Verlag Baedeker is one of the most prominent German based publishers to live on this planet. He was able to contribute a lot towards the progression of publishing industry. That’s because he went ahead and published travel guides for the travelers who were looking for them.
All these guides were known as Baedekers. The meaning of Baedekers was travel guides.
When you take a look at one of the Baedekers, you will notice how they come along with introductions and maps, which are quite useful for the travelers. On top of that, it is possible to find detailed information about the travel facilities and routes.
Moreover, it is possible to find descriptions of sights, noteworthy buildings, museums, and attractions. All these are written by specialists. Hence, people could rely on what was provided to them.
When you are exploring Baedekers, you will notice that there are multiple generations. Hence, you will need to explore what those different generations would mean to you. Among those generations, Hans Baedeker is holding a prominent place.
Who is Hans Baedeker?
Hans Baedeker is the oldest son of Fritz Baedeker. He was able to guide the company during the most challenging times that it came across in the past.
He was able to work along with his two brothers, Dietrich, and Ernst to get the company to the next stage.
The company lost a considerable amount of money as it went ahead and invested on the government bonds during World War I. It could create a major impact on tourism.
On the other hand, anti-Germen settlements were created all around the world, including in France and America.
In those areas, guidebooks were quite popular. However, World War I could create a major impact on the popularity as well as the sale of guidebooks.
Rising inflation also created a major impact on tourism. Hans Baedeker had to work on all these challenges while he was managing the company.
The impact created by Great Depression
Great Depression was among the biggest challenges that Hans Baedeker had to face when managing hos business.
This happened along with the arrival of Nazism. In fact, things got worse as the business was closely connected to tourism.
Even the headquarters of Baedeker, which was located at Leipzig was destroyed by the World War. Therefore, the company had to rise from the ashes. It was Hans Baedeker, who contributed a lot towards it.
The contributions by Hans Baedeker
Hans Baedeker was a person who celebrated even small achievements of his publishing house that came on his way.
In fact, he was completely satisfied with the way how the entire Baedeker clan was able to go ahead with achieving things and to revive the firm according to their needs.
London Book Collector Shapero said to make the publishing house rise back from ashes, he went ahead and obtained a loan from Allen & Unwin, which was another prominent publishing house that was located in London.
It was able to represent Baedeker in Britain. Moreover, he was able to continue with building the publishing house on his own. On 1st of July 1927, Hans could celebrate the centenary of the foundation that he laid.
He was able to do this by holding reception at Leipzig. At this moment, he went ahead and stated “Harmonie”, which is a popular word that people say when they are celebrating such small achievements.
The firm was able to go ahead and make some progress along with time. For example, it could produce 12 new titles, which were written in German language.
Out of them, five were written in English language as well. It was a surprise that they could gain commissions during the Nazi regime.
Moreover, he was able to publish one an edition of the travel guide named “Egypt”, which was the 8th volume of it.
Moreover, he could produce numerous other travel guidebooks as well. He was one of the finest travel guide publishers to live during that time period.
From the year 1928 to 1942, Hans Baedeker could go ahead and publish 10 different guidebooks within Germany. All these guidebooks were commissioned by the Nazis.
In fact, Nazis have been vetting the guides of Baedeker.
That’s because they discovered the potential that is associated with these guides. This helped Hans Baedeker to go ahead and publish numerous guidebooks that match along with the preferences of the Nazis.
For example, one such book was published in order to share the occupation of Germany Army within Poland.
Role played by Hans Baedeker after the World War II
Hans Baedeker lived up until the year 1959. Similar to the World War I, the World War II could also create a major negative impact on Baedeker.
However, it was Hans Baedeker who could contribute a lot towards getting the company up and running.
The firsthand experience that he had when helping the publishing house to rise from the ashes contributed a lot towards the second attempt that he had to do. The publishing house was reconstructed in Leipzig.
By the year 1948, the headquarters of this publishing house was located inside a zone that was owned by Russians. Therefore, Hans Baedeker had to obtain a license from the Russians.
In order to overcome the challenges, Hans Baedeker could discover a workaround. This is where he got 10,000 copies printed with the assistance if Bibilographisches Institute.
However, he was only able to sell around 1,000 copies.
That’s because Russians noticed that those guidebooks are sharing some secrets, which put unfair advantage over the work done by them.
Due to the same reason, Hans Baedeker had to face numerous other challenges.
As you can see, Hans Baedeker is a prominent figure who contributed a lot towards the betterment of Baedeker during two world wars. Hence, you can call him as one of the most prominent figures to live behind this publishing house.
