Max Aman was a German Nazi

Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

 official with the honorary rank of SS-Obergruppenführer

Obergruppenführer

Obergruppenführer was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank that was first created in 1932 as a rank of the SA and until 1942 it was the highest SS rank inferior only to Reichsführer-SS...

, politician and journalist.

Biography

Amann was born in Munich

Munich

Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

 on November 24, 1891. During World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 he was Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...

's sergeant

Sergeant

Sergeant is a rank used in some form by most militaries, police forces, and other uniformed organizations around the world. Its origins are the Latin serviens, "one who serves", through the French term Sergent....

.

He joined the NSDAP in October 1921, as the Party's business manager and president of the Reichspressekammer (Reich

Reich

Reich is a German word cognate with the English rich, but also used to designate an empire, realm, or nation. The qualitative connotation from the German is " sovereign state." It is the word traditionally used for a variety of sovereign entities, including Germany in many periods of its history...

 Media Chamber) in 1933. After 1922, he also led the Nazis' publishing house, Eher Verlag, which, among other things, published the SS magazine Das Schwarze Korps

Das Schwarze Korps

Das Schwarze Korps was the official newspaper of the Schutzstaffel . This newspaper was published on Wednesdays and distributed free of charge. Each SS member was supposed to read the publication and urge others to do so as well...

.In 1924 he was elected as a NSDAP candidate to the Munich city council and in 1933 became a Nazi member of the Reichstag for the electorial district of Upper Bavaria/Swabia. Perhaps Amann's most notable contribution to history was persuading Hitler to retitle his first book from Four and a Half Years (of Struggle) Against Lies, Stupidity and Cowardice to Mein Kampf

Mein Kampf

Mein Kampf is a book written by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. It combines elements of autobiography with an exposition of Hitler's political ideology. Volume 1 of Mein Kampf was published in 1925 and Volume 2 in 1926...

, which he also published, and became a major source of Eher-Verlag's income. He lost his left arm in an accident with a firearm while hunting with Franz Ritter von Epp on 4. Sep. 1931 .
During the Third Reich, Amann became (by forced appropriation) the largest newspaper publisher in Germany and made enormous profits off Nazism. In this role, he established National Socialist control over the industry and gradually closed down those newspapers that did not fully support Hitler's regime. He pursued a dual-pronged strategy. In his official role as president of the Media Chamber, he had the power to seize any paper that ran counter to the government's wishes. Then, as head of the Eher Verlag, he bought them for mere pfennigs on the mark.

However, as a party official, Amann lacked talent, being a poor speaker and debater. In addition, his handwriting was illegible, thus his deputy, Rolf Rienhardt, performed these duties for him.

Arrested by Allied

Allies of World War II

The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...

troops after the war, Amann was found guilty of being a Hauptschuldiger (Prominent Guilty Party) and sentenced to ten years in a labour camp on September 8, 1948, but was released in 1953. He also lost his property and pension rights and died in poverty on March 30, 1957, in Munich.

Sources

• Hale, Oron. J, The Captive Press in the Third Reich, Princeton, 1964
• Wistrich, Robert Who's Who in Nazi Germany, Bonanza Books, 1982

External links

• Max Amann : Nazi Germany