August Zang


August Zang was a nineteenth-century Austrian entrepreneur who founded the Viennese daily Die Presse. He also had a major influence on French baking methods.

Soldier and baker

Son of Christophe Boniface Zang, a Vienna surgeon, August Zang became an artillery officer before going to Paris to found a bakery, Boulangerie Viennoise, which opened in 1838 or 1839. The bakery was quickly imitated and its Austrian kipfel became the French croissant. Baking historians sometimes claim he introduced the baguette, but this is not supported by any period source. He did however introduce the Viennese steam oven, which became standard in France.

Journalist and publisher

In 1848, when censorship was lifted in Austria, he returned to Vienna and founded Die Presse, a daily newspaper which still exists today. The paper was modeled on Émile de Girardin's La Presse and introduced many of the same popularizing journalistic techniques, including a low price, serials and short, easily understood paragraphs. In 1864, a dispute led two key journalists to leave Die Presse and found Die Neue Freie Presse. The original Die Presse was soon known as The Old Press and in 1867 Zang sold it.

Later years

In his remaining years he owned a bank and a mine in Styria, the site of which is still known today as Zangtal. When he died, he was most known as a wealthy press magnate; his obituary in Die Presse said only that he had spent some years in Paris, omitting all mention of his role in baking. His ornate tomb in Vienna is still a tourist attraction.