Klaus Gerth (entrepreneur)

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Klaus Gerth (born May 5, 1943 ) is a German manager , publisher and author who made the book and record publisher Hermann Schulte , Wetzlar , one of the leading Christian publishers in German-speaking countries in the mid-1970s . Today this publisher is therefore called Gerth Medien .

Life

After studying business administration, Klaus Gerth initially worked for a number of years as a manager of various companies such as the Beiersdorf cosmetics group , where at the age of 27 he became marketing director and authorized signatory for the Juvena brand . He later reported about his reorientation:

“Answering the questions: 'What will happen when I am no longer? Why all this effort for a transitory cause when everything comes to an end? ' had had too drastic effects in my life. These questions hadn't bothered me often, maybe once a year. But now they had been answered so fundamentally by saying yes to Jesus Christ that my professional future also had to be redesigned. "

In 1975 he joined the Christian publishing house HSW - Hermann Schulte, Wetzlar . Here he worked intensively on the book program and developed new business strategies that helped the economically troubled company out of its crisis at the time. After Hermann Schulte fell seriously ill in 1979, Klaus Gerth took over the publishing house at his request, which was now called Schulte & Gerth and which developed into one of the largest German publishers for Christian literature and music. In 2005, in unification with the publishing house Projektion J , which was bought in 1996 , the house finally emerged as Gerth Medien . On January 1, 2008, Klaus Gerth transferred the management of his publishing house, which had meanwhile become part of the Random House publishing group , to his successor Ralf Markmeier .

Klaus Gerth is married to Gabriele. They have two grown children, Christoph and Sarah, and now live in Los Angeles , USA.

Topic end times

In the mid-1980s, Klaus Gerth founded the magazine Topic , which was taken over and continued in 1993 by its chief editor Ulrich Skambraks . He has also published several books over the years on eschatological topics such as the end times and the second coming of Christ . The antichrist comes (first in 1982, 8th edition 1991 - so a new edition almost annually) had particularly large sales . In 1992, the predictions contained therein were criticized and Gerth was referred to as a "publisher focusing on the end times".

The first edition of The Antichrist is coming had the subtitle: The 80s - the gallows of mankind? . In it Gerth announced events "for the next few years" . In the 1989 revision, the subtitle was " Do we still have a hangover for humanity?" changed; so the end seemed even closer. The fixation on the imminent end prevented Gerth from perceiving actual changes in world politics. So it was said in 1982 and 1989 alike:

“Apparently no power on earth is able to stop the USSR in its urge to expand. Country after country is conquered ruthlessly. What will follow after Afghanistan? Iran or Turkey? "

Sometimes Gerth used Bible verses to underline announcements. When the situation changed and the Bible verses in question no longer fit, they were deleted again. The Bible appears here as an additional ornament, but not as the really determining factor. Gerth said z. For example, that the Soviet Union would only carry out its attack on Israel when “the federation of ten states (probably the ten EC states) already existed under the rule of the Antichrist.” That was no longer appropriate in the 1989 edition, as it was meanwhile already there were more than ten EC states, so the sentence was deleted there. In 1982 Gerth wrote:

"Today there are ten states, just as the ten toes of the statue of Nebuchadnezzar predict."

In 1989 he wrote at this point: “Today there are twelve states” , without drawing any biblical parallel.

Publications (selection)

  • The anti-christ is coming. The 80s - mankind's gallows period? Schulte and Gerth, Asslar 1981, ISBN 3-87739-337-3 (6th edition 1989 with new subtitles It remains a reprieve for mankind? , ISBN 3-87739-510-4 )
  • End time. Crisis and way out . Schulte and Gerth, Aßlar 1984, ISBN 3-87739-372-1
  • Pictures from the future. Focal points of world affairs yesterday and tomorrow . With photos by Klaus Jakob Hoffmann. Schulte and Gerth, Aßlar 1990, ISBN 3-89437-135-8
  • Parade for the apocalypse? Biblical prophecy - hope for today and tomorrow . Schulte and Gerth, Aßlar 1991, ISBN 3-89437-161-7
  • Amazing grace. The wondrous life of a publisher . Fontis, Basel 2017, ISBN 978-3-03848-125-6

literature

  • Franz Graf-Stuhlhofer : “The end is near!” The mistakes of the end-time specialists (theological teaching and study material; 24). Verlag für Kultur und Wissenschaft, Bonn, 3rd edition 2007 (1st edition 1992, Brunnen, Gießen), about Gerth pp. 155–163, ISBN 978-3-938116-30-2

Web links

Single receipts

  1. ↑ Most recently as head of marketing for a cosmetics company - as Gerth said in the introduction to his book Antichrist , p. 7. There also the following quote.
  2. ↑ https://www.kath.net/news/33694
  3. ↑ Shortly before that, the publisher had a bestseller: Hal Lindsey, Carole C. Carlson: Alter Planet Erde woin? In the run-up to World War III , 1971.
  4. ↑ http://www.boersenblatt.net/161447/
  5. ↑ https://www.fontis-verlag.com/buch/klaus-gerth-klaus-gerth-amazing-grace/
  6. ↑ Graf-Stuhlhofer: “The end is near!” , Pp. 155–163.
  7. ↑ Gerth: Antichrist , p. 90. - The 1980s were indeed dramatic, but in a completely different direction than predicted by Gerth. In 1985 Mikhail Gorbachev became general secretary of the CPSU.
  8. ↑ Gerth: Antichrist , p. 106.
  9. ↑ Gerth: Antichrist , p. 149; in the 1989 edition on p. 156.
personal data
SURNAME Gerth, Klaus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German publisher and author
DATE OF BIRTH May 5, 1943