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This
note considers the Eher publishing group, the Nazi Party
arm that by the early 1940s owned most of Germany's newspapers
and magazines.
It covers -
introduction
The Eher Verlag grew from publication of the Nazi
Party's journal - the unlovely Völkischer Beobachter
- to encompass a range of local NSDAP newspapers and then
absorbed newspaper, magazines, book publishers, printing
operations and even film studios across the Third Reich.
At its height, in 1943, it owned over 70% of Germany's
newspaper and magazine titles, with over 83% of circulation.
Ownership complemented co-option - alas often enthusiastic
- of the nation's writers, photographers, composers and
editors under a range of industry/professional bodies
and legislation.
history
Eher traced its origins to establishment by Franz Eher
of a Munich publishing house to assume control of the
Münchener Beobachter (founded 1887). In
1920 Franz Eher Verlag was acquired by the fledgling NSDAP
from the Thule Society, a group whose mixture of racism
and mysticism was perhaps even weirder than that of the
Nazis. The Society had relaunched the Münchener
Beobachter as the Völkischer Beobachter
but without significant success.
The publishing house's early history tracked that of the
Party: the Völkischer Beobachter became
a daily in 1923 but was suppressed after Hitler's abortive
coup against the Bavarian government during that year.
Max Amann (1891-1957), formerly Hitler's sergeant during
the 1914-18 War, became Eher's business manager (ie chief
executive) in 1922 and was responsible for much of its
subsequent expansion. Complaisance by the conservative
Bavarian government and gifts from far right enthusiasts
kept Eher afloat after the coup.
The Beobachter reappeared in 1925 and by 1927
was appearing as a national edition, albeit with a small
circulation. Eher and local party organisations were concurrently
publishing a range of regional newspapers, newsletters
and magazines. Few of those publications generated substantial
revenue; Eher's activity was dependent on contributions
from the Party (ie membership subscriptions and gifts
by supporters). Eher also published tracts such as Mein
Kampf (an essential but often unread possession of
NSDAP members) and works such Josef Goebbels' novel Michael.
Circulation figures for the NSDAP publications are problematical,
given over- and under-reporting. In 1929 the Völkischer
Beobachter appears to have had 26,715 subscribers
and 120,000 in 1931, with circulation reportedly reaching
740,000 in 1939 and 1.7 million by 1944 (the latter figure
reflecting demise of alternate publications).
Eher flourished after Hitler became Chancellor in 1933.
Amann was appointed as president of the Reichspressekammer
(Reich Media Chamber) and as NSDAP-Reichsleiter für
die Presse (Reich Leader of the Press), in addition to
his existing post as Director-General of the Franz Eher
Nachfolger Gmbh. As Reich Press Leader Amann was responsible
for
-
administration, publishing, and financing of the Party
press;
- establishment
of newspapers by Party members or affiliated associations;
- incorporation
of newspapers into the Party press combine;
- appointment
of publishers and of their deputies;
- termination
or alteration of contracts with newspapers;
- appointment
of Commissars to supervise publishing houses
In
1933 and 1934 Eher was given substantial assets (including
titles, presses and real estate) confiscated from trade
unions, political parties and other organisations. It
was also given - or purchased at knockdown prices - assets
from major publishing groups such as Mosse
and Ullstein. In later years
it received the media interests of supporters such as
the Hugenberg group.
Eher concentrated on the mass media, with specialist technical
publishers (such as Springer)
and smaller houses such as Bertelsmann
having greater leeway subject to conformity with the regime's
racial and other dictates. The Frankfurter Zeitung
(FZ), with an international reputation
as Germany's preeminent business paper, enjoyed ostensible
financial independence for several years before Amann
acquired that paper's shares and presented it to the Fueher
as a birthday present. Eher expanded into Austria when
that nation enthusiastically embraced Nazism.
It came to encompass publishing and printing of -
- posters
- calendars
- official
publications
- party
publications such as the SS Das Schwarze Korps,
Frauenschaftzeitung, BDM Zeitung and
NS Monatshefte
- fiction
(novels, short stories) and poetry
- gazeteers,
road maps and other maps
-
song books and music scores
- albums
such as Deutsche Kriegsweihnacht
- newspapers
- magazines
-
textbooks
- tracts
such as Die Judenfrage als Weltproblem and
Der Ewige Jude
along
with advertising and film processing operations.
