Julius Mißbach (September 8, 1831 in Gelenau near Kamenz, † December 8, 1896 in Neustadt in Saxony) was a German newspaper publisher, printer owner, bookseller and local historian.
Julius Missbach was the son of the village school teacher Carl Heinrich Missbach († 1833).[1][2] Since his father died in 1833, he and his sister Linna grew up with relatives.[1] Julius Mißbach came to Neustadt in Saxony to join his mother's sister and her husband, Johann Ehrenfried Krause, master strapper.[1] The foster parents' house was on the site of today's Missbach printing works.[1] Julius attended the town school in Neustadt, began an apprenticeship with his foster father in 1845 and went on a journey as a journeyman courier from July 1850 to October 1851.[1]
As secretary of the town's trade association, he met the editor of the newspaper for the Meißner Hochland Liebegott Ludwig Marx (1814–1873), which was initially published weekly, and became his local reporter.[1] In 1868 Missbach acquired the book and paper shop that had previously belonged to Marx and became the publisher himself.[1]
In 1867 Missbach married the daughter of the Tannenwirt Pauline Schiffner (1839-1915).[1] With her he had a son and four daughters.[1] In the years that followed, Missbach supported a large number of his city's projects with great commitment. Among other things, he played a key role in the opening of the first kindergarten in 1872, the construction of a new school and the construction of two observation towers, each with an attached restaurant on the Achtlindenberg (today Götzingerhöhe) and the Ungerberg.[1]
The daily newspaper taken over by Julius Mißbach with the name newspaper for the Meißner Hochland and southern Lusatia was the main announcement sheet for the cities and district courts of Neustadt in Saxony and Stolpen, as well as for Hohnstein (Saxon Switzerland) and the surrounding area. After his death, his son Bruno Missbach (1869-1911) continued the newspaper. The regional newspaper continued to appear after Bruno's death until 1939.
The city of Neustadt honored Missbach by naming a street and the elementary school at Bischofswerdaer Straße 15 after him.[3] There is a memorial stone on the Ungerberg, and the Missbach GmbH printers at Dresdner Strasse 4 still bear his name today.