thatswhywelovegermany:

Die Sendung mit der Maus (The Show With The Mouse, Mouse TV) turns 50

50 years ago, on March 7, 1971, the children’s program “Die Sendung mit der Maus” (The Show With The Mouse) was first aired. The makers, Gert K. Müntefering, Siegfried Mohrhof, Monika Paetow, and Armin Maiwald created a show combining three elements: Firstly educational clips that explain complex matters in a way suitable for children (”Sachgeschichten”, which means something along the lines of “educational stories”). Secondly entertaining clips that are not just fun, but do also inspire thoughts (”Lachgeschichten”, literally “laughing stories”). Thirdly, both of these elements are separated by animated clips whose main characters are a giant orange mouse, a tiny blue elephant (smaller than the mouse), and a yellow duck, which is of intermediate size. Remarkably, one of its original creators, Armin Maiwald, is still with the show working as a presenter and off-camera voice after 50 years.

The most important element, the “Sachgeschichten” to not shy back to explain such complex matters as space travel (including sending a mouse toy to the former space station Mir), nuclear power, dark matter, death, court proceedings, or obscure machines, such as a “Gleisschotterbettungsreinigungsmaschine”, a 400 metres long train that cleans the gravel underneath the railtracks. Using simple language and avoiding complicated words, everything is broken down into small bits of information that are easy to grasp and then put together so that the whole subject is finally understood. Often, creative models are used to explain invisible concepts. In 1999, it was explained how the internet works in seven minutes by sending messengers with letters through the maze of hallways of a large office building to workers sitting in the offices handling cardboxes, filing cabinets and copiers, routed by guides sitting at critical crossroads. The whole concept is so effective that the show has gained significant popularity among adults, and it has become something like the “school of the nation”.

Meanwhile, the award-winning show has become international in more than 100 countries, with the English version being produced in Australia. Here are a few Sachgeschichten in German with English subtitles.

• How knight’s armor works:

• How spaghetti are made:

• How soap cleans oily substances: