The ''Ullstein Verlag'' was founded by

Leopold Ullstein Leopold Ullstein (6 September 1826 – 4 December 1899) was the founder and publisher of several successful German language newspapers, including '' B.Z. am Mittag'' and ''Berliner Morgenpost.'' Many of these are still published today. Ullste ...

in 1877 at

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

and is one of the largest publishing companies of

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. It published newspapers like '' B.Z.'' and ''

Berliner Morgenpost ''Berliner Morgenpost'' is a German newspaper, based and mainly read in Berlin, where it is one of the most read daily newspapers. History and profile Founded in 1898 by Leopold Ullstein, the paper was taken over by Axel Springer AG in 1959 a ...

'' and books through its subsidiaries ''Ullstein Buchverlage'' and ''Propyläen''.

History

Founding to World War II

On 14 July 1877, Leopold Ullstein purchased the ''Neue Berliner Tageblatt'' newspaper, a subsidiary of the liberal ''

Berliner Tageblatt The ''Berliner Tageblatt'' or ''BT'' was a German language newspaper published in Berlin from 1872 to 1939. Along with the '' Frankfurter Zeitung'', it became one of the most important liberal German newspapers of its time. History The ''Berli ...

'' published by

Rudolf Mosse Rudolf Mosse (8 May 1843 – 8 September 1920) was a German publisher and philanthropist. Biography Mosse was born in Grätz, Grand Duchy of Posen, as the son of Dr. Markus Mosse, a noted Jewish physician. He began his career as an apprentic ...

, and on 1 January 1878 converted it into the ''

Berliner Zeitung The ''Berliner Zeitung'' (; ) is a daily newspaper based in Berlin, Germany. Founded in East Germany in 1945, it is the only East German paper to achieve national prominence since Reunification of Germany, reunification. It is published by Berl ...

'' (''B.Z.''). In 1894 he also acquired the ''

Berliner Illustrirte Zeitung The ''Berliner Illustrirte Zeitung'', often abbreviated ''BIZ'', was a German weekly illustrated magazine published in Berlin from 1892 to 1945. It was the first mass-market German magazine and pioneered the format of the illustrated news magazine ...

'' weekly, which as technology advanced and permitted heavy use of photographs, became the most successful picture paper in Germany. The ''B.Z. am Mittag'', relaunched in 1904, became Germany's first

tabloid newspaper A tabloid is a newspaper format characterized by its compact size, smaller than a broadsheet. The term originates from the 19th century, when the London-based pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline, Burroughs Wellcome & Co. used the term to de ...

. Ullstein's sons Rudolf, Hans, Louis, Franz and Hermann inherited the publishing house and developed it further. They acquired the reputable ''

Vossische Zeitung The (''Voss's Newspaper'') was a nationally known Berlin newspaper that represented the interests of the liberal middle class. It was also generally regarded as Germany's national newspaper of record. In the Berlin press it held a special role d ...

'', a liberal newspaper with a tradition dating back to 1617, while the left-wing ''

'' established in 1898 reached a high number of subscribers. From 1927, Ullstein also published '' Die Grüne Post'' weekly newspaper under chief editor

Ehm Welk Emil "Ehm" Welk (August 29, 1884 – December 19, 1966) was a German journalist, writer, professor and founder of ''Volkshochschulen'' (adult education centres). He became known for his work ''Die Heiden von Kummerow'' (''The Heathens of Kummer ...

. In 1919 the ''Propyläen Verlag'' (cf.

Propylaea In ancient Greek architecture, a propylaion, propylaeon or, in its Latinized form, ''propylaeum''—often used in the plural forms propylaia or propylaea (; Greek: προπύλαια)—is a monumental gateway. It serves as a partition, separat ...

) was founded as an

imprint Imprint or imprinting may refer to: Entertainment * ''Imprint'' (TV series), Canadian television series * "Imprint" (''Masters of Horror''), episode of TV show ''Masters of Horror'' * ''Imprint'' (film), a 2007 independent drama/thriller film ...

for non-fiction books especially on history and art history as well as classical editions, but also for novels like

Erich Maria Remarque Erich Maria Remarque (; ; born Erich Paul Remark; 22 June 1898 – 25 September 1970) was a German novelist. His landmark novel '' All Quiet on the Western Front'' (1928), based on his experience in the Imperial German Army during World War ...

's ''

All Quiet on the Western Front ''All Quiet on the Western Front'' () is a semi-autobiographical novel by Erich Maria Remarque, a German veteran of World War I. The book describes the German soldiers' extreme physical and mental trauma during the war as well as the detachme ...

'' first published in 1929. The number of authors working for Ullstein also included

Vicki Baum Hedwig "Vicki" Baum (; ; January 24, 1888 – August 29, 1960) was an Austrian writer. She is known for the novel ''Menschen im Hotel'' ('People at a Hotel', 1929 — published in English as '' Grand Hotel''), one of her first international ...

Thea von Harbou Thea Gabriele von Harbou (27 December 1888 – 1 July 1954) was a German screenwriter, novelist, film director, and actress. She is remembered as the screenwriter of the science fiction film classic ''Metropolis'' (1927) and for the 192 ...

