Armin Maiwald
Encyclopedia
Armin Maiwald, born January 23, 1940 in Cologne
, is a German author, television director
and producer
. Maiwald is one of the founders of the award-winning German children's television program, Die Sendung mit der Maus
. Often just called Die Maus ("The Mouse"), the program has been on the air since March 1971 and is one of the most successful children's television programs ever produced. Maiwald has won over 50 awards for his work.
at the German television station, WDR
, and in 1971, he became one of the founders of Die Sendung mit der Maus
(The Program with the Mouse), which has been called "the school of the nation" and one of the most successful children's programs ever produced.
In 1966 and from 1968 until 1970 Maiwald was the German spokesperson for the Eurovision Song Contest
.
From decades of narrating the program's educational film shorts (Sachgeschichten), Maiwald's voice is widely recognized even when he merely orders a cup of coffee or a beer. He was first seen onscreen in the late 1970s. Today, he is an integral part of the broadcast, along with fellow presenters Christoph Biemann
and Ralph Caspers.
Maiwald was previously the director of other children's programs, Der Spatz vom Wallrafplatz and Robbi, Tobbi and Fliewatüüt as well as the first episodes of the puppet series, Hallo Spencer. He has also created the Bibliothek der Sachgeschichten (library of educational film shorts) from his productions for "The Mouse". Maiwald produces some 20 film shorts a year for the program.
A number of "The Mouse" educational shorts are used at universities,and other institutionsas educational tools and Maiwald has received numerous media and journalism awards for his work. In 1988, he received the Adolf Grimme Award. In 1995, he was awarded the prestigious Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. In addition, there is a special education
school in Radevormwald
named after him. In October 2010, it was announced that an elementary school in Monheim am Rhein
would also be named after him.
An outspoken critic of the decline of television programming, including at the station that broadcasts his own program, Maiwald has complained about the quality of programs available for children and the bottom-line mentality that rules decision-making in scheduling and content.
, where he was evacuated after World War II
and was flooded with memories of his experiences as a child after the war. Maiwald wanted to tell his then 6-year old daughter and his young viewers what it was like to be a child in Germany in the aftermath of the war. They found black-and-white
photos from the past and located the sites, shooting them in color as they looked years later. For the series, they super-imposed the black-and-white images of ruins over the contemporary images, so the children could see how Germany looked after the war and compare it to their own era.
Using a mix of postwar-era footage and still photographs, he shows the devastated cities, the millions who lost their lives, the return of concentration camp survivors and the desperate circumstances of average Germans, many of whom had lost everything. Maiwald described in depth how the children had to live. He showed how they dressed in whatever they were able to scrounge and how many lived in the bombed out buildings, how others, like himself, lived in apartments with several other families. He also told of the rampant hunger and showed graphically the amount of food he was rationed per day.
Maiwald said the Postwar Mouse was the hardest film he ever produced and that when he had finished it, he never wanted to see it again.
. They stayed there from 1942 to 1945, when the Russians came, then fled to Dresden
and were there when it was bombed
, shortly after Maiwald's fifth birthday. He escaped on the last train out and says he will never forget looking out the window at the conflagration
that Dresden had become. By the age of five, he had seen more burning buildings and dead bodies than most Germans see in their entire lives, Maiwald says.
After that, they went to Munich
, till the city was evacuated. Then they went to Weilheim in Oberbayern
and from there, were evacuated to Uffing
, where the family lived until 1951. Although they finally had a roof over their heads, it was not an easy life because the owners of the house were forced to empty rooms to take in refugees, different families in different rooms. At school, the local children occasionally picked fights with the refugee children. At one point, his mother was nearly shot—with Maiwald and his sister standing right there—when American soldiers found her with a photo of her husband, in Nazi uniform. Maiwald says his mother survived because the soldiers were called away in that moment. Maiwald's father was killed in the war but was first reported as missing in action
. It was years before it was learned that he had been killed by a bomb in 1945.
In the aftermath of the war, life was a daily struggle for survival, of finding food, shelter, clothing, water and fuel. Many schools were destroyed, so it was not uncommon for children to have to travel very far to go to school and when they got there, there were no books and no paper. Books were banned because of denazification
, so the teacher wrote everything on a board in front of the room and the children used erasable tablets to copy everything down.
