Baedeker Friedrich's widow Eva Baedeker, née Konitz (1913−1984), piloted the firm until she died in 1984. She was the last Baedeker to play an active role in running the Baedeker publishing house founded in 1827, and negotiated the sale of the Freiburg branch to Langenscheidt before she died. However, the "Karl Baedeker" brand name has been retained by all subsequent owners of the company, in one form or another. Since 1979 Baedeker travel guides have appeared as "Baedeker Allianz Reiseführer" (travel guides), published in collaboration with the German insurance group Allianz. Multi-coloured with copious illustrations and in many languages, they now
Karl Benz Mannheim to live in nearby Ladenburg, and solely with their own capital, founded the private company, C. Benz Sons (German: "Benz Söhne") in 1906, producing automobiles and gas engines. The latter type was replaced by petrol engines because of lack of demand. This company never issued stocks publicly, building its own line of automobiles independently from Benz & Cie., which was located in Mannheim. The "Benz Sons" automobiles were of good quality and became popular in London as taxis. In 1912, Karl Benz liquidated all of his shares in Benz Sons and left the family-held company in Ladenburg to Eugen