Leopold Ullstein

Leopold Ullstein (6 September 1826 – 4 December 1899) was the founder and publisher of several successful German language newspapers, including B.Z. am Mittag and Berliner Morgenpost. Many of these are still published today. Ullstein was also the founder of the leading German publishing house Ullstein-Verlag.

Leopold Ullstein was born 6 September 1826 in Fürth, Bavaria of ethnic Jewish parents.

Ullstein company was a major publisher in Germany.

All five of Ullstein's sons entered the family firm. Hans (1859–1935) was legal advisor. Louis (1863–1933) took over as CEO after his father's death. Franz (1868–1945) was the editorial director. Rudolf (1873–1964) became technical director and Hermann (1875–1943) managed the magazine and book departments. The Encyclopedia described some of the sons' contributions to the family publishing empire:

Leopold Ullstein died 4 December 1899. He was 73 years old at the time of his death.

Following the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in 1933, the Ullstein publishing empire was forcibly "Aryanized." In 1934 the firm, valued at 60 million marks, was sold under duress for 6 million marks.

One of the sons, Hermann Ullstein, emigrated from Nazi Germany in December 1938 and published a history of the Ullstein firm. Another son, Franz Ullstein, fled to the United States where he continued the publishing firm.

• Hermann Ullstein, The Rise and Fall of the House of Ullstein. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1943.

• ullsteinbuchverlage.de
• Ullstein family website