Knight, Carl

Printer, publisher

born: 17.08.1817 in Frankfurt am Main

died: 15.12.1898 in Wiesbaden

The son of bookseller Heinrich Wilhelm Ritter became a publisher himself after an apprenticeship in his father's business. His liberal convictions, particularly in matters of economic policy, gave him an additional incentive to give reform-oriented authors the opportunity to disseminate their ideas. To this end, Ritter founded a printing company in 1846, which existed under the name Carl Ritter GmbH & Co. until 1986.

As a companion of Karl Braun and Wilhelm Heinrich von Riehl, he also sought opportunities to work as a newspaper publisher. When the opportunity presented itself to him in the revolutionary year of 1848 and the granting of freedom of the press, Ritter published the first free and independent newspaper in the Duchy of Nassau. The "Freie Zeitung", which appeared for the first time on March 3, 1848, was initially four to six pages long and its articles not only dealt with issues relating to the revolution, but also addressed church and economic policy issues. Alongside the "Nassauische Zeitung" and the "Nassauische Allgemeine Zeitung", it was one of the most popular newspapers of the time, continued to exist even after the failure of the revolution and was continued as the "Mittelrheinische Zeitung" from 1851.