To this day, he always goes to bed with a set of clothing within reach, because it was so ingrained in him as a child, the necessity of being prepared to leave home at a moment's notice. He also cannot bring himself to throw food away. Maiwald was 13 when he, his mother and sister moved back to Cologne and "normal life". For a child who had only known rubble, scavenging, evacuations and life as a refugee, it was "unbelievable luxury". For Maiwald and other German children born during the 1940s, "normal life" was forced evacuations hundreds of kilometers from home, make-shift clothing and furniture, and food from CARE Package
s.
Maiwald had to start working at the age of 14, nonetheless, he finished school and was able to go to university. At university, he majored in Theaterwissenschaften (theater studies), German studies
and philosophy
. However, he did not get a degree because at the time, there was no master's
or bachelor's
degree, only a doctorate
. He was in the middle of his research when he realized that he didn't want to become a theoretician, but rather wanted to be doing things, so he quit and went to work.
Maiwald was a chain smoker for years and quit after a lung infection. Appearing on WDR's program, Streitfall, during which the discussion was on European Union
laws to protect non-smokers, he stated that it was better to smoke than to be fat. His arguments were seen as shocking and unseemly for someone "in his position", held as a hero by many children. Even the fact that he was once a chain smoker was hard to believe.
Maiwald is married and has two grown children. He lives in Cologne.
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
, is a German author, television director
Television director
A television director directs the activities involved in making a television program and is part of a television crew.-Duties:The duties of a television director vary depending on whether the production is live or recorded to video tape or video server .In both types of productions, the...
and producer
Television producer
The primary role of a television Producer is to allow all aspects of video production, ranging from show idea development and cast hiring to shoot supervision and fact-checking...
. Maiwald is one of the founders of the award-winning German children's television program, Die Sendung mit der Maus
Die Sendung mit der Maus
Die Sendung mit der Maus is a highly acclaimed children's series on German television that has been called "the school of the nation". The show first aired on March 10, 1971...
. Often just called Die Maus ("The Mouse"), the program has been on the air since March 1971 and is one of the most successful children's television programs ever produced. Maiwald has won over 50 awards for his work.
Professional career
In 1963, he began working as an assistant directorAssistant director
The role of an Assistant director include tracking daily progress against the filming production schedule, arranging logistics, preparing daily call sheets, checking cast and crew, maintaining order on the set. They also have to take care of health and safety of the crew...
at the German television station, WDR
Westdeutscher Rundfunk
Westdeutscher Rundfunk is a German public-broadcasting institution based in the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia with its main office in Cologne. WDR is a constituent member of the consortium of German public-broadcasting institutions, ARD...
, and in 1971, he became one of the founders of Die Sendung mit der Maus
Die Sendung mit der Maus
Die Sendung mit der Maus is a highly acclaimed children's series on German television that has been called "the school of the nation". The show first aired on March 10, 1971...
(The Program with the Mouse), which has been called "the school of the nation" and one of the most successful children's programs ever produced.
In 1966 and from 1968 until 1970 Maiwald was the German spokesperson for the Eurovision Song Contest
Eurovision Song Contest
The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual competition held among active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union .Each member country submits a song to be performed on live television and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition...
.
From decades of narrating the program's educational film shorts (Sachgeschichten), Maiwald's voice is widely recognized even when he merely orders a cup of coffee or a beer. He was first seen onscreen in the late 1970s. Today, he is an integral part of the broadcast, along with fellow presenters Christoph Biemann
Christoph Biemann
Christoph Biemann is a German writer, director and producer and one of the presenters of the award-winning children's television show, Die Sendung mit der Maus. Also known as Die Maus , it has been on the air since 1971; Biemann joined the show in 1972...
and Ralph Caspers.
Maiwald was previously the director of other children's programs, Der Spatz vom Wallrafplatz and Robbi, Tobbi and Fliewatüüt as well as the first episodes of the puppet series, Hallo Spencer. He has also created the Bibliothek der Sachgeschichten (library of educational film shorts) from his productions for "The Mouse". Maiwald produces some 20 film shorts a year for the program.
