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Anne Burda has passed away at the age of 96 in Offenburg. She founded the magazine "Burda Moden," which revolutionized the wardrobes of modest women in both post-war Germany and the perestroika-era USSR. Each issue of the magazine, featuring stylish dresses, blouses, and trousers, was accompanied by patterns. As Anne Burda said:

You can make a miracle with your own hands!

The entrepreneurial genius was born in 1909 Offenburg, the son of a railroad worker and a housewife. They lived modestly. A window of opportunity opened by chance— Anne Lemminger She worked as a cashier at the city power plant and one day accepted a payment from the owner of a small printing house. Franz Burda took a liking to her, they met, and later married. The couple had three sons.

When Anna learned that her husband had fathered a fourth child with his secretary, she, with the help of lawyers, convinced him to transfer the magazine publishing company he had given to his mistress to her. The business was in decline, but Anna had an idea to revive it.

It was a difficult post-war period. 1949 year. Burda decided to help women look stylish by motivating them to sew fashionable clothes themselves using ready-made patterns. The first issue was published in 1950 circulation of 100 thousand copies. 1953 The magazine was sold not only in Europe but also in America. In 1961, it became the largest fashion magazine in the world with a circulation of 1,2 million copies.

В 1986 Enne negotiated the publication of the magazine in the USSR. However, the capacity of the Soviet Vneshtorgizdat publishing house was inadequate. The circulation was instead printed in Offenburg.

In February 1987, trucks bearing the sign "Burda Moden nach Moskau" brought fashion show equipment and 100 copies of the magazine to the capital. The presentation took place on March 3 in the Column Hall of the House of Unions, under the slogan "Fashion Knows No Borders."

The magazine immediately became a scarce commodity. While it sold for 5 rubles, it was often sold secondhand for 50. However, the patterns could be copied from a carbon copy in a library. German Foreign Minister Genscher told the author of the first Western magazine published in the USSR:

You have done more than the three German ambassadors before you!