Hans Walter Aust (June 20, 1900 in Mainz – April 28, 1983) was a German journalist.
Hans Walter Aust came from a Silesian family. His grandfather, Rudolph Austin (1833–1907) was a merchant in Neusalz, the father Aust Walther (1871–1928) was a fittings manufacturer in Berlin. Aust had military training as a cadet and officer. He joined the NSDAP (Nazi Party) on May 1, 1933. [1] He was a member of the Reich Press Chamber and was exempt from military service. [2] In 1942 he began a two-year prison sentence and was expelled from the Reich Press Chamber. After the end of World War II he worked from May 1945 in the Tägliche Rundschau, [3] where he was promoted to deputy chief of the economic portfolios, and became a member of the SED. When the Tägliche Rundschau was discontinued, he received the post of editor in chief of the German political journal Deutsche Außenpolitik, [4] [5] which he held until 1969. He also wrote several articles for Die Weltbühne.
Aust was a member of the Gesellschaft zur Verbreitung wissenschaftlicher Kenntnisse (Board of the Society for the Dissemination of Scientific Knowledge) and the Liga für Völkerverständigung (League for International Understanding). [6] He received the Vaterländischer Verdienstorden (Patriotic Order of Merit) in 1960 in bronze and in 1965 in silver. [7]