Ullstein Verlag
Ullstein Verlag is a German publishing house founded in 1877 by Leopold Ullstein in Berlin, initially specializing in newspapers, magazines, and books.[1]
By the late 1920s, it had grown into Europe's largest publishing empire, employing around 10,000 people and dominating the market with influential titles such as the Vossische Zeitung, Berliner Morgenpost, and the illustrated magazine Berliner Illustrirte Zeitung, which pioneered modern journalistic formats.[1][2]
As a Jewish-owned enterprise, it faced severe persecution under the Nazi regime; in 1933, the family was coerced into selling the company at a fraction of its value to a Nazi intermediary, leading to its Aryanization and renaming as Deutscher Verlag in 1937, with the Ullstein family forced into exile.[1][3]
Following World War II, the firm underwent restitution in 1952 amid legal battles, but was subsequently acquired by Axel Springer in the late 1950s; today, as Ullstein Buchverlage, it operates as one of Germany's leading hardcover book publishers, focusing on fiction, non-fiction, and youth literature with a roster of bestselling authors.[1][3][4]