Walter Conrad

This article deals with the textbook author and writer Walter Conrad. On the politician see Walter Conrad (politician) ; for other people see Walter Konrad .

Walter Conrad, 2002

Walter Conrad (born February 22, 1922 in Breslau ; † May 4, 2006 in Eisenach ) was a German writer , specialist book author and narrator .

Walter Conrad worked as a writer for more than 50 years . He published 42 books and hundreds of lectures. His unmistakable way of writing down complicated technical relationships in an understandable way and adding a touch of esprit made him known throughout Germany. Some of his works have also been published in Hungarian, Polish and Romanian and Dear Listeners (1956) were transcribed in Braille. Two literary prizes, two “Most Beautiful Books of the Year” and a trip around the world symbolize his success.

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youth

Walter Conrad was born as the son of a mathematics teacher in the Silesian city of Breslau (now Polish Wrocław ). He spent his school days in the city ​​of Sagan (now Polish Żagań ), also in Silesia . There he attended high school at his father's school and graduated from high school in 1939 . He then worked as a university intern at Siemens & Halske in Berlin.

Military time

In 1941 Walter Conrad was drafted into the Reich Labor Service . A little later he was trained as a long-distance radio operator as a soldier in the Wehrmacht . With this task he took part in Rommel's Africa Corps in the campaign in North Africa. In 1943 he got into Tunisia in American captivity and became the potato and tobacco cultivation in the southern states for forced labor committed. After the war he was interned in France until he was released in 1948 . His good language skills also come from these times. Walter Conrad was able to communicate in English , French and Italian without any problems . But he also acquired other European languages ​​in his later life. The theater of war in North Africa remained in his memory until his death. He was very impressed by the culture and the people there, and not least he incorporated the adventure romance of the Sahara in his adventure books for young people.

post war period

In the wake of the refugee turmoil of the Second World War, he moved to Eisenach in Thuringia in 1947 after he was released from captivity . Walter Conrad initially worked there as the secretary of the adult education center , which he took over as director shortly afterwards. He also worked as a vocational school teacher in Eisenach from 1951. His first publications also date from this time, initially intended as a replacement for missing textbooks. At the age of just thirty, his first work, Introduction to Radio Technology, was published in 1952. A year later, the second edition of the book began and the way forward as an author began to emerge. The Urania Verlag in Berlin became aware of the young writer and was able to bring him to Berlin as a lecturer in 1954 . He worked there for six years and at the same time wrote books on radio technology and electromagnetic waves. In addition, he wrote his first two books for young people, Emergency Landing in the Desert and Leuchtkugeln by Hassi Gebla .

Creative years

In 1960 Walter Conrad returned to Eisenach and devoted himself entirely to his work as a specialist book author. With professional commitment, his works appeared regularly once or twice a year. He was always based on the latest technical developments and demonstrated a pioneering spirit in integrating the most modern research into a future everyday life. Television technology and semiconductor electronics have only just found their way into the German living room and with Walter Conrad on paper. By 1970 he wrote another four books for young people, all of which were published in the Knabe youth library. In a further phase Walter Conrad turned more and more to popular science topics. Especially in the fields of physics , but also technology in general, he wanted to write understandable and exciting literature for everyone. His 1975 book Physiker im Kreuzverprüfung became famous. Great experiments and their masters . The book Technical Curiosities , published ten years later, was also well received , in which he jokingly examined the blooms of human ingenuity. With his partly visionary contributions to the burgeoning computer technology in the late 1980s and the imminent changes in communication technology , his extremely intensive work slowly came to an end.

Resting years

Passionate about traveling, eager for information, well-read, philanthropic and as a popular partner, this is how Walter Conrad spent his retirement together with his wife Marga in his adopted home Eisenach . In cooperation with the well-known lexicon publisher Meyers, articles and contributions were created that are included in the current editions of the well-known encyclopedic series. In addition, he did research for his last large book History of Technology in Schlaglichtern , which was published in 1997 by the Bibliographisches Institut. In the end he lived in seclusion with his family. He now devoted himself particularly to his long-standing hobby, collecting radio transmitters and their technical data. He gathered more than 32,000 records in this way.

obituary

Walter Conrad died on May 4, 2006. At his own request, he was buried anonymously in the Eisenach cemetery.

“The path of science and technology also continues. We can only overlook its next stages. But we know that it has no end. Wherever we stop to look around - we are always at the same time at a new beginning. ” - Walter Conrad from inventor explorer discoverer. Urania Verlag, 1972.

Honors

• two literary prizes
• two "most beautiful books of the year"

literature

• Meyer's pocket dictionary. GDR writer. Bibliographical Institute, Leipzig 1974.

Works

The selection lists the most successful and well-known as well as artistically striking books.

Youth books

• 1957: Emergency landing in the desert. Boy.
• 1958: Flares at Hassi Gebla. Boy.
• 1961: Salt from Taudeni. Boy.
• 1964: Alarm on the Hoggar slope. Boy.
• 1965: Wadi Sura. Boy.
• 1967: The Swords of Cambyses. Boy.

Reference books

• 1952: Introduction to radio technology. Fachbuchverlag Berlin.
• 1955: Basic circuits in radio technology. Fachbuchverlag Berlin.
• 1959: On invisible roads. Urania .
• 1959: electrons change the world. Urania.
• 1960: Basic circuits in radio and television technology. Fachbuchverlag Berlin.
• 1961: Forays into physics. Urania.
• 1962: radio and television. Urania.
• 1963: Forays into semiconductor technology. Urania.
• 1964: Forays into electrical engineering. Urania.
• 1965: Electrical engineering - short and memorable. Fachbuchverlag Berlin.
• 1967: electron tubes. Fachbuchverlag Berlin.
• 1970: Forays into HF technology. Urania.
• 1972: Meyers Taschenlexikon electronics - radio technology. Bibliographical Institute Leipzig.

Popular scientific literature

• 1967: researchers, radio operators, engineers. Specialist book publisher.
• 1972: inventor explorer discoverer. Urania.
• 1974: Robots in our hands - electronics help people. (= Rainbow series ) Children's book publisher Berlin.
• 1975: physicist cross-examined. Great experiments and their masters. Fachbuchverlag Berlin.
• 1977: Who - What - When? - Discoveries and inventions in science and technology. Fachbuchverlag Leipzig.
• 1979: From Jacob's staff to satellite navigation. (= Accent Series Volume 42) Urania.
• 1985: Technical curiosities. Urania.
• 1986: Chips, sensors, computers, tomorrow's colleagues. (= Akzent series Volume 79) Urania (1987 Elektor , Aachen).
• 1989: Communication 2001. Connection for people and machines. Elektor, Aachen.
• 1997: History of Technology in Highlights. Bibliographical Institute Mannheim.

Web links

• Literature by and about Walter Conrad in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

1. ^ Heinz Seidel: Walter Conrad . In: Stadtverwaltung Eisenach, Eisenacher Tourismus Information (Hrsg.): Eisenach Information . July issue. Eisenach 1981, p. 6-7 .