Heinz Schröder (April 24, 1928 – April 22, 2009) was a German

puppeteer A puppeteer is a person who manipulates an inanimate object, called a puppet, to create the illusion that the puppet is alive. The puppet is often shaped like a human, animal, or legendary creature. The puppeteer may be visible to or hidden from ...

. He became known in

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

(German Democratic Republic) for puppeteering popular characters such as

Pittiplatsch Pittiplatsch, also known as Pitti for short, is a German fictional kobold character who was very famous in East Germany (German Democratic Republic), especially as a puppet character on children's television. He first appeared in 1962 in the televi ...

and Herr Fuchs (Mr. Fox) in the children's program of the East German television. From 1993 to 2009, Schröder continued to portray his characters in live performances.

Life and career

Heinz Schröder was born in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

and grew up in the borough

Friedrichshain Friedrichshain () is a quarter (''Ortsteil'') of the borough of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg in Berlin, Germany. From its creation in 1920 until 2001, it was a freestanding city borough. Formerly part of East Berlin, it is adjacent to Mitte, Prenz ...

. Early in his life, he became interested in puppets and made figures out of potatoes. After Schröder broke from an apprenticeship as a design draughtsman, he got by taking odd jobs. After 1945 he worked in the

magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judici ...

East Berlin East Berlin was the ''de facto'' capital city of East Germany from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as ...

and later in the district committee of the

Free German Youth The Free German Youth (german: Freie Deutsche Jugend; FDJ) is a youth movement in Germany. Formerly, it was the official youth movement of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and the Socialist Unity Party of Germany. The organization was meant ...

. From 1953, he performed in the newly founded puppet theater of the Berlin

Pioneer Pioneer commonly refers to a settler who migrates to previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited land. In the United States pioneer commonly refers to an American pioneer, a person in American history who migrated west to join in settling and de ...

Park "

Ernst Thälmann Ernst Johannes Fritz Thälmann (; 16 April 1886 – 18 August 1944) was a German communist politician, and leader of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) from 1925 to 1933. A committed Marxist-Leninist and Stalinist, Thälmann played a major r ...

" and from 1957 he finally started puppeteering on East German television, which should continue for over 30 years until 1991. The most famous character Schröder portrayed and still puppeteered and voiced after his television career is

, who first appeared in 1962. He was also one of Pittiplatsch's creators since he originally came up with the idea for a

kobold A kobold (occasionally cobold) is a mythical sprite. Having spread into Europe with various spellings including "goblin" and "hobgoblin", and later taking root and stemming from Germanic mythology, the concept survived into modern times in Ger ...

character and also reworked the first Pittiplatsch model before the first appearance on television. In 1991, the production of new television episodes with characters Heinz Schröder portrayed had been discontinued. However, from 1993 to 2009 he had been performing live with a puppeteer ensemble puppeteering characters originating from East German children's television. Schröder stated that making children's eyes shine with his performances is his life. He also said that the good thing about his time at the East German television was that he and the other puppeteers were not constrained politically, commenting that one couldn't put a pioneer scarf on a fox. Heinz Schröder was married and lived in

Schöneiche Schöneiche is a municipality in the Oder-Spree District of Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated directly at the edge to Berlin/ Friedrichshagen and next to Rüdersdorf and Woltersdorf, Brandenburg on the eastern edge of the German capital Berlin. ...

near Berlin. The last time he performed was on March 29, 2009. He died unexpectedly on April 22, 2009. One day before his death, a

spinal tumor Spinal tumors are neoplasms located in either the vertebral column or the spinal cord. There are three main types of spinal tumors classified based on their location: extradural and intradural (intradural-intramedullary and intradural-extramedullar ...

was detected. Schröder was buried in Schöneiche in the presence of his immediate family circle.

Roles

Schröder mostly portrayed puppet characters appearing within the '' Zu Besuch im Märchenland'' ("Visiting Fairy Land") and ''

Sandmännchen ''Unser Sandmännchen'' ("Our Little Sandman"), ''Das Sandmännchen'' ("The Little Sandman"), ''Der Abendgruß'' ("The Evening-Greeting"), ''Abendgruß'' ("Evening-Greeting"), ''Der Sandmann'' ("The Sandman"), ''Sandmann'' ("Sandman"), ''Sandm ...

'' ("Little Sandman") series. Characters he puppeteered and mostly also voiced include: *

* Herr Fuchs (Mr. Fox) *Frau Igel (Mrs. Hedgehog) *Brummel the bear *Bummi the bear *Onkel Uhu (Uncle Eagle Owl) *Buddelflink the mole *Casimir in '' Das Spielhaus'' ("The Playhouse"), puppeteering only During his live performances, he still portrayed Pittiplatsch, Herr Fuchs, Frau Igel, Onkel Uhu, and Buddelflink.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Schroder, Heinz German puppeteers People from Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg 1928 births 2009 deaths