Wilhelm Weiss

German journalist who was appointed to head the Reich Association of the German Press in 1934. Weiss joined the German Army in 1911 and served during World War I. After seeing combat, he was assigned to the Troop Office of the Bavarian War Ministry where he wrote commentaries for the press department. He rose to the rank of Captain, and after the War, he enrolled at the University of Munich where he spent two years but never earned his degree. He worked as editor for several newspapers before joining the official Nazi newspaper "Volkische Beobachter" as an assistant, later moving into the deputy editor’s job in 1933. In 1938 he took over as Editor-in-Chief, formalizing a position he had actually held unofficially for quite some time. After taking over the leadership of the Reich Press Association, he worked tirelessly to improve news coverage, but the Press Chief, Otto Dietrich continually undermined his attempts. Eventually Weiss became severely disillusioned with the political control over the press despite his former support for those methods. Despite his reserved nature, average intelligence and powerful enemies, he achieved much during his lifetime, and he was the recipient of many Party honors including the Golden Party Bade and the Service Cross. During the war, Weiss was severely wounded during combat and lost his left leg. On 7/15/1949, during the de-Nazification after the War, he was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment, confiscation of one-third of his personal property and loss of his professional rights for ten years. An appeal still pending, Weiss died on 2/24/1950. Link to Wikipedia biography