Columbus (Publisher)
| COLUMBUS Verlag Paul Oestergaard GmbH
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| legal form | GmbH |
| founding | 1909 |
| Seat | Krauchenwies , Baden-Württemberg |
| management | Michael Fleissner, Torsten Oestergaard, Armin Sinnwell-Rubow |
| Number of employees | 65 |
| Branch | Cartographic Institute, Publishing House and Export |
| Website | www.columbus-verlag.de |
The COLUMBUS Verlag Paul Oestergaard GmbH based in Krauchenwies in the district of Sigmaringen in Baden-Württemberg is the oldest still producing world factory and also the market leader among the world manufacturers. Around 100,000 globes in around 100 different designs are manufactured by around 65 employees each year.
history
At the beginning of the 20th century, the brothers Peter and Paul Oestergaard began their globe production and between 1904 and 1909 published earth and celestial globes with diameters of 11, 19 and 33 centimeters.
Founded in 1909 in Berlin-Schöneberg by the bookseller Paul Oestergaard as a cartographic publisher. The vision at that time was to manufacture a people's globe that should find its place in every home. Until then, there were only expensive individual pieces in painted plasterboard. Oestergaard developed the cardboard globe with a laminated paper layer. With this technique, the printed paper is glued onto the ball in strips by hand. In this way, larger numbers could be produced.
In 1919 Columbus Verlag exported to China in 24 languages and the company grew steadily. In addition to maps, earth and celestial globes were also produced. Globes at that time were hand-painted wooden spheres up to a diameter of over a meter and correspondingly expensive. Currently, an accuracy in the thousandth of a millimeter range is achieved and applied to hollow plastic hemispheres and both connected to form a globe. The growth continued until World War II . The first globe made of glass, which made the first illuminated globe possible, as well as the first mass-produced large globe were also inventions by Paul Oestergaard. The Columbus globes also found favor with Adolf Hitler , so that he ordered several, two for the Reich Chancellery , one for Obersalzberg and one for the headquarters of the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP) in Munich .
In 1942 Paul Oestergaard jun. in the publishing house. The Berlin administration and production facilities of the publishing house were destroyed by the chaos of war and relocated to neighboring sites and to the private home of the Oestergaard family. After the Russian blockade, the publishing house moved from destroyed Berlin to Stuttgart in 1948 . The family founded a factory for the first post-war globes in the “Pragwirtshaus”, a Stuttgart inn. The patent for the duo illuminated globe made it possible to display two map images simultaneously on one globe. Up until the 1950s, the publishing house produced globes in 84 variants of different sizes and designs, including duo light globes , relief globes , moon globes and the Haardt roller globes . In addition, the publisher issued copies of the Behaim globe as well as the Brixen terrestrial globe and a copy of the Anich terrestrial globe .
In 1963 Peter Oestergaard, the founder's grandson, joined Columbus Verlag. Two years later, the company's plastic model of the duplex globe revolutionized the globe market. In 1972 the globe Planet Earth was introduced, it showed sunrises and sunsets, as well as twilight zones and seasons. Columbus Verlag moved to Beutelsbach in the Remstal.
In Beutelsbach, the company could not expand any further and therefore relocated the company headquarters to Krauchenwies in 1993 in a low building next to the disused Krauchenwies train station. Before the move, the market for globes had collapsed due to global political changes such as the reunification of Germany, the collapse of the Soviet Union and border shifts in the Balkans. At first, borders could hardly be correctly mapped and were not stable for years. Digital cartography and new manufacturing processes brought about a significant improvement in the market. Due to this tense situation, Peter Oestergaard intends to close the family business after 85 years in 1993. His son Torsten Oestergaard moved the company to Krauchenwies as junior manager, hired six people and started over.
In 1999 the workforce of the Leipzig Räthgloben- Verlag was taken over. This was the founding of the Leipzig glove manufacturer, which specialized in the hand-lamination of crystal glass globes traditionally hand-blown with glass pipes in the Black Forest. The following year, the company presented a globe in which the globe the size of a basketball floats freely in a magnetic field between the ends of a shiny silver metal frame.
In 2003 not even a handful of manufacturers, three European and one in the USA, were supplying global customers. In 2003, the subsidiary CartoDirect was founded for the Europe-wide exclusive distribution of the map and globe range of the National Geographic Society and the products of the parent company .
On July 23, 2009 the 100th anniversary of COLUMBUS Verlag Paul Oestergaard GmbH was celebrated in the presence of Chancellor Angela Merkel , Baden-Württemberg's Prime Minister Günther Oettinger and Member of the Bundestag Thomas Bareiß .
On the night of January 23rd to 24th, 2020, a warehouse of the publishing house with many globes and maps was completely destroyed by a major fire, causing damage of presumably 1.5 million euros. The production facilities were not affected.
