13The Ullstein Owl

1966Ullstein and Springer share a long history. As a young man, Axel Springer was already a great admirer of what was then Germany’s largest publishing house and wanted to complete an internship there. But in 1934, the National Socialists forced the Jewish Ullstein family to sell the company for a fraction of its value. After a shamefully long process, the publishing house was returned to the family in 1952. In 1956, Axel Springer acquired a quarter of the company, and three years later he took over the majority. The Ullstein-founded B.Z. is still published by Axel Springer today; Berliner Morgenpost was sold in 2013. The owl sculptures come from Ullstein’s original headquarters, destroyed during the war, and still symbolize the close connection.