1934: Secretary Rudolf Koch dies
Offenbach natives can be recognized by the fact that they do not confuse Rudolf with Robert. A street on the railroad embankment is dedicated to the bacteriologist Robert Koch (1843-1910). He had nothing to do with Offenbach. However, a grammar school on Schlossstraße bears the name of Rudolf Koch, who was commonly referred to as an artist of letters, and he had a lot in common with Offenbach. He died in 1934.
Koch, who would probably be described as a designer today, played a major role in Offenbach once being known as the "City of Letters". He has designed around three dozen typefaces since he joined the Offenbach type foundry Klingspor Bros. in 1906. His estate includes calligraphies, liturgical implements and type carpets, of which the Klingspor Museum maintains a large part. When Koch also accepted a teaching position at the Offenbach School of Arts and Crafts, he gathered artists around him who became formative role models as the "Offenbach Workshop".
He only pushed one of these disciples away again. He had to leave the workshop in 1931 because he had offended colleagues with anti-Semitic remarks. Koch, a Protestant with a strong faith, could only see mental clouding and weakness of character in anti-Semitism. Nevertheless, in the post-war period, some critics wanted to see Rudolf Koch in the vicinity of National Socialist blood-and-soil ideology. His patriotism was interpreted as "Deutschtümelei", his sceptical view of some phenomena of civilization as anti-progressive, the broken letters of his Fraktur typefaces as "Nazi script".
However, the "Offenbacher Nachrichten", the daily newspaper of the Nazi party, described a general feeling when it wrote to the deceased in April 1934: "Through the sudden death of Rudolf Koch, Offenbach has lost one of its greatest citizens, Germany one of its noblest sons and the world a wonderful soul." The Nuremberg-born son of a sculptor was indeed a unique personality. He enriched Offenbach.
The Offenbach Post also used Koch typefaces as a matter of course until the 1960s. Since then, digital technology has pushed Koch typefaces out of sight. At his former place of work, the Offenbach University of Art and Design, Koch could at best still appear as a footnote to dusty history. But this impression may be deceptive. Stefan Soltek, the host of the Klingspor Museum, finds it remarkable that a "Kabel Neu" was developed at the HfG from Koch's "Kabel" typeface.
Koch's estate forms the core of the collections at the Klingspor Museum. And new things about Koch are constantly being discovered there. Soltek carefully observes recently discovered Koch drawings that expand the traditional image of the master. "Koch's achievement is to have introduced writing to the visual arts," says the museum director. But it was precisely this that stabilized Koch's topicality.
Koch's memory appears astonishingly alive in the Friedenskirche in Offenbach's Westend. Koch, who lived in nearby Buchrainweg, was an active member of the congregation. He saw it as a source of his creativity. He was a member of the church council, designed the foundation stone certificate of the church, which was consecrated in 1912, and the inscriptions on the bells.
Above the altar of the Friedenskirche, symbols designed by Koch catch the eye: the eye of God grouped around the cross, the commandment tablets, the communion chalice, as well as symbols for birth and resurrection. Next to the pulpit, a scripture carpet from Koch's workshop tells the beginning of the creation story. In Koch's symbolic language, the windows refer to stories from the New Testament. Rudolf Koch wanted everything he created to be understood as a glorification of God. For this, the University of Münster awarded him an honorary doctorate in theology. He had already received the title of professor beforehand.
The master died in 1934 at the age of 57. His grave in the Waldfriedhof cemetery in Oberrad has been preserved. Lothar R. Brown
