Max Winkler

As head of Cautio Treuhand GmbH, a German holding company, Winkler was trusted with the task of economically and culturally supporting ethnic German communities in other countries, and establishing the "fortification" of German minority newspapers. After Adolf Hitler seized power, Winkler was therefore instrumental in the Gleichschaltung (bringing in line) in the press.

Winkler joined the Nazi Party rather late in 1937. In the same year, the Führer named him "Reich Commissioner for the German Film Industry". In this function, by order of the Propaganda Ministry, he decreed appointments and instructions which curtailed the industry's entrepreneurial freedom. This included buying up controlling interests in all German film production companies, thereby making them an organ of Joseph Goebbels's ministry. Between 1939 and 1945, Winkler was leader of the Main Trusteeship East (Haupttreuhandstelle Ost).

After the war, Winkler found himself in an internment camp. By 11 August 1949, however, the main Denazification court in Lüneburg had classified him as "uncharged" and released him. Read Less