| Bruno's GmBH | |
| Trade Name: | Brunos |
| Predecessors: | --> |
| Successors: | --> |
| Founders: | --> |
| Hq Location City: | Berlin |
| Hq Location Country: | Germany |
| Num Locations: | 4 |
| Profit: | --> |
| Profit Year: | --> |
Bruno's GmbH (Bruno Gmünder GmbH) was a Berlin media company founded in 1981 as Bruno Gmünder Verlag. The German company produced media and products targeted toward gay men. Originally a book publishing house, the firm became a global market leader in the development of materials that supported gay self-confidence and lifestyle. The firm received majority ownership by Bruno Gmünder until 2011.
After filing for bankruptcy in 2014, the firm was restructured and purchased again by the lawyer, Frank Zahn with Bruno Gümunder as a minority shareholder.
Bruno Gmünder Verlag was dissolved in 2017, with the retail division becoming Bruno's[1] and the publishing division sold to the publishing company Salzgeber & Co Medien GmbH in September 2018.[2]
The Bruno publishing house was founded in 1981 by co-founders Bruno Gmünder and Christian von Maltzahn. Prior to its creation, Gmünder had joined the Eisenherz bookshop, an entity opened with the help of Christian von Maltzahn in November 1978 in Berlin. The two friends founded the publishing house under the motto:
"Wir sind homo, wir machen homo und wir wollen dem Homo zum Buch verhelfen."The company philosophy, as shared within the Männer magazine states that the publishing house was never created to make books that educate about homosexuality; rather to create the media that homosexual readers lack.[3]
The publishing house was best known for Männer, a gay male lifestyle magazine, and the Spartacus International Gay Guide, the best-selling travel guidebook for gay men in the world. Bruno Gmünder had purchased the latter in 1986 following financial difficulties with the former owner John D. Stamford, as well as increasing evidence that the Guide was being used by paedophiles to abuse children in developing countries. Under Bruno Gmünder the Guide significantly reduced the pro-paedophilia content, though various aspects remained during the period 1987–1994.In October 2012, the Bruno Gmünder Group offered a "bounty" of €15,000 for information leading to the investigation and final conviction of the operators of the right-wing extremist and homophobic blog kreuz.net.[4] The Roman Catholic theologian David Berger has taken over the coordination of the resulting campaign Stoppt kreuz.net. In a letter to the German Bishops' Conference, the group asked them to support the campaign.[5]
The company declared bankruptcy in 2014, but was purchased by private investor Frank Zahn. When Zahn died unexpectedly in February 2017 the company again declared bankruptcy. The retail division and four retail outlets became Bruno's GmbH, while the publishing arm was acquired by Salzgeber in 2018 and merged into Männerschwarm Verlag.
In December 2014, following reported discriminatory and right-wing populist statements from David Berger, the editor-in-chief of the Bruno Gmünder Verlag publication "Männer", the Deutsch AIDS-Hilfe (DAH) saw fit to cancel their advertising campaign with the magazine. Initially, the publishin house stood in support of Berger, resulting in criticism from the website queer.de. On February 1, 2015, Berger was dismissed without notice.
A preliminary study conducted by an investigation commission in February 2021 highlighted the paedophile networks, structures and organisations in West Berlin from the 1970s onward. The study revealed that West Berlin serves as a hub for paedophile activity up until German reunification in 1990. The report noted the role played by the "Berlin Travel Guide" from the Bruno Gmünder Verlag in these networks.