Franz Burda

Franz Burda (born 24 February 1903 in Philippsburg; died 30 September 1986 in Offenburg) was a German publisher and Nazi Party member. He inherited his father's publishing business, which he developed into what is now the Hubert Burda Media conglomerate. He was a prominent publisher in Nazi Germany and benefited from "Aryanization" of Jewish property. He was also an outspoken supporter of the Nazi cause and of Antisemitism.

Burda received his doctorate in 1927, at the University of Erlangen with an economic history of the development work of the Baden-products markets. He married Aenne Lemminger on July 9, 1931 and was the father of three sons, Francis, Frederick and Hubert.

Burda was an early supporter of the Nazi Party and especially its Antisemitic policies. Already in 1933 he expressed his pride over the fact that his business did not have any Jewish employees or co-owners, and stressed his publishing business' support for the Nazi cause. He joined the Nazi Party in 1938, and was also a member of other Nazi organisations. He benefited from "Aryanization" of Jewish property in Nazi Germany and developed his family's small printing business into a large media conglomerate. Despite his support for Nazism, he avoided military service himself by obtaining a contract printing maps for the military and using his connections. His antisemitic views were evident also in the 1950s.

After 1945, Burda was allowed rather quickly to publish again, despite his former Nazi party membership. For the French occupation authorities, he printed stamps and school books. In 1948, against the will of many French officers, he managed to bring on the market the magazine Das Ufer ('The shore' or 'The river bank'), the forerunner of the popular magazine later called Bunte. It helped him that he was friends with a particular officer, Raymond Schmittlein, the press chief of the zone, who arranged for the license to be issued in the name of a female friend of Schmittlein's – a 'straw woman,' as it were.

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