{{Short description|German publisher (1903–1986)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}} [[File:Anna Lemminger and Franz Burda.jpg|thumb|[[Aenne Burda]] and Franz Burda (1931). Franz Burda's [[duelling scar]] is visible.]] [[File:Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F034156-0009, Bonn, Bundeskanzler Brandt empfängt Schauspieler.jpg|thumb|Franz Burda (left) with [[Romy Schneider]], [[Willy Brandt]] and Ilona Grübel (1971)]] '''Franz Burda''' (24 February 1903 – 30 September 1986) was a German [[publisher]]. He inherited his father's publishing business, which he developed into what is now the [[Hubert Burda Media]] conglomerate.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/history2/57/Burda-Holding-GmbH-Co.html|title=Burda Holding GmbH. & Co. – Company Profile, Information, Business Description, History, Background Information on Burda Holding GmbH. & Co.|website=www.referenceforbusiness.com|access-date=25 December 2017}}</ref>
== Early life and family ==
Burda was born in [[Philippsburg]]. He received his doctorate in 1927, at the [[University of Erlangen-Nuremberg|University of Erlangen]] with an economic history of the development work of the Baden-products markets. He married fashion publisher [[Aenne Burda]] ne Lemminger on 9 July 1931 and was the father of three sons, Franz, the art collector [[Frieder Burda|Frieder]], and [[Hubert Burda|Hubert]], the heir to the publishing empire.
==Business during World War II==
From 1934 to 1937, Burda was a member of the paramilitary [[National Socialist Motor Corps]]. His biographer has characterised his involvement with Nazism as essentially commercial and pragmatic, rather than ideological. In 1933 he stated publicly that his business did not have any Jewish employees or co-owners, although he would have privately known that statement to be untrue, having intervened on behalf of the Jewish wife of one of his employees.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.museum-offenburg.de/html/media/dl.html?i=13242|title=City Archive Offenburg|website=Museum-offenburg.de}}</ref>
He developed his family's small printing business into a large media conglomerate.<ref>Peter Köpf: ''Die Burdas''. Europa Verlag Berlin, Hamburg 2002, {{ISBN|3-203-79145-5}}, p. 42.</ref> He benefited from "[[Aryanization (Nazism)|Aryanization]]" of Jewish property by the Nazi government when in 1938 Burda and partners acquired ''Großdruckerei, Papiergroßhandlung und Papierwarenwerk Akademiestraße Gebrüder Bauer'' in [[Mannheim]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.badische-zeitung.de/offenburg/versoehnung-ging-nur-mit-ueberlebenden--112836532.html|title=Versöhnung ging nur mit Überlebenden|author=Ralf Burgmaier|date=22 October 2015|newspaper=Badische Zeitung|access-date=31 October 2016}}</ref> Its owner Berthold Reiss and fellow shareholders were Jews, and so they were forced to sell the business under Nazi "Aryanization" laws.<ref>{{cite book|title=Die Burdas|author=Peter Köpf|date=2002|publisher=Europa Verlag|isbn=3-203-79145-5|location=Hamburg|page=50}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.fr.de/politik/spezials/doku---debatte/ein-forschungsreisender-des-lebens-a-1194231|title=Ein Forschungsreisender des Lebens|last=Rundschau|first=Frankfurter|work=Frankfurter Rundschau|access-date=2 October 2018|language=de}}</ref>
After the acquisition, Burda invited Reiss to stay on at the company to help manage the transition. Reiss’s son [[Hans Reiss|Hans]] would later write that the pair established a good working relationship, despite the circumstances of the acquisition. Burda interjected on Reiss' behalf when the latter was interned as part of [[Kristallnacht]]. The Burda and Reiss families developed a friendship after 1945.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.museum-offenburg.de/html/media/dl.html?i=13242|title=City Archive Offenburg|website=Museum-offenburg.de}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Senator Dr. Franz Burda. Geschichten eines Lebens|last=Dahmen|first=Ute|publisher=Petrarca|year=2009|isbn=978-3-87115-007-4}}</ref>
Burda [[Draft evasion|avoided military service]] himself by obtaining a contract printing maps for the military and using his connections. His antisemitic views were also alleged in the 1950s.<ref>Andreas Lörcher: ''Antisemitismus in der öffentlichen Debatte der späten fünfziger Jahre. Mikrohistorische Studie und Diskursanalyse des Falls Zind''. Dissertation, University of Freiburg, 2008, p. 158.</ref>
==Postwar era== After 1945, Burda was allowed to publish again. 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.<ref name="TAZ2003">Peter Köpf (22 February 2003). ''[http://www.taz.de/1/archiv/archiv/?dig=2003/02/22/a0228 Der herrliche Franz]''. [[die tageszeitung]]. Retrieved 10 June 2010.</ref>
Burda died in [[Offenburg]] at the age of 83 after relinquishing control of Hubert Burda Media to his three sons.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/10/02/obituaries/franz-burda-publisher-dies-built-european-print-empire.html|title=Franz Burda, Publisher, Dies; Built European Print Empire|last=AP|date=2 October 1986|work=The New York Times|access-date=25 December 2017|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
== References ==
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Burda, Franz}} [[Category:1903 births]] [[Category:1986 deaths]] [[Category:German magazine founders]] [[Category:20th-century German publishers (people)]] [[Category:Burda family|Franz]] [[Category:Grand Crosses with Star and Sash of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany]] [[Category:Recipients of the Order of Merit of Baden-Württemberg]] [[Category:Nazi Party members]] [[Category:National Socialist Motor Corps members]]