Amann explained following the War that
After
the party came into power in 1933 the Social Democrat
and Marxist press was promptly liquidated or suppressed
pursuant to orders of Hitler. Decrees were subsequently
issued, including racial laws and regulations which
adversely affected other publishing concerns. Many of
these concerns such as the Ullstein publishing firm,
which were owned or controlled by Jewish interests,
or by political or religious interests hostile to the
NSDAP, found it expedient to sell their newspapers or
assets to the Eher concern. There was no free market
for the sale of such properties and the Franz Eher Verlag
was generally the only bidder. In this manner the party
publishing business, that is, the Franz Eher Verlag,
together with publishing concerns owned or controlled
by it, expanded into a monopoly of the newspaper publishing
business in Germany. By virtue of economic operation
and close supervision, the party investment in these
publishing enterprises became financially very successful.
The
group's dominance of German publishing was reinforced
by the influence of Amann and Goebbels in the allocation
of resources, including paper, ink, presses and journalists
as Germany faced economic difficulties from 1937 onwards.
Successive defeats from 1941 onwards saw closure of a
range of publications, with Eher emphasising national
titles such as the Völkischer Beobachter
and Illustrierte Beobachter.
Eher was dissolved in 1945, with its assets passing to
the Bavarian provincial government in particular. Some
titles disappeared; others were revived under licence
from the Allied military government in the relevant region
(with the defunct Frankfurter Zeitung for example
being relaunched as the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung).
studies
For Eher see Der Verlag Hitlers und der NSDAP: Die
Franz Eher Nachfolger GmbH (Vienna: Edition Praesens
2004) by Thomas Tavernaro, Journalismus im Dritten
Reich (Munich: Beck 1999) by Norbert Frei & Johannes
Schmitz, The Third Reich: Politics & Propaganda
( London: Routledge 1993) by David Welch, Nationalsozialistische
Eroberung der Provinzpresse: Gleichschaltung, Selbstanpassung
und Resistance in Bayern (Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt
1980) by Norbert Frei, Die NS Gaupresse, 1925-33
(Munich: Sauer 1987) by Peter Stein, The Captive Press
in the Third Reich (1964) by Oron Hale, Deutsche
Presse, 1914-1945: Geschichte der deutschen Presse
(Berlin: Colloquium Verlag 1972) by Karl Koszyk and
Presse und Rundfunk im Dritten Reich: Eine Dokumentation
(Hamburg: Rororo 1966) edited by Joseph Wulf. For aryanisation
see Harold James' The Deutsche Bank and the Nazi Economic
War Against the Jews (Cambridge: Cambridge Uni Press
2001) and Adam Tooze's The Wages of Destruction: The
Making & Breaking of the Nazi Economy (London:
Allen Lane 2006).
Hitler's Voice: The 'Völkischer Beobachter',
1920-1933 (Oxford: Peter Lang 2004) edited by Detlef
Mühlberger offers selections from the main Nazi Party
newspaper, complemented by Franciszek Ryska's 'The Extermination
of the Jews and the Leading Newspapers in the Third Reich:
Völkischer Beobachter and Das Reich' in
Why Didn't the Press Shout?: American & International
Journalism During the Holocaust (Jersey City: KTAV
2003) edited by Robert Shapiro. For Der Angriff see
Russel Lemmons' Goebbels and Der Angriff (Lexington:
Uni Press of Kentucky 1994).
landmarks
1919 Thule Society relaunches Münchner Beobachter
as Völkischer Beobachter
1920 NSDAP buys Völkischer Beobachter as
weekly paper
1923 Völkischer Beobachter becomes daily
1923 closed
1925 relaunched
1927 becomes national daily
1929 NSDAP publishes 59 dailies
1930 takes 60% stake in Der Angriff
1931 publishes 97 papers
1933 publishes 83 dailies and 212 weeklies
1933 suppression of Socialist and Communist newspapers
and magazines
1934 Eher Verlag gains ownership of Ullstein
and Mosse groups
1934 acquires Terra film studio
1935 suppression of Catholic newspapers
1935 Eher launches Das Schwarze Korps
1939 acquires Frankfurter Zeitung (FZ)
stock
1941 controls 1,500 daily and weekly newspapers
1943 gains remaining Hugenberg
publishing assets
1945 Eher Verlag closed
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