PARIS, Aug 27, 2013/ — Named after Anna Ottendorfer, a pioneer newspaperwoman, the OTTENDORFER like its namesake is for the woman who is driven to succeed once she puts her mind to achieve her goal.
Born on 13 February 1815 in Wurzburg Bavaria, Anna Ottendorfer nee Behr came to the United States in 1837. Her first husband Jacob Uhl purchased the German-language New Yorker Staats-Zeitung. With Anna’s help, the Uhl’s developed it into a major newspaper.
When Jacob Uhl died in 1852, Anna assumed the management of the newspaper while also raising her six children. She declined several offers for the Staats-Zeitung, and, by her own energy and sagacity and the co-operation of Oswald Ottendorfer, who became editor in 1858 and who Anna married in 1859, made it one of the chief papers in the United States.
By the 1870s, its circulation was comparable to English-language newspapers like the New York Tribune and the New York Times. Anna Ottendorfer took an active part in the management of the paper until almost the time of her death.
The Ottendorfer bag by Freitag pays homage to Anna as a pioneer newspaperwoman and mother. Like her, the Ottendorfer is always ready to work overtime.
