Bergmoser + Höller Verlag
Independent German specialist publisher of practical teaching, kindergarten and church materials, based in Aachen and active for over 50 years.
Last updated September 28, 2026
AI crawler reads
No AI crawler has read this profile since Oct 28, 2026.
Overview
Bergmoser + Höller Verlag (BuHV) is an independent German specialist publisher headquartered in Aachen. It produces practical, ready-to-use materials for schools, kindergartens (Kita), and church and parish work, together with digital tools for education and documentation. The company describes itself as a values-based specialist publisher with a Christian foundation, serving teachers, educators, and church and pastoral staff. The firm was founded in 1970 by the publishing businessman Josef Bergmoser and the journalist and publicist Karl R. Höller. Its first product was the parish-newsletter material service "IMAGE – Das Bild unserer Pfarrei", whose zero issue appeared on 25 October 1970. A year later the young house took over the "Sonntagsdienste" (Sunday services) and began building a broad range of liturgical and pastoral publications based on the concept of "practical helps". Over the following decades the same idea was extended to school and preschool/kindergarten work, with series such as "Sozialwissenschaft betrifft uns" (1977), "Bausteine Kindergarten" (1979/80), and "Bausteine Grundschule" (1988). Today the publisher serves several core fields: Kita and early education, primary school (grades 1–4), secondary levels I and II, church, worship and parish work, senior and hospital pastoral care, and digital tools for education and documentation. According to its own account it has been active for more than 55 years and works with practising experts to produce curriculum-aligned, immediately usable materials. The German Wikipedia entry states that the house employs around 70 staff and publishes more than 35 subscription publications, not counting the programmes of the Hutt Verlag and Ökotopia Verlag, which it acquired in 2012. The company was registered as a GmbH in 1979 and converted into a stock corporation (Aktiengesellschaft) in 2001. It remains privately held and independent. It has founded or acquired several related businesses, including Image Druck GmbH (1973), a communications and social-marketing agency (1981), and graphodata AG (1987). In 2010 the publisher and its founders established the non-profit, independent Bergmoser + Höller Stiftung. In 2012 it took over the Stuttgart-based Hutt Verlag and the Ökotopia Verlag, both continued as imprints, and in 2019 it founded Bergmoser + Höller Lernen GmbH for pedagogical consulting and training. The publisher is a member of several industry bodies, including the Verband Bildungsmedien e.V. and the MVFP, and has signed the German Press Council's supplementary declaration for telemedia.
History
The history of Bergmoser + Höller begins with an idea. To create a material service for the growing number of parish and community newsletters, the publishing and advertising businessman Josef Bergmoser teamed up with the journalist and publicist Karl R. Höller. On 25 October 1970 the zero issue of "IMAGE – Das Bild unserer Pfarrei" appeared, with distribution and delivery handled in the Bergmoser family's hobby cellar. Only a year later the young publishing house, as a GbR (civil-law partnership), took over the management of the "Sonntagsdienste", a worship aid for Catholic priests, opening up a whole range of liturgical and pastoral publications following the concept of "practical helps" ("Leitlinien"). A special characteristic of Bergmoser + Höller is organic growth: one idea gave birth to another, one need awakened the next, and one interested target group followed another. The "Sonntagsdienste" served as a model for "Gottesdienste mit Kindern und Jugendlichen" (today "Botschaft – Familie & Jugend") and ultimately for "Gottesdienste vorbereiten" aimed at priestless parishes. From the Catholic preaching service "Die Botschaft heute" grew the "Werkstatt für Liturgie und Predigt" for Protestant colleagues. The Catholic parish-newsletter material service IMAGE became ecumenical. The transfer of the idea of practical material services to the fields of school and preschool/kindergarten was decisive: in 1977 "Sozialwissenschaft betrifft uns" (today "MEIN FACH – Politik Sek II") began the publisher's well-known series of teaching aids for secondary levels I and II. The very successful "Bausteine Kindergarten" followed in 1979/80, then "Bausteine Grundschule" in 1988, and later other series. Josef Bergmoser devoted himself exclusively to his own publishing house from 1973, while Karl Höller joined full-time in 1982 as managing director for the programme area. The GmbH, notarised in 1979 by the married couples Josef and Martha Bergmoser and Karl and Inge Höller, moved into a building on Karl-Friedrich-Straße on the site of the former Grube Carl-Friedrich in Aachen-Richterich. In 2001 the shareholders converted their GmbH into a stock corporation (Aktiengesellschaft). The founding of three branch operations served to further consolidate the publishing business: Image Druck GmbH (1973), the Bergmoser + Höller Agentur für Kommunikationsberatung