collin, Kunstbuchbinder" (Fine Bookbinder). He was
also a journalist and art critic, writing on topics relating to
economics and politics, as well as an antiquarian bookseller of fine
press books via his Corvinus - Antiquariat Ernst Collin, located at
Mommsenstr 27 in Charlottenburg.In addition, he was on the editorial board of the
Berliner Volkszeitung.
The list of his publications continues to grow having begun with 44 titles between Mejer’s
Bibliographie der Buchbindereiliteratur (1925) and the 1937 volume of the Meister der Einbandkunst’s
Jahrbuch der Einbandkunst, to over 200 with significant gaps in the chronology that hint at a far greater professional output.
His first book was
Buchbinderei für den Hausbedarf ([1915])
a manual of basic bookbinding aimed at laypeople. His iconic
Pressbengel was published in 1922 and was followed by his biographical
Festschrift
Paul Kersten (1925) in honor of his 60
th birthday. Kersten was one of the most seminal German fine bookbinders, and his
Der Exakte Bucheinband
(1923) helped define German fine binding Ernst also wrote essays for
Festschrifts published by the highly regarded trade binderies. These
were
Vom guten Geschmack und von der Kunstbuchbinderei for the Spamersche Buchbinderei, Leipzig (1918) and
Fünfzig Jahre deutscher Verlegereinband for Hübel & Denck (1925). He was also the publisher of and author of numerous articles in
Die Heftlade (1922-24),
the journal of the Jakob-Krausse-Bund, an organization that was
absorbed into Meister der Einbandkunst, a group that included the most
significant names in German bookbinding of the late 19th and early 20th
century, among them Paul Adam, Otto Dorfner, Paul Kersten, and Franz
Weiße. Collin also edited and wrote in the Jakob-Krausse-Bund’s 1921
exhibition catalog,
Deutsche Einbandkunst. Degeners Wer Ist's
(10th Ed., Berlin, 1935) also gives pseudonymes Collenoni and Nicoll for
him, but no writings under these names have been discovered as yet.
His articles were
published in at least 36 periodicals and serials between 1907 and 1936, among them
Allgemeiner
Anzeiger für Buchbindereien; Archiv für Buchbinderei; Archiv für
Buchgewerbe; Börsenblatt für den deutschen Buchhandel; Buch und Bild:
Berliner Herbstschau im Staatlichen Kunstgewerbe-Museum 1921; Das Echo:
das Blatt der deutschen im Auslande; Das Plakat: Zeitschrift des Vereins
der Plakatfreunde e.V.; Der Buchbinderlehrling; Der Kinematograph; Der
Kunstwanderer; Der Papier-Markt; Der Qualitätsmarkt; Der Sammler; Der
Sturm; Deutsche Frauenkleidung und Frauenkultur; Deutsche Kunst und
Dekoration; Deutsche Verleger Zeitung; Deutsch-nordisches Jahrbuch für
Kulturaustausch und Volkskunde; Die Heftlade: Zeitschrift für die
Förderer des Jakob-Krausse-Bundes; Die Kunst: Monatshefte für freie und
angewandte Kunst; Die Werkkunst: Zeitschrift des Vereins für deutsches
Kunstgewerbe in Berlin; Gutenberg Festschrift; Gutenberg Jahrbuch;
Moderne Buchbinderei; Sammlerkabinet; Scherls Magazin; Tägliche
Rundschau; Textile Kunst und Industrie; Verhandlungen, Vereins zur
Beförderung des Gewerbefleisses; Volksverbandes der Bücherfreunde;
Westermanns Monatshefte; Zeitschrift des Deutschen Vereins für Buchwesen
und Schrifttum; Zeitschrift für Bücherfreunde; Zeitschrift für
Bücherfreunde. N. F.; Zeitschrift für Neue und Alte Kunst, Graphik,
Kunstgewerbe; Zur guten Stunde.
Der Pressbengel (1922)
dedicated to his father Georg is Collin’s best-known work. It was later
republished by the Mandragora Verlag (1984) with an introduction by
Gustav Moessner, and later translated into Italian as
Dal Rilegatore d’Arte (1996). A translation into English as
The Bone Folder by Peter D. Verheyen first appeared in the Guild of Book Workers Journal (2009).
