21 Facts About Armin Maiwald

From decades of narrating the program's educational film shorts, Armin Maiwald's voice is widely recognized even when he merely orders a cup of coffee or a beer.

Armin Maiwald was first seen onscreen in the late 1970s.

Armin Maiwald was previously the director of other children's programs, Der Spatz vom Wallrafplatz and Robbi, Tobbi und das Fliewatuut as well as the first episodes of the puppet series, Hallo Spencer.

Armin Maiwald has created the Bibliothek der Sachgeschichten from his productions for "The Mouse".

Armin Maiwald produces some 20 film shorts a year for the program.

An outspoken critic of the decline of television programming, including at the station that broadcasts his own program, Armin Maiwald has complained about the quality of programs available for children and the bottom-line mentality that rules decision-making in scheduling and content.

In 1989, Armin Maiwald produced the Nachkriegs-Maus, a short film in two parts.

Armin 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.

Armin Maiwald described in depth how the children had to live.

Armin Maiwald 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.

Armin Maiwald told of the rampant hunger and showed graphically the amount of food he was rationed per day.

Armin 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.

Armin Maiwald experienced the Second World War as a small child.

Armin Maiwald escaped on the last train out and says he will never forget looking out the window at the conflagration that Dresden had become.

Armin Maiwald says his mother survived because the soldiers were called away in that moment.

Armin Maiwald's father was killed in the war but was first reported as missing in action.

Armin Maiwald was 13 when he, his mother and sister moved back to Cologne and "normal life".

Armin Maiwald had to start working at the age of 14, nonetheless, he finished school and was able to go to university.

Armin Maiwald 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.

Armin Maiwald was a chain smoker for years and quit after a lung infection.

Armin Maiwald's arguments were seen as shocking and unseemly for someone "in his position", held as a hero by many children.