Kiepenheuer & Witsch

In 1949 library director Joseph Caspar Witsch and the famous publisher Gustav Kiepenheuer founded a publishing firm which, after Kiepenheuer's death in 1951, carried on under the name of Verlag Kiepenheuer, Witsch & Co. Reinhold Neven Du Mont took over the company in 1969 and remained at the helm until 2001. Today, the publishing group has an 85 percent stake in Kiepenheuer & Witsch.

The publication of Vicki Baum's novel Marion in 1951 marked the birth of the new company. Leading writers discovered during the following years include Joseph Roth, Erich Maria Remarque, J.D. Salinger, Heinrich Boell and Gabriel García Márquez. The publication of the entire works of Heinrich Boell is one of the most outstanding projects in the company's history. Its literary portfolio has been significantly expanded during the last few decades – to include writers such as Dieter Wellershoff, Uwe Timm, Frank Schaetzing, Don DeLillo, Nick Hornby and Julian Barnes.

Nonfiction, autobiographies and self-help works are further key areas in which the company is active. Publications such as Guenter Wallraff's Der Aufmacher (1977) and the nonfiction work Bittere Pillen (1983) have been instrumental in writing contemporary history and represent milestones in the company's own history, as well. Since 1982 the KiWi series of paperbacks, aimed in design and price at younger readers, has rounded off the company's portfolio.