Wadding

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The Watt Wolverine was in the GDR used campaign figure in the comic style that you conserve electrical energy should call. The figure created by He Hellerau was depicted as a black goblin or devil with a device plug on the tail and insulators or fuses on the head. The coal stealer from the 1940s served as the predecessor of the figure .

background

Towards the end of the 1950s, the electrical energy supply in the GDR could not be guaranteed at all times. Industrial production, in particular, was affected by power outages, despite the relatively rapid growth in power generation. The SED central organ Neues Deutschland read: “ Everyone knows that our electricity grid is not able to cover the entire, constantly increasing demand in industry and the population during peak load times . Unfortunately, all too often the power supply in factories has to be temporarily stopped and production thus throttled. "

With the figure "Watt Wolverine" should mainly private households, but also the users not to produce the necessary electricity consumers in the enterprises and institutions ( immersion heater , coffee maker , electric heaters , irons are stopped, etc.) to save electricity at certain peak hours. The name was a combination of the terms watt , the physical unit for electrical power , and food , a derogatory term for an unaesthetic, wasteful consumption of food and substance- destroying material consumption (see also rust corrosion ), and should thus be the excessive, subordinate or useless consumption of electrical energy symbolize. The figure was disseminated in the media in advertisements and children's booklets in the Atze and Frösi comic series and in a mosaic supplement to the publisher Klaus & Hein .

Paper signs were printed with the figure, which the children should cut out and attach over light switches. They should warn to switch off the electric light as often as possible.

At the beginning of 1958, the Central Council of the FDJ called for an “ important contribution of the youth to the beginning of the planning year ” with an action lightning against Wattfraß . Under the slogan “Blitz contra Wattfraß” , members of FDJ groups and the pioneer organization Ernst Thälmann , some in Wattfraß costumes, made key checks from January 15 to 17, 1958 between 4:30 and 6:00 pm to uncover so-called electricity offenders some of which were subsequently denounced in the press. As part of this campaign, numerous children switched off their parents' lights; in Dresden, schoolchildren spoke to more than 800 families and asked them not to iron or otherwise use electricity at certain times.

Animation

The DEFA Studio for Animated Films Dresden, in 1961 produced a twelve-minute animated film with the figure titled " ... That you there is no light rises! "(Alternative title:" Blitz contra Wattfraß "). The animated film based on an idea by Ernst Günther Jahnke , which was shown from May 11, 1961, was directed by He Hellerau, the camera was directed by Heinz Ungerer , the music was composed by Hans Hendrik-Wehding .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ kunst-und-kultur.de , accessed on December 17, 2012
  2. ↑ Der Wattfraß on Energieverbrauch.de (accessed on December 13, 2012)
  3. ↑ a b c d e Article in the news magazine Der Spiegel 6/1958 ( online archive )
  4. ↑ a b Wattfraß on ddr-werbefiguren.de (accessed on December 13, 2012)
  5. ↑ sample sign
  6. ^ Entry in the DEFA Filmstiftung film database
  7. ↑ ... that no light will dawn on you! Animated film, DEFA 1961 on YouTube , accessed August 13, 2019.