“The GDR had no reservations about computer games” – p.1 – Interview

René Meyer: This question is new! There have actually been several interviews at the games night; it is now the 18th one – minus two Corona years – and I have been at every one.

GG: How long did you write it?

RM: It was an incredible amount of work. The first edition took me 15 months; the second edition another 8 months. So it took two years of work. The old booklet had 150 pages. The new one will have around 250 pages. So a lot has been added. Readers especially liked the memories of contemporary witnesses; and they have been greatly expanded: the ceremonial handover of the one millionth school calculator, the development of the famous 1-megabit chip that the GDR was so proud of, the construction of a computer room in a school, the introduction of office computers in companies, participation in the first international programming Olympics in Bulgaria – everything is told by the people who experienced it. Other game developers are also included. Many chapters have been expanded; for example, it explains how the name Robotron came about, which is symbolic of computers in the GDR.

GG: Was it difficult to illustrate the pages?

RM: Oh yes! I had taken a lot of photos of old computers in the past few years, at conventions and exhibitions. But then I no longer liked the idea of ​​illustrating such a living book with computers from the museum. I wanted contemporary photos, from back then, from the 60s, 70s and 80s, authentic, with people. Ideally in color, because the book is in color. That was very laborious. I first had to find out which archives there were that had such historical photos and make them available to me.

GG: Are there any new insights into the content, where something has changed compared to the first book? Where you now say, I didn't know that and it's completely different to what we assumed?

The From Robotron to Poly-Play. Computers and video games in the GDR will be published on July 22, 2024 for 20 euros. A click on the picture shows the entire book cover.

RM: The more I look into computers from the GDR era, the more I realize what I don't know. More than 100 companies with hundreds of thousands of employees were involved in microelectronics. And microchips ended up being in everything, including quartz watches, pacemakers and ATMs that the GDR manufactured. A new section deals with airplanes and airports. I was surprised to see how many systems were already in use in the GDR, for booking passengers and in the airplanes themselves, such as radar. There were also information terminals in Berlin, for example, where you could find out where there were shops, what to do and where to stay overnight. The weather reports were also based on computer data.

GG: What are your conclusions from your new findings?

RM: Firstly, even if the GDR was a few years behind and its own processors, memory chips and computers could not be produced economically, it was a technical masterpiece. The GDR was one of only a few countries to develop practically all the components of devices such as calculators and computers itself. Today, the Dresden area, where Robotron was based, is the leading microelectronics centre in Europe. Secondly, Robotron alone, as one of several microelectronics combines, had 68,000 employees and was larger than Apple, Atari and Commodore combined. And it made billions in profits through exports worldwide, primarily to the Eastern bloc, of course. But calculators, printers and typewriters were also delivered to the West on a small scale. They were then sold under other names because GDR technology was better than its reputation. The Erika typewriter even received the “good” seal of approval from Stiftung Warentest.

From René Meyer's editorial office (in 2014). Among the books on the shelf are the many books he has published himself, and further to the left you can see his Guinness certificate for the world's largest console collection. (Photo: René Meyer)