Fischer World Almanac

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cover picture of the first Fischer World Almanac from 1960

The Fischer Weltalmanach was a yearbook that from December 1959 ( Der Fischer Weltalmanach '60 ) was published annually by the Fischer Taschenbuchverlag in September. The 60th edition of the Almanac ( Der neue Fischer Weltalmanach 2019 ) was published for the last time in September 2018 ; it will not be continued afterwards "in view of the dominance of internet research".

Topics and content

The Fischer Weltalmanach provided numbers , data and facts from politics , economy , environment , sport and culture . The yearbook contained a state section in which all states in the world are listed. There was information on each country, including the area and inhabitants (the world ranking is listed) as well as the official language (s), gross domestic product , currency and the country's embassies . The world almanac also contained further information on the country's structure, population , state and form of government , government and parties, and the economy. For each country there was a chronicle detailing the events during the reporting period.

The information on Germany , Austria and Switzerland was more extensive: each federal state or canton was presented in more detail and a more comprehensive chronicle and further statistics were published. In the Germany part there was also a double page that presented the major cities with their area, information on the inhabitants (number of inhabitants, inhabitants per km², change within 10 years in%), rank and with ( mayor ) .

The list of states was followed by comparison tables with basic data on all 195 states , map and flag overviews , international organizations and the European Union, as well as information on the economy, the environment and culture. The FWA also contained biographies of well-known personalities and information about the deceased.

Since the 2005 edition there has been an annual chronicle , in which the most important events in the reporting period are presented as a result of the inclusion of the Philips annual chronicle in the publication. As a result, the topic of sport was added to the World Almanac in 2005: all important sporting events and results were recorded there. The World Almanac has been published in full color since 2005, and since 2012 all editions have been called Der Neue Fischer Weltalmanach .

The World Almanac was also offered on a CD-ROM , which offered additional data, maps and photos as well as extensive research and linking options.

Fischer biographies

In addition to the biographies of important representatives from all countries contained in each edition, a volume with biographies on contemporary history (1945–1983) was published together with the Fischer Weltalmanach in 1984 . In 2006 another dictionary of persons was published. It treats people from 1945 to 2006.

Fischer World Almanac State Lexicon

The Fischer World Almanac State Dictionary has been available since December 2006. In chronological tables and portraits, it conveys important background knowledge on politics , history and the economy of all 195 countries in the world. It also fulfills the function of an atlas because it contains a colored map for every state and many areas. Because of the chronological tables on the history of the states, it is a supplement to the Fischer World Almanac.

The Fischer world almanac for children

The Fischer World Almanac for Children was published by Fischerverlag in 2010. The target group are children and young people.

Fischer World Almanac current

The book series Fischer Weltalmanach aktuell has been published since March 2005. It was developed in cooperation with the weekly newspaper ZEIT and contains reports , analyzes and facts on the most important topics of the year. So far, volumes have been published on EU enlargement , the powder keg Iraq , the USA , Russia and the Caucasus , the world power China and the last volume on Africa .

Fischer Weltalmanach special volume GDR

Cover picture of the FWA special volume GDR 1990

A so far unique case in the series of the Fischer World Almanac was the short-term publication of a supplementary special volume, especially the special volume GDR in April 1990. It was necessary because the facts and figures about the GDR presented in the regular world almanac of 1990 were at the time of Appearances were already outdated by the dramatic changes and an updated view and assessment of the events was required.

In addition to the chronicle of the events between September 1989 and March 1990, this special volume compiled documents from the time of the turning point, possible scenarios of a unification of the two German states at the time, and short biographies of personalities from the political life of the GDR who were in the public eye at this time.

Alternative publications

The following yearbooks are or were comparable to the Fischer World Almanac:

German speaking

International

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Fischer Weltalmanach was published for the last time in autumn 2018 , buchreport.de, March 27, 2018, accessed on March 28, 2018
  2. ↑ Legendary reference work: Fischer Weltalmanach - The end of an institution Report on the website of the daily newspaper Rheinische Post from September 29, 2018, accessed on September 29, 2018
  3. ↑ Alva Gehrmann, Sandra Müller: The Fischer World Almanac for Children , Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, ISBN 978-3-596-18680-8 [1]
  4. ↑ DNB 978494245