Bruno's GmbH is a German retailer of products targeted toward

gay men Gay men are male homosexuals. Some bisexual and homoromantic men may also dually identify as gay, and a number of young gay men also identify as queer. Historically, gay men have been referred to by a number of different terms, including ' ...

; it was originally founded in 1981 as Bruno Gmünder Verlag, a book publishing house. Bruno Gmünder Verlag was dissolved in 2017, with the retail division becoming Bruno's and the publishing division sold to the publishing company Salzgeber & Co Medien GmbH in September 2018.

History

Bruno Gmünder Verlag was founded in Berlin in 1981 by Bruno Gmünder and Christian von

Maltzahn The House of Maltzahn or Maltzan is the name of an ancient German noble family of the counts and barons von Maltza(h)n which originated from Mecklenburg, Germany, whose members occupied many important positions in the Duchy of Mecklenburg and in it ...

. The publishing house was best known for '' Männer'', a gay male lifestyle magazine, and the '' Spartacus International Gay Guide'', the best-selling travel guidebook for gay men in the world. Bruno Gmünder had purchased the latter in 1986 following financial difficulties with the former owner John D. Stamford, as well as increasing evidence that the Guide was being used by

paedophiles Pedophilia ( alternatively spelt paedophilia) is a psychiatric disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a primary or exclusive sexual attraction to prepubescent children. Although girls typically begin the process of puberty a ...

to abuse children in developing countries. Under Bruno Gmünder the Guide significantly reduced the pro-paedophilia content, though various aspects remained during the period 1987–1994. In October 2012, the Bruno Gmünder Group offered a "bounty" of €15,000 for information leading to the investigation and final conviction of the operators of the right-wing extremist and homophobic blog kreuz.net. The Roman Catholic theologian David Berger has taken over the coordination of the resulting campaign Stoppt kreuz.net. In a letter to the German Bishops' Conference, the group asked them to support the campaign.''Betet für uns''
Süddeutsche Zeitung vom 12. Oktober 2012 The company declared bankruptcy in 2014, but was purchased by private investor Frank Zahn. When Zahn died unexpectedly in February 2017 the company again declared bankruptcy. The retail division and four retail outlets became Bruno's GmbH, while the publishing arm was acquired by Salzgeber in 2018 and merged into Männerschwarm Verlag.

References

External links

* Book publishing companies of Germany LGBT-related mass media in Germany Publishing companies established in 1981 1981 establishments in West Germany Publishing companies disestablished in 2017 Retail companies of Germany Companies based in Berlin German companies established in 1981 Pedophile advocacy {{Germany-company-stub