In his 25 year term as Director of The Frankfurt Book Fair (1975-2000), Peter Weidhaas introduced potent themes and championed unsung nations at the Book Fair. Since then, the annually alternating Guest of Honor appearances of diverse countries around the world have become an important tradition at The Frankfurt Book Fair. In the 1990s, Weidhaas founded the German Book Information Centers (BIZs) in Moscow, and Novosibirsk, Russia, as well as in Warsaw. Poland and Bucharest, Romania. A short while later, these were followed by the German Book Office in New York and a new BIZ in Beijing, China.