The Publishing House Franz Eher Nachfolger GmbH

Project number: Research project P 13297 Project title: The Publishing House Franz Eher Nachfolger GmbH ABSTRACT OF THE PROJECT The research project "Der Verlag Franz Eher Nachfolger Gmbh. Vom Parteiverlag der NSDAP zum Verlagskonzern im Dritten Reich" focuses on the history of this publishing house since its inception at the end of the 19th century up until 1945 when it ceased operation. The aim is to present the development of what began as a small regional publisher in Munich and was to become a major publishing concern in the Third Reich. There are three key dates in the company`s history. One is the year 1900 when the person who gave the company its name - Franz Xaver Eher - took over as manager of the company and became editor of the publication "Münchener Beobachter", the predecessor of the later widely known paper "Völkischer Beobachter". The second significant date is the year 1920. It was in this year that the NSDAP took over both the publishing company and the newspaper, which had already changed hands in 1918 when it came to be owned by völkisch-leaning interests. However, in the first few years there were various organizational problems which the company had to face and which will be dealt with in this study. In 1922, Max Amann, a close associate of Adolf Hitler, took over as business manager of the publishing company. Because Max Amann went on to become President of the Press Chamber (Reichspressekammer) after the National Socialists assumed power in 1933, it will be necessary to devote more attention to him in this study. At the same time, Amann served as Reich Leader for the Press (Reichsleiter für die Presse) and Director - General of the NSDAP`s party publishing business, the Franz Eher Nachfolger Gmbh company. Beginning with Hitler`s` rise to power, Amann and a small group of shady business men and unscrupulous henchmen set about the task of bringing into line the entire publishing trade in the German - speaking countries and building up a publishing empire which, at this point in time, defied comparison in the cultural and business fields. The means used to bring about this forced concentration in the publishing trade included a series of companies which were either umbrella organizations or subsidiaries. They were managed by only a very few persons and a number of them also worked at the main office of the Eher Verlag in Munich. One of the main aims of the proposed project will be to determine the organizational structure of this group of press publishers as well as the changes which took place between 1933 and 1945. The take-over of entire companies or else the take-over of the majority share of individual companies was something which affected both newspaper and book publishers. However, the Eher company appears to have had considerable weight in the field of newspaper publishing. At the same time, the Eher Verlag was also a book publisher, one of the most noteworthy publications having been Adolf Hitler`s "Mein Kampf" (My Struggle). A further aim of this study will be to document the books produced by the Eher Verlag. Finally, the history of the Eher Verlag is inseparable from that of the Nazi Party, the NSDAP, as well as from its "Weltanschauung" and the misery it brought mankind between 1933 and 1945. Needless to say, the Eher Verlag also published propaganda literature.