Franz Rather

Franz Xaver Josef Eher (born April 28, 1851 in Munich ; † June 22, 1918 there ) was a German journalist and anti-Semitic publisher , whose Franz-Eher-Verlag, founded on December 6, 1901, became the party publisher of the NSDAP from 1920 after it was sold .

Life

Family and journalistic beginnings

It was more likely the son of the master comb maker Franz Xaver Eher and his wife Magdalena Wiedermann, the daughter of a machinist. The father ran a shop in the Ruffinihaus at Sendlingergasse 13 in Munich's old town. Contrary to what has been said on various occasions, Rather was not an Austrian. The reason for this misinformation was the fact that, contrary to his father's wishes, he did not want to take over the business and instead worked for seven years as editor of the Neue Freie Presse in Vienna, a paper that he later violently for its “corrupt conditions”, “ journalistic jargon ”, its“ ridiculous ”business section and a“ conglomerate of untruths ”. Apparently Eher was involved in efforts in 1885 to found a newspaper in Vienna with a “German national” tendency and was a sympathizer of the then newly founded, anti-Semitic German Reading Club (German Club) , which was influenced by the folklorist and declared enemy of Jews, Josef Pommer . Eher later switched to the Berliner Lokalanzeiger . In Berlin he married Friederike Hirsch from Ruß in the Memel region in 1895 and returned to Munich in 1897 at the request of his father.

Work as publisher and editor of the Munich observer

After the death of his father, Eher founded the trade journal Der Bayerische Metzgermeister together with the Munich print shop owner Johann Naderer in 1899 , financed by the sale of his parents' shop. From February 2, 1900, the branch newspaper was "significantly enlarged", which increased its circulation and importance. Rather, however, was only involved in the paper until “the end of the year”, from 1901 Naderer took over the editing and publishing. After his death on February 4, 1912, the publishing house became the property of Nader's son-in-law Georg Unger.

Almost at the same time as the publishing house of the Bavarian master butcher , Eher and the former innkeeper Anton Kaiser, the son of a "grocer" (born April 25, 1857), had the Munich observer - independent daily newspaper - from Naderer in March 1900 . Organ of the eastern part of the city taken over (the editorial office was located at Comeniusstrasse 8 in Munich- Haidhausen ). Kaiser had worked there as a senior editor since 1896. Initially the publishing house operated under the name “Anton Kaiser und Frz. Jos. Rather". However, Eher soon paid off his partner and became the sole owner. From number 14 of April 8, 1900, he is also listed in the imprint as the “publisher's owner and responsible editor”. Johann Naderer continued to print the newspaper. It was not until December 2, 1901, that Franz Eher, who meanwhile lived at Pfarrstrasse 5 in the Munich district of Lehel, had his publisher registered with the commercial court under his name (register court vol. III / no. 125).

Until Eher's death, the newspaper remained politically insignificant and was sold in small print runs on the street. Eher himself described the direction of his paper as "impartial, but not colorless" and promised his readers "to prepare the ground for a good bourgeois future". At times Rather is said to have written under the pseudonym "Xaver Bälder"

In 1899 around 2,000 copies are said to have been sold, in 1907 only 1,000. Rather, because Rather had fallen out with Georg Unger, he had the newspaper produced in Josef Gäßler's print shop from January 1907. Since Gäßler's company produced the Munich observer by hand, production took three days. It wasn't until 1909 that Gäßler bought a typesetting machine that did the job in six hours. During the First World War the newspaper appeared less and less, from 1915 three times a month, from 1916 twice a month. In 1917 the printer changed again ("F. Fischer in the Klenzestrasse"), which led to a publication break of several weeks. After Eher's death on June 22, 1918, his widow initially continued to run the publishing house before she sold the license for the Munich observer to the right-wing extremist Rudolf von Sebottendorf .

Journalistic work

From 1899 Eher wrote numerous theater reviews (“Aus dem Münchener Bühnenleben”) under the acronym “Frz.Ee.” for the Munich observer , in which he was particularly impressed by Richard Wagner's musical dramas. He criticized Munich's nightlife as immoral and spoke of the “better society” who amuse themselves “with half-naked redoubt women” in Café Luitpold, for example .

Rather recalled his time in Vienna under the title "The Imperial Capital Daily Press of Austria - Reminiscence of a Connoisseur" and accused his old employer, the Neue Freie Presse , of "unbearable terrorism in the field of art and literature". He called the other Austrian papers “opinion pollsters”. As "privateer Xaverl Grandlhauer" he described a trip via Passau and Linz to Vienna and Budapest. In the text he stated that Vienna was “crowded”, described the city as an “infinite ghetto” and made derogatory comments about the Jewish business acumen: “Woe to the unwary who should still do it today with an overcoat or plaid. put on the arm to 'go through' here, a couple of budding street robbery pupils will jump over there: nothing to haggle, nothing to trade! "

He also reported on an "Easter holiday" in Greece and, also as "Xaver Grandlbauer at the Stammtisch", devoted himself to anecdotes from Munich history and politics in the Bavarian dialect.