Der Pressbengel
is a dialogue between a bibliophile and a master bookbinder on all
aspects of the bookbinding craft as well as specific techniques.
Throughout the work, Collin himself is very frank in addressing the
conflicts between quality and cost, as well as the positive and negative
impacts of “machines” throughout the work.
The introduction to the 1984 republication of
Der Pressbengel
stated that Ernst Collin was considered lost after 1933. Despite the
ever-tightening spiral of restrictions on his work by the Nazis, first
in the form of the Schriftleitergesetz that removed him from his
editorial positions and later laws that eliminated his ability to work,
Collin continued to write for the
Allgemeiner Anzeiger für Buchbindereien at least until 1936 when he wrote on article on “Otto Pfaffs 25 jähriges Berufsjubiläum.”
Ernst Collin was also politically active, being listed as a contributor to
Die Deutsche Nation: Eine Zeitschrift für Politik,
along with the great bibliophile Graf Harry Keßler. The publication
that was aligned with the Deutsche Demokratische Partei (DDP), a
center-left social liberal party whose members included among others,
Foreign Minister Walther Rathenau, party leader Friedrich Naumann, and
Theodor Heuss who would become the first President of the German Federal
Republic in 1949.
The 1947 issue of the
Allgemeiner Anzeiger für Buchbindereien,
the first published after the war included a notice (Randbemerkung)
about the Collins (W. Collin, Georg Collin, and Ernst) in which it gave a
brief history of these individuals and their work, also mentioning that
Ernst had written for this publication for decades, and that as a Jew
he had tried to emigrate in 1939, leaving a letter with the publishers.
Nothing was heard from him thereafter.
_AllgemeinerAnzeigerf%C3%BCrBuchbindereien,_1947.jpg) |
| From the Allgemeiner Anzeiger für Buchbindereien, Bd 60, Nr. 5, 1947 (S. 68-69) |
During his life, Ernst lived at Sachsenwaldstr 25 in Stegliz, moving to Cicerostr 61 in Wilmersdorf in 1929.
Unfortunately, nothing is yet known about his wife Else Collin (nee Cronheim, born 18 March, 1890). The couple had no children.
The
Gedenkbuch Berlins der jüdischen Opfer des Nazionalsozialismus (Freie Universitaet Berlin,
Zentralinstitut fuer sozialwissenschaftliche Forschung, Edition Hentrich, Berlin 1995) shows Ernst and Else Collin as being deported to Auschwitz on December 9th, 1942 where they were murdered.
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| Photo Gerhard Schumm, 4.1.2014 |
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[Added 18.11.23] Recently found in the catalog to the Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung of 1929, an image of a painting by Walter Kampmann depicting Ernst Collin. Ernst is sitting in a chair with a book [paper], and holding a writing instrument, his head seemingly lost in thought resting in his palm. A woman, presumably his wife Else (nee Cronheim) almost has him in embrace, one hand on his right arm, with her left almost on his shoulder.
More here.
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The
Stolpersteine were sponsored by his surviving great-niece, Dr. Rita
Jenny Kuhn; Dr. Kuhn’s daughter, Ruth C. Wiseman; and by Peter D. Verheyen. Dr. Kuhn is the author of
Broken Glass, Broken Lives (Barany Publishing Co., 2012), a memoir of her survival in Berlin during the Second World War. Verheyen translated
Der Pressbengel into English.
Working together with Ruth to honor Ernst and Else this way has given my interest in Ernst and his writings as well as the Collins a much deeper meaning that has touched me, and for which I am thankful.
The pictures below were taken April 3rd. The flowers are still there.
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| Photo Regina Klein |
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| Photo Regina Klein |
See also
The Story of Two Ernsts, clarifying the details of Ernst Collins' life and death; disambiguation of the Ernst Collin discussed here and
Ernst Heinrich Collin-Schoenfeld.
Sources:
In addition to the sources cited in the post above, the following were also important:
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_AllgemeinerAnzeigerf%C3%BCrBuchbindereien,_1947.jpg)
_Ernst-Else_Collin.jpg)
