to remain in Germany, being purchased by Peter Suhrkamp, who would continue to lead it till he was accused of high treason and arrested by the Gestapo in April 1944. The legal process continued till early in 1945, when he was placed in “protective custody" (a euphemism then much in vogue in Germany) in the concentration camp at Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg. Two weeks later, suffering from a serious lung disease, he was released. Several celebrities from the world of culture and the arts had approached members of the leader’s inner circle, to urge Suhrkamp’s release. These included the sculptor Arno Breker who had intervened with Albert Speer, the writer Gerhart Hauptmann who had invoked support from Baldur von Schirach, and the writer Hans Carossa who had approached Ernst Kaltenbrunner. After the German surrender, Suhrkamp received, on 8 October 1945, the first publishing license from the British Military Government in Berlin and began the rebuilding of the company. He cooperated with Bermann Fischer (who had operated as a publisher during the war in New York City), publishing some of his authors, under Licence, in Germany. Suhrkamp and Fischer discussed a reintegration of the two businesses that had split when the political situation had obliged Fisher to leave Germany back in 1936. There was talk of refounding S. Fischer Verlag in Frankfurt am Main. In due course Fischer was re-established in Frankfurt, but there was a rift between Fischer and Suhrkamp over the future of the business. Following an out-of-court settlement, it was Bermann Fischer who recovered the Frankfurt publishing business that carried his name and Peter Suhrkamp who left to establish, in 1950, his own publishing house, Suhrkamp Verlag. Suhrkamp Verlag The creation of the "new“ Suhrkamp Verlag owed much to the initiative of Hermann Hesse who provided encouragement and moral support, and was also able to provide valuable contacts with investors, notably the Swiss Reinhart family. Authors who had remained with Fischer Verlag during the Nazi years were given a free choice as to whether to stay with the existing business, now under Bermann Fischer, or have their future works published by Peter Suhrkamp’s new concern. In the end, 33 of the 48 authors in question, including Bertolt Brecht and Hermann Hesse, switched to Suhrkamp Verlag. Suhrkamp’s fourth marriage was lasting better than the first three, and his wife Annemarie Seidel also joined the firm, working as an editor and translator. Public