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German publisher, businessman and politician From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gerhard Michael Frey (18 February 1933 – 19 February 2013)[1] was a German publisher, businessman and politician. He was the chairman and main financial backer of the right-wing party Deutsche Volksunion, which he founded in 1971. He resigned as chairman in January 2009.[2]
 | You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in German. (June 2018) Click [show] for important translation instructions.
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Gerhard Frey | |
|---|---|
Frey in 2009 | |
| Born | Gerhard Michael Frey 18 February 1933 |
| Died | 19 February 2013 (aged 80) Gräfelfing, Germany |
| Occupation(s) | Business, Publishing |
| Spouse | Regine Frey |
| Children | 4 children |
Gerhard Frey was born on 18 February 1933 in Cham. He studied law.[3] In 1960 Frey received his PhD (Dr. rer. pol.) from the University of Graz, Austria. His dissertation was a study of the trade pattern between Austria and Germany.[4] He was married to Regine Frey, with whom he had four children.[2][5] His daughter Michaela (born 1965) is an attorney, his son Gerhard Jr. (born 1969) is a lawyer. Frey died on 19 February 2013, the day after his 80th birthday, in Gräfelfing near Munich.[6]
The scholar Cas Mudde described Frey as "One of the most influential people in the German post-war extreme right scene" and a "multi-millionaire media czar who owns and publishes several newspapers".[7]
Frey took control of the far right Deutsche Soldaten-Zeitung in 1959, later renamed National Zeitung, and raised the paper’s circulation from 27,500 in 1958 to 131,000 in 1967. The paper frequently published historical revisionist and anti-Israel articles.[8][9] In 1967 it used the term desk murderer (Schreibtischtäter) referring to people who support Israel as, in its view, they thereby take the risk to become accomplices in crimes committed there.[10]
Frey has been described as rarely generous, except at his party functions where he hosted David Irving, whom he paid generously and provided a hired luxury car for.[11] A large amount of advertising in National Zeitung were for Frey's other businesses, thus more money than usual went back to Frey. Such businesses included Deutsche Reisen, a travel service, and the Deutscher Buchdienst, selling books, medals and flags.[12] Frey's party, the DVU, was described as the "Frey-Party" because of its financial dependency on him.[13] The Irish Times, after the party's success in the 1998 Saxony-Anhalt state elections, described the DVU as "less a political party than the dangerous plaything of a millionaire", without any real party structure. At the time, Frey's personal fortune was estimated to be in excess of DM 500 million.[14]
Frey enjoyed good relations with some conservative politicians like Alfred Seidl,[15] interior minister of Bavaria 1977-78, with European far-right and right wing leaders like Jean-Marie Le Pen and Vladimir Zhirinovsky but his relationship with other German far-right leaders was less friendly as they feared his financial power could overwhelm them.[16]
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