, and

Franz Blei Franz Blei (pseudonyms: Medardus, Dr. Peregrinus Steinhövel, Amadée de la Houlette, Franciscus Amadeus, Gussie Mc-Bill, Prokop Templin, Heliogabal, Nikodemus Schuster, L. O. G., Hans Adolar; January 18, 1871 July 10, 1942) was an essayist, play ...

. Between 1925 and 1927 the Ullstein Verlag had the new ''Ullsteinhaus'' print building erected in Berlin-

Tempelhof Tempelhof () is a locality of Berlin within the borough of Tempelhof-Schöneberg. It is the location of the former Tempelhof Airport, one of the earliest commercial airports in the world. The former airport and surroundings are now a park call ...

, with a height of a " Brick Expressionist" landmark with a bronze sculpture of the "Ullstein Owl" by

Fritz Klimsch Fritz Klimsch (10 February 1870 – 30 March 1960) was a German sculptor, and the younger brother of the painter Paul Klimsch. He was one of the famous artists in the era of Weimar republic. Early life Klimsch was born on 10 February 1870 in ...

Nazi Aryanization

Under the Ullstein family, the publishing house became the biggest in Europe. In 1933, when the Nazis came to power, the Ullstein brothers were publishing four daily newspapers as well as numerous magazines. In 1934, the

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

Ullstein family was seized by the

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

authorities and their entire publishing enterprise forcibly "

aryanized Aryanization () was the Nazi term for the seizure of property from Jews and its transfer to non-Jews, and the forced expulsion of Jews from economic life in Nazi Germany, Axis-aligned states, and their occupied territories. It entailed the tra ...

", with the business, valued at 60 million marks, sold under duress for 6 million. In 1937, Ullstein Verlag was renamed ''Deutscher Verlag'', affiliated with the

Franz Eher Nachfolger Franz Eher Nachfolger GmbH (''Franz Eher and Successors, LLC'', usually referred to as the Eher-Verlag (''Eher Publishing'')) was the central publishing house of the Nazi Party and one of the largest book and periodical firms during the Nazi regi ...

publishing house of the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...

and editing the ''

Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung ''Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung'' (often abbreviated to DAZ) was a German newspaper that appeared between 1861 and 1945. Until 1918 the title of the paper was ''Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung''. Although Wilhelm Liebknecht, one of the founder ...

'', as well as '' Das Reich'' and the ''

Signal A signal is both the process and the result of transmission of data over some media accomplished by embedding some variation. Signals are important in multiple subject fields including signal processing, information theory and biology. In ...

'' magazine from 1940 until the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Post-war developments

After the war the publishing house was restored to the Ullstein family, but soon came into financial problems. In 1956 a share of 26% was purchased by

Axel Springer Axel Cäsar Springer (2 May 1912 – 22 September 1985) was a German publisher and founder of what is now Axel Springer SE, the largest media publishing firm in Europe. By the early 1960s his print titles dominated the West German daily press m ...

, becoming majority shareholder by 1960. Under Springer the remaining

West Berlin West Berlin ( or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin from 1948 until 1990, during the Cold War. Although West Berlin lacked any sovereignty and was under military occupation until German reunification in 1 ...

newspapers ''

'' and ''B.Z.'' shifted towards a right-wing alignment with a distinct

anti-communist Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communist beliefs, groups, and individuals. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when th ...

stance. The

Aryanization Aryanization () was the Nazi term for the seizure of property from Jews and its transfer to non-Jews, and the forced expulsion of Jews from economic life in Nazi Germany, Axis powers, Axis-aligned states, and their occupied territories. It enta ...

of the Ullstein Verlag was played down. The newspaper publishing branch was taken over by

Axel Springer AG Axel Springer SE () is a European multinational mass and online media company, based in Berlin, Germany. The company offers printing and publishing of advertisements, digital classifieds portfolio, marketing models and related services. Axel S ...

in 1956. ''ullstein bild'', a brand for the photo collection since 1877, is now under Axel Springer Syndication GmbH. In spring 2017, Ullstein launched another imprint: Ullstein Five. The focus is on socially relevant yet accessible stories by German authors. The name is reminiscent of an Ullstein tradition: in the founding years of the publishing house, each of the five Ullstein brothers contributed according to their talents. Following the example of the five brothers, the program is designed across departments and together with the authors.

Sale of company

The Ullstein book-publishing house was sold to

Random House Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...

in 2003. The sale, which was subject to the agreement of the

Bundeskartellamt The Federal Cartel Office (, ; BKartA) is Germany's national competition regulatory agency. First established in 1958, BKartA comes under the authority of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action. The agency is headquartered ...

(German Federal Cartel Office), was only approved in part. The Heyne, Südwest and Diana publishing houses became part of Random House, and the remainder of the Ullstein group (Ullstein, Claassen, Econ, List, Marion von Schröder und Propyläen) was sold on to the

Bonnier Group Bonnier AB (), also the Bonnier Group, is a Privately held company, privately held Swedish media conglomerate, media group of 175 companies operating in 15 countries. It is controlled by the Bonnier family. Background The company was founded in ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ullstein Verlag Book publishing companies of Germany Mass media in Berlin Newspaper companies of Germany Publishing companies of Germany Companies acquired from Jews under Nazi rule Publishing companies established in 1877 German companies established in 1877 2003 mergers and acquisitions