und Sozialmarketing GmbH (1981), and graphodata AG (1987), an agency for all services of print preparation and, in the meantime, new media. The generational change in company leadership began in 1995 with the entry of Andreas Bergmoser as commercial director in succession to his father. In 2003 Peter Enno Tiarks took over programme management from Karl Höller. The founders Josef Bergmoser and Karl Höller then moved to the supervisory board. As chairman of the supervisory board, Höller was succeeded on 22 April 2016 by Uwe Hoch, former managing director of the Verlagsgruppe Handelsblatt's specialist-media division, who had already been a supervisory board member since 2005. Thomas Wirth, professor of online media at the Baden-Württemberg Cooperative State University Mosbach (DHBW Mosbach), has been a supervisory board member since April 2015, focusing on online media and innovation. Since April 2016 Simone Höller, managing director and producer of the Cologne TV and film production company 307 production GmbH, has also been an associate member of the supervisory board. At the end of 2010 the publishing house and its founders established the non-profit and independent Bergmoser + Höller Stiftung. On 1 January 2012 the Bergmoser + Höller Verlag AG took over the business activities of the Stuttgart-based Hutt Verlag from its founder and owner Stephan Hutt; the Hutt Verlag remained based in Stuttgart and is continued as an imprint in the Bergmoser + Höller programme. On 26 June 2012 the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels reported the takeover of Ökotopia Verlag by Bergmoser + Höller Verlag AG as of 1 July 2012; since 1 January 2019 the Ökotopia Verlag has also been run as an imprint of Bergmoser + Höller Verlag AG. On 1 January 2019 the Bergmoser + Höller AG founded Bergmoser + Höller Lernen GmbH, whose purpose is the development, organisation, distribution and delivery of pedagogical consulting and further-training services. Josef Bergmoser, born on 15 April 1927 in the Sauerland, entered the publishing industry through a commercial traineeship at the daily newspaper Westfalenpost in Hagen. In 1957 he joined the Kölnische Rundschau in Cologne. During this time, inspired by the Second Vatican Council, he was active in the Pater-Leppich-Kreis and Action 365 and became a member of the Stephanusgemeinschaft with its pronounced lay spirituality. As advertising manager of Leben & Erziehen at the Volkspädagogischer Verlag, today's Einhardverlag, he moved to Aachen, and in 1970 he joined the papal mission society Missio, where he built up the missio-aktuell publishing house and met Karl Höller. Josef Bergmoser died on 1 December 2017. Karl R. Höller was born on 24 April 1937 in Engelskirchen. He studied philosophy, theology, ethnology and missiology at the Philosophisch-Theologische Hochschule SVD St. Augustin. He gained his first journalistic experience in 1961 as a reporter at the Kölnische Rundschau/Siegkreis-Rundschau before moving to the University of Münster. Alongside his studies, including in journalism, he completed a traineeship in 1962 at the Münster diocesan newspaper Kirche+Leben, where he worked as an editor until 1969. Still a doctoral candidate in journalism, he co-founded the specialist journal Communicatio Socialis in 1968, which he edited for many years. After serving as founding secretary of the Catholic Media Council (Cameco) based in Aachen, Höller moved in 1971 to the international Catholic mission organisation missio, where he remained general secretary until 1982. He died in February 2020.
- 2020
Co-founder Karl R. Höller dies in February.
- 2019
Bergmoser + Höller Lernen GmbH is founded on 1 January; Ökotopia Verlag becomes an imprint.
- 2017
Co-founder Josef Bergmoser dies on 1 December.
- 2016
Uwe Hoch becomes chairman of the supervisory board on 22 April; Simone Höller joins as associate member.
- 2015
Thomas Wirth joins the supervisory board in April.
- 2012
The Hutt Verlag (1 January) and Ökotopia Verlag (1 July) are taken over and continued as imprints.
- 2010
The non-profit, independent Bergmoser + Höller Stiftung is established.
- 2003
Peter Enno Tiarks takes over programme management from Karl Höller.
- 2001
The shareholders convert the GmbH into an Aktiengesellschaft.
- 1995
Andreas Bergmoser joins as commercial director, beginning the generational change.
Products and positioning
Independent, values-based Christian specialist publisher of immediately usable materials for school, kindergarten and church professionals.
IMAGE – Das Bild unserer Pfarrei
Parish newsletter material service, the publisher's founding product.
Sonntagsdienste
Worship aid for Catholic priests, taken over in 1971.
MEIN FACH – Politik Sek II
Teaching-aid series for secondary level II, formerly "Sozialwissenschaft betrifft uns".
Bausteine Kindergarten
Kindergarten materials series launched 1979/80.
Bausteine Grundschule
Primary school materials series launched 1988.
Botschaft – Familie & Jugend
Worship materials for children and young people, formerly "Gottesdienste mit Kindern und Jugendlichen".
Sources6 sources
Cite this profile: Cite the canonical profile. /brand-wiki/bergmoser-höller-verlag · Editorial policy · How profiles are compiled