Aenne Burda

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Aenne Burda (date of recording unknown)

Anna Magdalene "Aenne" Burda (* 28. July 1909 as Anna Magdalene Lemminger in Offenburg ; † 3. November 2005 ibid) was a German publisher of magazines . After the Second World War , she built up one of the largest German magazine publishers, Burda-Moden . She was called the "Queen of Clothes".

Life

family

Aenne and Franz Burda II (wedding photo, 1931)

Aenne Burda was the daughter of the locomotive stoker Franz Lemminger and his wife Anna Maria Armbruster. She gave herself her later nickname Aenne after her favorite song Ännchen von Tharau . She attended a convent school and completed a commercial apprenticeship at the Offenburg electricity company after completing secondary school at the Offenburg Higher Commercial School . There she had to collect the contributions from defaulting payers and got to know her future husband, Franz Burda (1903–1986), who was then a printer ; she married him on July 9, 1931. She had three sons with him, Franz (* May 24, 1932 - January 17, 2017), Frieder (* April 29, 1936 - July 14, 2019) and Hubert Burda (* February 9, 1940).

The publisher

1949-1961

Her husband laid the foundation for Aenne Burda's own publishing house in two ways: he financed the loss-making Elfi-Moden publishing house run by Elfriede Breuer, one of his many lovers. Instead of filing for divorce, Aenne Burda forced her husband to withdraw from this project and obtained his financial support for her own publishing company. In 1949 she was able to take over the indebted fashion publishing house from Franz Burda's former secretary Elfriede Breuer in Lahr , which had 48 employees at the time. On October 1, 1949, she published the magazine Favorit for the first time , which appeared from January 1950 as Burda Moden with a circulation of 100,000 copies. The marriage was maintained, but as an open relationship and houseworkers were employed to take care of the household and the care of the children.

The pioneering business idea of the magazine was the pattern sheets, which have been included since 1952 , which allow readers to recreate the models from the magazine at home. Pattern sheets have been known since the 19th century, the American entrepreneur Ebenezer Butterick invented this method in 1863. However, it was not until Aenne Burda's business idea that this pattern aid gained its place in German economic history. While the fashion of other magazines remained unaffordable for most of their readers, one could now realize one's ideas of taste and elegance inexpensively with it.

1961-1994

Raissa Gorbatschowa and Aenne Burda (Moscow, 1987)

After taking over Beyer Mode on October 1, 1961, Burda Moden was the world's largest fashion magazine with a circulation of 1.2 million. In 1965 Burda Moden sold over one million copies, in 1968 1.5 million. The Burda fashion magazine was published in 89 countries in 2005, translated into 16 languages.

With this concept she soon conquered the foreign markets and she followed up with other magazine titles: Anna from 1974 to 2007, first published as Burda Fun in Handicrafts , Carina since 1977 and Verena from 1986 to 1997.

In 1987, the magazine Burda Moden was sold as the first western magazine in Russian in the Soviet Union . This spectacular opening of the market was mainly due to the interest shown by Raisa Gorbachev and her husband, the then General Secretary of the CPSU and President Michael Gorbachev . On March 8, 1987, International Women's Day , she was celebrated at a ceremony in the princely city palace. In her memories, she describes the presentation of her magazine and collection in Moscow as the highlight of her life.

After 45 years of management, her publishing house had a turnover of 172 million DM in 1994 . At the age of 85, she retired from the management of the publishing house and handed over her publishing house to her three sons in equal shares. Frieder and Franz Burda sold their shares to Hubert Burda, who had already taken over the management of Burda-Moden .

Likes and commitment

Burda then devoted herself more to her private passion, painting with oil paints. In her younger years she was a lover of beautiful sports cars ( VW Karmann-Ghia , Rometsch ) and enjoyed the glamorous appearance at fashion shows and film galas.

Burda had a strong will to succeed and did not tolerate business adversaries or internal criticism. As an independent business woman, she didn't think much of the emancipation movement ; she preferred to assert herself against resistance on her own. On the other hand, she was open to good ideas and talents such as Jil Sander . Burda also knew how to build a unique network of relationships between personalities from politics, the film business, fashion and the media.

With her Aenne Burda Foundation she promoted art, culture, environmental and monument protection, care for the elderly and supported people in need in Offenburg. Aenne Burda died at the age of 96.

Orders and honors

  • To commemorate his mother's entrepreneurial and social commitment, Hubert Burda donated an Aenne Burda Award in 2006 , which is to be presented annually to “successful young women in the media”.
  • On the occasion of its 100th birthday, the city of Offenburg presented an exhibition from July 18, 2009 to January 10, 2010 about her life and work in the museum in the Ritterhaus .

Fonts

  • Views, insights, experiences. Burda Verlag, Offenburg 1989, ISBN 3-88978039-3 .
  • (Ed.): Handicraft books for school, work and home. Modeverlag Burda, Lahr (Black Forest).

literature

Movies

  • Aenne Burda. Fashion for millions. Documentation, Germany, 1999, 45 min., Script and direction: Kathrin Pitterling, production: NDR , first broadcast: November 28, 1999.
  • Aenne Burda - A woman conquers the world. Documentation, Germany, 2009, 45 min., Script and direction: Dora Heinze, production: SWR , first broadcast: July 23, 2009.
  • Aenne Burda - The economic miracle woman . TV-Drama, Germany 2018, script and direction: Francis Meletzky, production: SWR, first broadcast: December 5th and 12th, 2018.

Web links

Commons : Aenne Burda  - collection of images, videos and audio files
items

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Press release from Burda Verlag on the hiring of Anna ( Memento from March 2, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ↑ Hermann Simon mentions the publishing house Aenne Burda in his book of the same name as an example of a " hidden champion ". (Hermann Simon: Hidden Champions of the 21st Century. The Success Strategies of Unknown World Market Leaders . Campus, Frankfurt a. M. 2007, ISBN 978-3-593-38380-4 , p. 17 . )
  3. ↑ https://www.sueddeutsche.de/leben/geburtstag-von-aenne-burda-schnittmuster-fuer-millionen-1.165492-2
  4. ↑ Ralf Burgmaier: “100. Aenne Burda's birthday: The big exhibition ” , Badische Zeitung , July 15, 2009, with 2 videos
  5. ↑ Aenne Burda. Fashion for Millions ( Memento from May 6, 2005 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ↑ A film for the hundredth. Badische Zeitung , July 7, 2009, accessed on May 4, 2015 .
personal data
SURNAME Burda, Aenne
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Burda, Anna Magdalene
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German publisher
DATE OF BIRTH July 28, 1909
PLACE OF BIRTH Offenburg
DATE OF DEATH November 3, 2005
Place of death Offenburg