One thing I can remember very well is the old Anuga opening event, which hasn’t existed in the same form for some time now. The Parade of Nations – a bit like in the Olympic Games – was a classic. The participating countries sent, for example, girls in national dresses to the opening. They marched in together with the Cologne Ehrenfeld children’s choir, whose director carried the national shield. There was a huge choir, creating an impressive backdrop. For me, and for the whole advertising team, it was very special every time: very exciting, very crazy, but also very hard work. We were proud to be part of it. The body painting event by artist Bernd Bauer was also memorable. He painted models arranged to create a fruit basket. The women were all naked, which I’m sure wouldn’t be possible today. But the result was definitely impressive.

I remember an American called Allen Allured very vividly. Although he wasn’t a typical exhibitor, he came to the Sweets Fair in Cologne every year. He published a trade magazine in New Jersey and had a small stand in the American section of the trade fair, which he used to acquire advertising customers; we placed ads with him ourselves. Allured hosted a reception on a boat for every Sweets Fair. It was very popular with Americans and other international guests. Then came the Cologne flood of the century in 1983, which saw large parts of the city under water. The trade fair halls were also at risk: 50cm more rain and they would have been flooded. Despite the flooding, Allured insisted on holding his reception. He even had a jetty specially built so that guests could get from the old town to the boat across the flood water. It was both frightening and impressive how he manoeuvred the boat to the jetty on the raging Rhine. Fortunately, it all went well!

The ISM is an event that I worked on from the very beginning. It was launched in 1969/1970. Standardised stands were used to create a level playing field for all exhibitors. It felt a bit like East Germany. Whether they were major corporations like Nestlé or Ferrero or smaller companies – all stands had the same format. This arrangement was in place for around two or three years, after which exhibitors could let their creativity run free. From then on, they were incredibly creative in their stand design, and it was great fun taking a walk around the halls. That’s one of the reasons why the Sweets Fair is my favourite. I also enjoyed working on the Anuga, but it was always very big and overwhelming, while the ISM was charming and colourful.

I always found the Anuga FoodTec especially exciting. I remember very well how I watched, fascinated, as Tetra Pak set up its production line in the exhibition hall for the first time. We even had to alter the hall because the floors weren’t stable enough to support the heavy machines. I also witnessed the switch to electronic data processing. In the beginning, we worked with the municipal IT centre, which was often problematic. I can clearly remember when the first salaries were transferred by computer. The date appeared on some employees’ bank statements instead of their salary. There were such teething difficulties everywhere back then, because the first steps into IT often led to unexpected and sometimes dramatic results. It’s hard to imagine that today, when we have to deal with challenges like hacker attacks on a daily basis.

The special thing about Koelnmesse for me during my 40 years at the company was the human kindness with which both my colleagues and my supervisors treated me. I always felt at home at Koelnmesse, we were always there for one another. That’s one of the reasons I stayed there for so long. Also, the trade fair industry is simply a wonderful environment. Back then, Koelnmesse advertised job vacancies under the slogan: “The world at your workplace.” And it was true: there are few other jobs where you come into contact with so many different countries, nationalities and industries as in a trade fair company. That was definitely the most exciting thing about my job. I always enjoyed looking after groups of foreign visitors and showing them around. I met a lot of interesting people, who I later visited in the USA, Canada and other countries.