A number of "The Mouse" educational shorts are used at universities,and other institutionsas educational tools and Maiwald has received numerous media and journalism awards for his work. In 1988, he received the Adolf Grimme Award. In 1995, he was awarded the prestigious Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. In addition, there is a special education
Special education
Special education is the education of students with special needs in a way that addresses the students' individual differences and needs. Ideally, this process involves the individually planned and systematically monitored arrangement of teaching procedures, adapted equipment and materials,...
school in Radevormwald
Radevormwald
Radevormwald is a municipality in the Oberbergischer Kreis, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is one of the oldest towns in the Bergischen Land, formerly the County and Duchy of Berg.-Geography:Radevormwald is located about 50 km east of Cologne...
named after him. In October 2010, it was announced that an elementary school in Monheim am Rhein
Monheim am Rhein
Monheim am Rhein is a town on the right bank of the river Rhine in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Monheim belongs to the district of Mettmann - with the southern suburbs of Düsseldorf to the north, and the Bergisches Land to the south...
would also be named after him.
An outspoken critic of the decline of television programming, including at the station that broadcasts his own program, Maiwald has complained about the quality of programs available for children and the bottom-line mentality that rules decision-making in scheduling and content.
Postwar years explained to children
In 1989, Maiwald produced the Nachkriegs-Maus ("Postwar Mouse"), a short film in two parts. This award-winning special was produced after Maiwald found himself in UffingUffing
Uffing is a municipality in the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, in Bavaria, Germany.-Transportation:The town can be reached by car or by train . Uffing has its own station on the Munich–Garmisch-Partenkirchen line...
, where he was evacuated after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and was flooded with memories of his experiences as a child after the war. Maiwald wanted to tell his then 6-year old daughter and his young viewers what it was like to be a child in Germany in the aftermath of the war. They found black-and-white
Black-and-white
Black-and-white, often abbreviated B/W or B&W, is a term referring to a number of monochrome forms in visual arts.Black-and-white as a description is also something of a misnomer, for in addition to black and white, most of these media included varying shades of gray...
photos from the past and located the sites, shooting them in color as they looked years later. For the series, they super-imposed the black-and-white images of ruins over the contemporary images, so the children could see how Germany looked after the war and compare it to their own era.
Using a mix of postwar-era footage and still photographs, he shows the devastated cities, the millions who lost their lives, the return of concentration camp survivors and the desperate circumstances of average Germans, many of whom had lost everything. Maiwald described in depth how the children had to live. He showed how they dressed in whatever they were able to scrounge and how many lived in the bombed out buildings, how others, like himself, lived in apartments with several other families. He also told of the rampant hunger and showed graphically the amount of food he was rationed per day.
Maiwald said the Postwar Mouse was the hardest film he ever produced and that when he had finished it, he never wanted to see it again.
Personal life
Maiwald experienced the Second World War as a small child. Before he was three, he had been bombed out of three homes in Cologne and fled with his mother and infant sister to SilesiaSilesia
Silesia is a historical region of Central Europe located mostly in Poland, with smaller parts also in the Czech Republic, and Germany.Silesia is rich in mineral and natural resources, and includes several important industrial areas. Silesia's largest city and historical capital is Wrocław...
. They stayed there from 1942 to 1945, when the Russians came, then fled to Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
and were there when it was bombed
Bombing of Dresden in World War II
The Bombing of Dresden was a military bombing by the British Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Force and as part of the Allied forces between 13 February and 15 February 1945 in the Second World War...
, shortly after Maiwald's fifth birthday. He escaped on the last train out and says he will never forget looking out the window at the conflagration
Conflagration
A conflagration or a blaze is an uncontrolled burning that threatens human life, health, or property. A conflagration can be accidentally begun, naturally caused , or intentionally created . Arson can be accomplished for the purpose of sabotage or diversion, and also can be the consequence of...
that Dresden had become. By the age of five, he had seen more burning buildings and dead bodies than most Germans see in their entire lives, Maiwald says.
After that, they went to Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
, till the city was evacuated. Then they went to Weilheim in Oberbayern
Weilheim in Oberbayern
Weilheim in Oberbayern is a town in Germany, the capital of the district Weilheim-Schongau in the south of Bavaria.Weilheim has an old city-wall, historic houses and a museum.-Sport:...
and from there, were evacuated to Uffing
Uffing
Uffing is a municipality in the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, in Bavaria, Germany.-Transportation:The town can be reached by car or by train . Uffing has its own station on the Munich–Garmisch-Partenkirchen line...
, where the family lived until 1951. Although they finally had a roof over their heads, it was not an easy life because the owners of the house were forced to empty rooms to take in refugees, different families in different rooms. At school, the local children occasionally picked fights with the refugee children. At one point, his mother was nearly shot—with Maiwald and his sister standing right there—when American soldiers found her with a photo of her husband, in Nazi uniform. Maiwald says his mother survived because the soldiers were called away in that moment. Maiwald's father was killed in the war but was first reported as missing in action
Missing in action
Missing in action is a casualty Category assigned under the Status of Missing to armed services personnel who are reported missing during active service. They may have been killed, wounded, become a prisoner of war, or deserted. If deceased, neither their remains nor grave can be positively...
