1918 Klimesch WWI Propaganda Map of the World criticizing Entente Colonialism

F. Klimesch (fl. C. 1918 - 1919) was a German illustrator active in Berlin during and shortly after World War I (1914 - 1818). He is associated with a single known map, a pictorial map of the world criticizing Entente (Allied) imperialism in the wake of Wilson's 14 Points, entitled, Was von der Entente übrig bliebe wenn sie Ernst machte mit dem Selbstbestimmungsrecht iher eigenen Völker und die Zügel losliesse! (Dietrich Reimer). More by this mapmaker...

Ernst Vohsen (April 19, 1853 - June 1919) was a German businessman, politician, colonialist, and publisher active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Vohsen was born in Mainz. After a year of military service, he settled in Paris, where he worked in the grain business while studying economics at the Conservatoire Des Arts et Metiers. In 1875, he became involved with the Compagnie Francaise Du Senegal et de la Cote Occidentale l'Afrique, relocating to Sierra Leone, where he managed a trading depot on the Rio Nunez. When an 1877 outbreak of Yellow Fever killed most European officials in Freetown, Vohsen took over management of the entire company in Africa. In 1881, he was appointed the first German consul in Sierra Leone by imperial decree to promote German interests there. Vohsen returned to Germany in 1887 to study Arabic and Swahili at the Orientalischen Seminar Berlin. There, he connected with the Deutsch Ostafrikanischen Gesellschaft (German East African Society, DOAG), where he took over management when Carl Peters (1856 - 1918) retired. His leadership saw the suppression of a local uprising, leading to the takeover of the colony by the German Empire. Vohsen left the DOAG in 1891, returning to Germany. There, through the recommendation of German banker Adelbert Delbrück, who was on the company's advisory board, Vohsen took over management of the well-established publishing firm Dietrich Reimer, whose owner Hermann Hoefer was forced to retire due to old age. Vohsen was a keen businessman if inexperienced in publishing, but under Hoefer's tutelage, pushed Dietrich Reimer to new levels of success through a focus on colonial publishing and cartography. He changed the imprint to 'Dietrich Reimer (Ernst Vohsen)' and built up a cartographic department, which produced colonial maps and maps for the German navy and even sponsored exploratory expeditions. Vohsen died of heart disease in 1919 while under treatment in the spa town of Bad Nauheim. Learn More...

Dietrich Arnold Reimer (May 13, 1818 - October 15, 1899) was a German publisher. Born in Berlin, Reimer was the son of Georg Andreas Reimer (1776 - 1842), another German printer. He founded a book and map shop in 1845 in Berlin, and after taking over most of the art and geographic publishing from his father two years later, founded Dietrich Reimer Verlag. Heinrich Kiepert (1818 - 1899) began working for his publishing firm in 1852, and in 1868, Reimer made Hermann August Hoefer, a German bookseller, a partner in his company. This move pushed Reimer's publishing firm to international prominence, as the new partnership increased their desire to produce globes and their commitment to improving their maps. He married Henriette Hirzel in 1847, with whom he had three children. Henriette died in 1853, and Reimer remarried in 1855 to Emma Jonas. Reimer gave up control of his publishing house on October 1, 1891, due to health concerns, and the business passed to investor Ersnt Vohsen (1853 - 1919). The firm published under the imprint of 'Dietrich Reimer (Ernst Vohsen)' until Vohsen's death in 1919. Until the end of the World War I (1914 - 1818) and the Treaty of Versailles, the publishing house profited from the colonialism of the German Empire with this business model. It survived both the end of the war and inflation. It was able to recover by the start of World War II (1939 - 1945) but then had to cut back production again, mainly due to a shortage of paper and reduced demand. In April 1945, the publishing house at Wilhelmstrasse 29, including the archive, accounting department, and book warehouse, was destroyed in two air raids. It recovered and is today a prominent German academic publisher. The firm remains in operation today as 'Dietrich Reimer GmbH.' Learn More...