In memory of Bernd Assert

(wm-pcp) For decades, Bernd Assert (b. 17 July 1950, d. 3 December 2024) was the philatelic representative of the Braunschweig-based company Richard Borek, which he joined in the late 1960s. By 1976, he had already become head of department and was responsible for numerous projects – catalogues and price lists – as well as for buying and selling stamps. In October 1971, he met his future wife Katrin A. in the Richard Borek shop at the cathedral in Braunschweig. They married in May 1982 and she became an authorised signatory at Borek media GmbH in 2000 after holding various positions in the Borek group of companies. At that time, her husband Bernd Assert had already been managing director of the Borek Foundation for two years, and ten years later he held the same position at the Richard Borek company. From 2012, he also held the same position at the company ECB Beteiligungen.

Assert often represented the Braunschweig-based company. For example, at the early anti-counterfeiting seminars that Borek organised with the BDPh in the 1970s and 80s, at an APHV seminar in May 1983 on the topic of ‘Pricing in catalogues’ or in 1992 at the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Berufsphilatelie (Professional Philately Working Group), which was set up during the re-election of the APHV board at the time. His presentation of the legendary Mauritius letter, last shown at IBRA 2009 in Essen, is unforgettable and was captured in a photograph by Wilhelm van Loo.

Assert was not only a knowledgeable, competent and very affable professional philatelist. He also had a second side – ‘For people who are not on the sunny side of life’, as can be seen from an advert for the Braunschweiger Tafel (a food bank) that appeared after his death. He had founded this food bank in 1996 as one of the first in Germany – according to the text of the advert – and ‘managed it with heart and foresight for almost three decades… Through his life’s work, he has helped countless people in need…’.

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(accessed on 10 December 2024 in each case)

Translated with DeepL (www.deepl.com)