. It was years before it was learned that he had been killed by a bomb in 1945.
In the aftermath of the war, life was a daily struggle for survival, of finding food, shelter, clothing, water and fuel. Many schools were destroyed, so it was not uncommon for children to have to travel very far to go to school and when they got there, there were no books and no paper. Books were banned because of denazification
Denazification
Denazification was an Allied initiative to rid German and Austrian society, culture, press, economy, judiciary, and politics of any remnants of the National Socialist ideology. It was carried out specifically by removing those involved from positions of influence and by disbanding or rendering...
, so the teacher wrote everything on a board in front of the room and the children used erasable tablets to copy everything down.
To this day, he always goes to bed with a set of clothing within reach, because it was so ingrained in him as a child, the necessity of being prepared to leave home at a moment's notice. He also cannot bring himself to throw food away. Maiwald was 13 when he, his mother and sister moved back to Cologne and "normal life". For a child who had only known rubble, scavenging, evacuations and life as a refugee, it was "unbelievable luxury". For Maiwald and other German children born during the 1940s, "normal life" was forced evacuations hundreds of kilometers from home, make-shift clothing and furniture, and food from CARE Package
CARE Package
The CARE Package was the original unit of aid distributed by the humanitarian organization CARE...
s.
Maiwald had to start working at the age of 14, nonetheless, he finished school and was able to go to university. At university, he majored in Theaterwissenschaften (theater studies), German studies
German studies
German studies is the field of humanities that researches, documents, and disseminates German language and literature in both its historic and present forms. Academic departments of German studies often include classes on German culture, German history, and German politics in addition to the...
and philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
. However, he did not get a degree because at the time, there was no master's
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
or bachelor's
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
degree, only a doctorate
Doctorate
A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to teach in a specific field, A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder...
. He was in the middle of his research when he realized that he didn't want to become a theoretician, but rather wanted to be doing things, so he quit and went to work.
Maiwald was a chain smoker for years and quit after a lung infection. Appearing on WDR's program, Streitfall, during which the discussion was on European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
laws to protect non-smokers, he stated that it was better to smoke than to be fat. His arguments were seen as shocking and unseemly for someone "in his position", held as a hero by many children. Even the fact that he was once a chain smoker was hard to believe.
Maiwald is married and has two grown children. He lives in Cologne.
Awards
Maiwald has received over 50 awards, including the following:- 1985 – Ernst Schneider Award
- 1988 – Adolf Grimme Award
- 1995 – Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
- 1995 – Bayerischer FernsehpreisBayerischer FernsehpreisBayerischer Fernsehpreis is an award presented by the government of Bavaria, Germany since 1989.- 2010 :* Nina Gummich, Nachwuchsförderpreis * Klaus Doldinger, Bavarian Prime Minister's Prize- 2009 :...
, awarded for the special "Postwar Mouse" - 2002 – Ernst Schneider Award
- 2005 - Georg von Holtzbrinck Prize for Science Journalism
Audio recordings
- Armin Maiwald liest Christoph Columbus und das Wachsen der Welt. Ungekürzte Lesung; ab 9 Jahren. Es lesen Armin Maiwald und Dieter Saldecki. Arena-Verlag, Würzburg. (2006) ISBN 978-3-401-25929-1
- Geschichten aus dem Alten Ägypten mit der Maus. Script by Dieter Saldecki and Peter Brandt. Read by Dieter Saldecki and Armin Maiwald. Universal Family Entertainment, Hamburg. (2002) ISBN 3-89832-935-6
Books
- Peter Brandt, Armin Maiwald, Dieter Saldecki, Jesus – Jeschua – Iesous. Arena, WürzburgWürzburgWürzburg is a city in the region of Franconia which lies in the northern tip of Bavaria, Germany. Located at the Main River, it is the capital of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. The regional dialect is Franconian....
(2007) ISBN 978-3401059488
External links
- Bibliothek der Sachgeschichten Maiwald's audiovisual work from "The Mouse"
- Das Feuerwehrlied ("The Fire Department Song") A film by Armin Maiwald from the 1970s.
- Armin-Maiwald-Schule, Monheim School website.