Gerda Johanna Werner

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Gerda Johanna "Jo" Werner (born August 28, 1914 in Offenbach am Main , † August 14, 2004 in Oberursel (Taunus) ) was a German painter and art teacher. She became known as the model for the tree planter on the reverse of the German 50-pfennig coin .

Life

Werner's maiden name was Gerda Jo Heiser. She was the daughter of Johann Heiser (1886–1927), a police officer in Darmstadt , and Katharina Elisabeth Ruschitzka (* 1888 in Offenbach). She was married to the sculptor Richard Martin Werner . Her grave is in the old cemetery in Oberursel.

Illustration on the 50 pfennig coin

Gerda Jo Werner on the reverse of the German 50 pfennig coin
Representation at the "Schlempp-Brünnele" in Tübingen

The well-known illustration of the tree planter was created in 1949 in the wake of the currency reform in 1948 by Gerda Jo Werner's husband for a design competition that the then responsible directorate of the Bank of German States ( later: Deutsche Bundesbank ) had advertised. A motif was sought for the 50-pfennig coins that would embody the reconstruction of Germany after the Second World War . In order to be able to take part in this tender, Richard M. Werner took an already existing series of nude drawings that he had made of his wife and quickly supplemented the depictions with covering cloths and the oak seedling in her hands. The shadow-forming contours of the originally recorded body parts, typical of the original graphic, are still very well preserved on the later coinage and thus almost give the impression of translucent clothing.

Werner's design by the young oak planter convinced right away and was unanimously selected. According to his own admission, he wanted to honor the countless rubble women , but also the numerous tree planters, also known as “ culture women” , who work in reforestation . By choosing the simple picture based on the model of his then pregnant wife, all these women were symbolically erected what is probably the largest monument to this day, at least numerically .

Richard Martin Werner died shortly after the first coins with the image of his wife were minted. For a long time it was not known who “the 50-pfennig woman” was; she was generally considered to be an ideal representation. In the late 1980s, a journalist researched the subject. Then she was interviewed by Frank Elstner in 1987 on the ZDF program “Menschen”. Only then did the connection become known nationwide. Afterwards, Ms. Werner appeared in other television programs and was interviewed frequently , especially about the introduction of the euro and the “farewell to the D-Mark ”. She said that she was modestly pleased and grateful about her late popularity.

From the end of the 1990s onwards, Hesse in particular initiated several 50-pfennig collection campaigns, some of them local, some of them development policy and international, which, from the point of view of environmental protection, planted trees in memory of the reconstruction women and also in honor of Gerda Jo Werner financed.

From the first issue on February 14, 1949 to the introduction of the euro on January 1, 2002, the 50-pfennig coins were the official currency in the Federal Republic of Germany . In total, well over 2 billion pieces were minted. The 50-pfennig piece was considered to be the optically most popular of all DM currency coins in circulation . It is also the only one in the Federal Republic on which a woman is depicted.

Aftermath

In slight modifications and detached from money, the popular motif has meanwhile found its way into many other areas. It is often used in forestry and nature conservation in particular and sometimes even serves as a logo.

In Czechoslovakia the motif was used for the 1 kroner coin, which was in circulation from 1960 to 1993.

literature

  • Frieder Boss: Hessian personalities in current affairs: Gerda Jo Werner 85 years - Richard Martin Werner 50th anniversary of death . in: HFK 24/8 (Darmstadt State Archive).

swell

  1. ^ Hessian family history . Vol. 24, 1998-1999, pp. 585-586, quoted from: Werner, Gerda Jo in the Hessische Biografie
  2. ↑ Werner, Richard Martin. In: kunst-im-oefflichen-raum-frankfurt.de. Retrieved October 21, 2015 .
  3. ↑ Christa Schleich: The rubble women of the forest
  4. ↑ The 50 Pfennig Woman. WDR TV broadcast from September 17, 2001
  5. ↑ The 50-pfennig woman is buried rp-online.de, August 30, 2004
  6. ↑ gertrud-schrenk.de - blog entry from May 14, 2002 with photo of Gerda Johanna Werner
  7. ↑ www.scheune-ev.de - A Freiburg association that collected 50 pfennigs for planting trees in honor of Ms. Werner
  8. ↑ Münzkultur: Mrs. 50 Pfennig is dead. Spiegel Online, August 28, 2004, accessed on June 23, 2017.
personal data
SURNAME Werner, Gerda Johanna
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gerda Heiser (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German painter, model for the 50-pfennig piece
DATE OF BIRTH August 28, 1914
PLACE OF BIRTH Offenbach am Main
DATE OF DEATH August 14, 2004
Place of death Oberursel (Taunus)