He was a dance teacher, has been on stage for almost three decades, is active in local politics as a city councillor, has brought a Frankfurt Bond parody to the cinema and acts as a city guide in museums, the old town or the zoo. Truly, if anyone knows his way around Frankfurt, it's Thomas Bäppler-Wolf, alias Bäppi. So it's no wonder that the idea came up to have him answer questions from listeners about our beautiful city as part of his radio column "Bäppi babbelt - Lieber dumm geschwätz, als gar nix gesacht!", which can be heard every Friday morning on Radio Frankfurt. "A lot of questions came in very quickly," says Radio Frankfurt presenter Roger Rinker. So a good 20 questions a week could be sent to Bäppi. "For some of the answers, I had to do extensive research," the Frankfurt original tells us. But somehow he always gets the answer out.
From the many questions that Bäppi has answered since May 12, 2021, he has now made a book. The book is called "Wasse schon schon immer Iwwer Frankfort wisse wollte..." (What you always wanted to know about Frankfort), and on just under 100 pages it reveals humorous, interesting and surprising facts about the Main metropolis - in real dialect, of course. It was important to Bäppi to choose a form of Hessian that people from Hamburg could also understand. However, that wasn't so easy. "Babbling Hessian is easy," Bäppi reveals, "but try writing it down. That's extremely difficult." But he has mastered the challenge, which gives the book a very special charm.
After an introduction, two greetings, some helpful translation aids (Hessian/German and Hessian/English) and a small introduction to swearing in Hessian, it's off to the questions, which are divided into various categories such as food & drinking, history & politics, Main & nature or also culture & life. There you learn where the name "Klappergass" comes from, why you drink cider from the "Gerippten", why the Bembel is gray-blue or which is the most expensive parking garage in Frankfurt.
The questions are answered of course in a humorous way, as you can expect with Bäppi. However they supply also always revealing and sometimes amazing, which might surprise even genuine Frankfurt connoisseurs here and there. The whole is supplemented by numerous pictures. Obtaining these or getting permission to print them was sometimes a real challenge. Dirk Schicke, who is responsible for the book's design, explains that it was extremely difficult, for example, to find a picture of the Grüne Soße that didn't show any dill. When the perfect photo was finally found, the approval unfortunately came only when the book was already in print.
The first edition of this Frankfurt book is 2,000 copies. It can be ordered for 14,90 € over https://baeppis-events.de/extras/buch-iwwer-frankfort. But it will also be available in some selected stores in the future. It can also be purchased during Bäppi's city tours and stage performances. "Wasse schon schon immer Iwwer Frankfort wisse wollte..." is to be, however, only the beginning of a whole series of books. The successor is already in the works. Volume 3 will then answer all questions about Frankfurt Zoo. And Bäppi can also imagine books from the planned "Wasse..." series about the Römerberg and the Old Town, as well as about the various museums through which he regularly guides groups of visitors. We are excited and look forward to having Bäppi answer even more questions "iwwer Frankfort"!
