George von Holtzbrinck (born 11 May 1909, Schöplenberg,

Hagen Hagen () is the Largest cities in Germany, 41st-largest List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Germany. The municipality is located in the States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is located on the south eastern edge of the R ...

died 27 April 1983,

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

) was a German

publisher Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

and founder of

Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group Holtzbrinck Publishing Group () is a privately held German company based in Stuttgart which Holding company, owns publishing companies worldwide. Through Macmillan Publishers, it is one of the Publishing#Book publishing, Big Five English-langu ...

Biography

In 1931, Holtzbrinck joined the Nazi Young Workers. In 1933, he became member number 2,126,353 of the Nazi Party. With his partner, August-Wilhelm Schlösser, Holtzbrink formed a book club business in the 1930s. Their business prospered under the Nazis. With a letter of recommendation from Adolf Hilter's private office obtained by Schlösser, their company Deutsche Verlagsexpedition (Devex), secured a contract with the German Labor Front (DAF), the largest and financially strongest Nazi mass organization with 25 million members. "Devex" distributed the DAF magazines Schönheit der Arbeit and Freude und Arbeit. Holtzbrinck's Nazi past was successfully concealed for many years until major acquisitions in the United States by the Holtzbrink Publishing Group aroused curiosity about the accuracy of the company's official history. In June 1998, Vanity Fair published a feature article on Holtzbrink and Bertelsmann entitled "The German Front" or "Ich Bin Ein Book Person" that explored the publishers' Nazi-era activities. Holtzbrinck had three young children with his wife Addy von Holtzbrinck, born Griesenbeck on 13 February 1913,

Rummenohl Rummenohl, now officially Hagen-Rummenohl, is a locality within the independent city of Hagen in the eastern part of the Ruhr region, in Germany. It lies in the valley of the river Volme, about 13 km upstream (south) of the city centre of Hagen. H ...

; † 2005: Georg-Dieter, Karin Monika and Stefan.

Awards

Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, or , BVO) is the only federal decoration of Germany. It is awarded for special achievements in political, economic, cultural, intellect ...

* 1952:

Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria The Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria (german: Ehrenzeichen für Verdienste um die Republik Österreich) is a state decoration of the Republic of Austria. It is divided into 15 classes and is the highest award in the A ...

Bibliography

*Thomas Garke-Rothbart: ''„... für unseren Betrieb lebensnotwendig ...“ Georg von Holtzbrinck als Verlagsunternehmer im Dritten Reich'' Saur, München 2008 (zugl. Diss. phil. Fernuniv. Hagen) ** Rezension: Thomas Schuler
''Ein Onkel in der SS. Belege opportunistischen Verhaltens''
in: ''

Süddeutsche Zeitung The ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'' (; ), published in Munich, Bavaria, is one of the largest daily newspapers in Germany. The tone of SZ is mainly described as centre-left, liberal, social-liberal, progressive-liberal, and social-democrat. History ...

'' 30. Januar 2009, S. 15. ** Rezension: Florian Triebel
''Trotz guter Quellenarbeit noch viele Fragen offen''
'' IASLonline'', 29. September 2009.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holzbrinck, Georg von German publishers (people) 1909 births 1983 deaths Knights Commander of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany