Otto Griessing

Who was Otto Griessing?

Otto Griessing was a German electronics engineer. He became known following his design of the so-called Volksempfänger, one of the sets on display at the 10th German Radio Show in August 1933. He designed the receiver at the request of Joseph Goebbels, the German Propaganda Minister. More Volksempfängers were manufactured in Germany between 1933 and 1945 than any other model. The budget-priced Deutsche Kleinempfänger was also widely known as the Volksempfänger.

Son of a Bavarian NCO, he was educated in Munich, enlisting as a volunteer in 1914 and serving as a signaller. He reached the rank of lieutenant and saw active service on the eastern and western fronts. He was posted to the Near East and interned following the armistice with Turkey. From 1919 he studied at Würzburg Polytechnic, now the University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt. Having an interest in radio technology, Griessing started work in Berlin with the firm, Erich F Huth, under the wing of its laboratory chief, Karl Rottgardt. A few years later he transferred to the regional broadcasting station at Munich, which he helped to develop. He was technical director of the private broadcaster ‘Deutsche Stunde’ when this started its transmissions on 30 March 1924. Between January 1926 and August 1927, during the initial development stage, he was the head and technical director of a firm manufacturing communications equipment in Toblach, Italy.