Anti-Semitism and "völkisch" agitation in the Munich observer

The paper was just as skeptical of the government of Chancellor Bernhard von Bülow as Kaiser Wilhelm II and of the Prussian supremacy in the Empire in general. Berlin was described as the “most backward city in the world”, and the Reichstag was heavily attacked: There was talk of a “dreary fog that now surrounds us” that will one day be replaced by a “people's spring”. Occasionally Eher published emphatically anti-Semitic articles, for example in No. 28 of July 9, 1905 under the heading “Our Judged Municipal Administration” by the author “ek”: “If one did not yet know the spirit of our city magistrate, the ever increasing one could Find out about the number of Jewish suppliers in the city. While Munich's Christian businesses can unsuccessfully participate in so and so many submissions without even being able to obtain a worthwhile contract for the city, Jews only need to open a business in order to receive city deliveries immediately. "

As early as 1908, the newspaper commented on the “Jewish question” under the heading “Anti-Semitic and National Social”. In it the unnamed author writes, presumably rather himself: “I do not deny that a Jew can also have the ability to think nationally and nationally in Germany and to be able to act, but those who can and do it are white ravens and in any case they shouldn't push their way in any way, because they only scare off. ”According to the author, he has so far“ only met one Jew ”, the“ the fateful one and the pernicious effectiveness of his fellow citizens "" openly and honestly admitted "(possibly Otto Weininger meant). In addition, “the Jew” by and large ruins “every association he joins”.

Under the title Völkischer Beobachter , the newspaper became the NSDAP's “Kampfblatt” from 1920 .

literature

• Adolf Dresler: The "Munich Observer" 1887-1918 (= newspaper and life, 76). Munich 1940
• Adolf Dresler: From the history of the Völkischer Beobachter "and the central publisher of the NSDAP Franz Eher Nachf. In: Zeitungswissenschaft , Vol. 11, No. 10 of October 1, 1936

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Date of death evidenced in the entry for the company Franz-Eher-Verlag at Munich District Court, Register Court, quoted in according to Gabriele Melischek / Josef Seethaler (eds.): Die Wiener Tageszeitungen: A Documentation Vol. 4, 1938–1945. With an overview of the Austrian daily press during the Nazi era , Berlin 2003, p. 114
2. ↑ The two married on December 14, 1859, see Der Bayerische Landbote , No. 349 of December 15, 1859, p. 1406 [1] .
3. ↑ Not to be confused with the “German Club” in Parliament, which, however, pursued similar political goals, e.g. B. wanted to fight the corruption that dominates "part of the press" and "poisons" public opinion; see Deutsche Wacht , No. 78 of September 27, 1885, p. 2.
4. ↑ Munich Observer , No. 24 of June 16, 1901
5. ^ Adolf Dresler: History of the "Völkischer Beobachter" and the central publishing house of the NSDAP., Franz Eher Nachf. Munich 1937, p. 47.
6. ^ Adolf Dresler: The "Munich Observer" 1887-1918 . Würzburg-Aumühle 1940, p. 24.
7. ↑ ^{a b} Newspaper Science, Vol. 11, No. 10, p. 436.
8. ↑ Thomas Keiderling: Small study on the largest book and magazine group of the National Socialism (Review on: Thomas Tavernaro: The publishing house Hitlers and the NSDAP. The Franz Eher successor GmbH. Vienna: Edition Praesens 2004.). In: IASLonline. May 30, 2005, accessed June 22, 2018 . 
9. ^ Adolf Dresler: The "Munich Observer" 1887-1918 . Würzburg-Aumühle 1940, p. 26.
10. ^ Adolf Dresler: The "Munich Observer" 1887-1918 . Würzburg-Aumühle 1940, p. 32.
11. ^ Paul Hoser: Munich observer. In: Historical Lexicon of Bavaria . May 11, 2006, accessed June 22, 2018 . 
12. ↑ Munich Observer , No. 27 of July 2, 1899, No. 51 of December 17, 1899.
13. ↑ Munich Observer , No. 8 of February 25, 1900, p. 1.
14. ↑ Munich Observer , No. 24 of June 16, 1901.
15. ↑ Munich Observer , No. 25 of June 22, 1902 to No. 32 of August 10, 1902.
16. ↑ Munich Observer , No. 31, August 3, 1902, p. 3.
17. ↑ Munich Observer , No. 15 of April 15, 1900, p. 2.
18. ↑ Munich Observer , No. 23 of June 7, 1903, p. 2.
19. ↑ Munich Observer , No. 22 of May 31.