Official skills and unofficial networks
In the GDR lawnmowers were only produced by one company, the state-owned VEB Transformatorenwerk Berlin-Oberschöneweide.
Normally a manufacturer of power plants, the company took responsibility for lawnmowers within the official 'consumer goods production' campaign. From 1963 on, they produced the 'Trolli' mower, although in insufficient quantities.
To meet their personal demand, people started making the electric mowers themselves using all the means at their disposal. The basis for these capacities was laid by the ‘polytechnical’ skills that were part of school education and the dual vocational training that 90 per cent of the population had passed.
The home-made lawnmower shown here has a baseplate of cardboard, wheels from a baby carriage, a mowing blade made of strip iron originally made for fences, and finally the electric motor was ‘organized’ from a nearby train repair facility where a friend worked.
Access to materials was provided not only by good friends but also in a wide-spread sytem of private bartering, which in this case had helped make this pride of the garden owner.
How to cite this page
Andreas Ludwig, 'Official skills and unofficial networks', Inventing Europe, http://www.inventingeurope.eu/story/official-skills-and-unofficial-networks
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