Quick preliminary dig on Obama's book publisher Penguin Random House for anons who want to help look around
Penguin Random House gave the Obamas $65mm+ for the book deal. They are owned by two parent companies: Bertelsmann (75%) and Pearson plc (25%) the latter of which is HEAVILY involved in college level "education".
These companies are very layered and I haven't done a deep dive, but a quick look into Bertelsmann led me to Reinhard Mohn who was a Nazi and drafted into WWII. He has also made Forbes list of richest people in the world. Not really connected to anything that I know of right now but the company is looking a little spoopy.