Johann Wiechmann had a store in Stralsund, Germany, and his wife Karoline prepared the herring for sale. Wiechmann admired Otto von Bismarck and sent a barrel on Bismarck's birthday. When the German Empire was created Wiechmann sent a second barrel but this time asked to name the herrings after him. Bismarck agreed, and the original recipe Bismarck herring were sold up until the end of World War II, and revived in 1997 in Stralsund.