Columbus globes
Products
The small globes are made either traditionally on hand-blown crystal balls or in a modern way from printed plastic film. But there are also huge, man-high globes in stainless steel stands.
The largest globe with a diameter of 1.98 meters is a globe that hangs from the ceiling of the Hamburg luxury hotel Grand Elysee in the foyer. It was produced in April 2010.
Hitler's globe
The Columbus Globe for State and Industrial Leaders (also known as Hitler's Globe or as the Führer Globe ) was specially made for representation purposes. The globe, which was ordered by several heads of state, including Adolf Hitler, had an impressive diameter of 106 cm, making it the largest mass-produced globe in the world at the time. Columbus-Verlag still produces the largest series-produced globes in the world, the magnum globes. They reach a diameter of up to 111 cm and a height of over 180 cm.
Three of these globes are on display in Berlin: in the Märkisches Museum , in the German Historical Museum and in the Geographical Institute.
original
Two copies of the globe were ordered by Adolf Hitler in the 1930s; the actual number of globes produced cannot be determined, as the factory buildings of the manufacturer Columbus were destroyed in 1943, together with all archives.
The globes were described as very large and very expensive, their spheres were made of aluminum and the globe stalls were made of turned precious wood. Whatever his status today, Hitler personally paid little heed to him. Official photos were never published showing the giant globe.
Whereabouts
Numerous globes that are said to have belonged to Hitler exist worldwide, but their authenticity is in doubt. There are three globes in Berlin: one in the Geographical Institute, another in the Märkisches Museum , and the third in the German Historical Museum . A public exhibition in Munich houses two more . Many of the globes are damaged or have a hole, and many American or Soviet soldiers "erased" Germany from the world map in this way. Neither of these globes, however, is the most wanted globe from Hitler's Reich Chancellery, which inspired Charlie Chaplin in The Great Dictator (1940).
In May 1945, a globe possibly belonging to Hitler was found in the Eagle's Nest , a command center in the Bavarian Alps . The building complex was almost intact when the soldier John Barsamiann arrived and found the globe on a desk. He took the globe home with him after his discharge from the US Army and kept it for sixty years before auctioning it off in San Francisco . Bob Pritikin, a San Francisco collector, bought the globe for $ 100,000, five times its estimate. This globe, however, was a comparatively small (35 cm diameter) 'Columbus Earth Globe' in the economic policy issue of October 1, 1941.
The globe is a collector's item depicting Hitler's gigantomania . Charlie Chaplin's satire The Great Dictator (1940) parodies the globe in a familiar scene in which the globe bursts in front of the dictator's face.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Annual financial statements as of December 31, 2018 in the electronic Federal Gazette
- ↑ Columbus - Fascination Globus . P. 77. In: From Alno to Zollern - companies in the district of Sigmaringen . Pp. 68-113. In: Dirk Gaerte (ed.), Edwin Ernst Weber (conception): The three-country circle Sigmaringen. A guide to nature, economy, history and culture . Meßkirch: Gmeiner Verlag, 2007; ISBN 978-3-89977-512-9
- ↑ a b c cf. The world in the living room - Columbus Verlag Paul Oestergaard GmbH, Krauchenwies . In: Baden-Württemberg Media Center WM 2006
- ↑ Company in conversation. The airport is an important location factor for companies in the region. Here we introduce them to you. The center of the world . In: FLUGBLATT - the Stuttgart airport magazine . Edition 03/2005
- ↑ Globe manufacturer Columbus in Krauchenwies. The world on a colorful ball . In: Schwäbische Zeitung , April 17, 2004
- ↑ Frank Junghänel: The marriage of the earth. In: Berliner Zeitung . July 19, 2003, accessed June 14, 2015 .
- ↑ Fire at Globus manufacturer in Krauchenwies - police assume arson. In: Stuttgarter Zeitung . January 24, 2020, accessed January 26, 2020 .
- ^ Vera Romeu: Columbus in Krauchenwies. Biggest globe is traveling . In: Schwäbische Zeitung , May 4, 2010
- ↑ Large Columbus globe in the DHM object database
- ↑ a b c The Mystery of Hitler's Globe Goes Round and Round. In: New York Times . September 18, 2007, accessed June 14, 2015 .
- ↑ a b A missing megalo symbol: Hitler's globe. In: The International Herald Tribune . September 19, 2007, accessed June 14, 2015 .
- ↑ Sold: Hitler's globe fetches £ 50,000 at auction - five times its estimate. In: The Daily Mail . November 14, 2007, accessed June 14, 2015 .
- ↑ Hitler's globe turns up in Oakland rumpus room. In: San Francisco Chronicle . October 18, 2007, accessed June 14, 2015 .
literature
- Oswald Muris, Gert Saarmann: The globe through the ages: A history of globes . Columbus Verlag Paul Oestergaard, Berlin / Beutelsbach near Stuttgart 1961