Rowohlt, Ernst (1887–1960)

German publisher. He worked as a compositor in Leipzig and published his first book in 1908, soon becoming the publisher of the young expressionist authors Max Brod, Franz Kafka, Arnold Zweig, and Oskar Kokoschka. From 1933 the majority of Rowohlt publications were prohibited by the Nazi regime, and five years later Rowohlt escaped to Brazil. He refounded his firm in Hamburg in 1946 and was the first to publish German paperbacks after World War II. Rowohlt was born in Bremen, Germany.