05.05.2023

Citizens' Campus: Toyland GDR. The emergence, growth and decline of the GDR toy industry

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Start
Fr. 05.05.2023
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Time
15:00
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Venue
Faraday-Hörsaal
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Target group
All interested parties

All children need and love toys. Even as adults, the vast majority of people can still remember their favorite toy. But hardly anyone has asked themselves under what conditions toys were and are designed, produced and sold. At some point, you might also ask yourself, "Where did it actually go, our beautiful toy from back then?" because you can't find it either in the attic or in the stores. Among other things, these two questions will be addressed in the lecture by Mr. Bernd Max Sauer. For many years he accompanied the development and the liquidation of the GDR toy industry in leading positions in companies of the GDR and later the East German toy industry, as long as it still existed, until he finally founded his own company. Against the background of his rich experience as a real insider, he has published his knowledge in two publications so far*.

In the lecture, which, like his books, is a mixture of autobiography, documentation and personal account, he will go into detail about the development of the toy industry in the GDR and especially during and after reunification, presenting essential facts and lines of development in a knowledgeable and critical manner.

 

*"Toyland GDR. The becoming, growing and decline of the toy industry of the GDR." (Trautmann Verlag)

"Wooden Toy Design in the GDR."