The Ampelmännchen proved so popular that parents and teachers initiated the symbol to become part of road safety education for children in the early 1980s. The Ampelmännchen reminded others of a childlike figure with big head and short legs, or a religious leader. ĭecades later, Daniel Meuren of the weekly German newsmagazine Der Spiegel described the Ampelmännchen as uniting "beauty with efficiency, charm with utility, sociability with fulfilment of duties". Beginning in 1973, the Ampelmännchen traffic lights were produced at VEB Signaltechnik Wildenfels and privately owned artisan shops. The first Ampelmännchen were produced as cheap decal pictures. The Ampelmännchen was officially introduced on 13 October 1961 in Berlin, at which time the media attention and public interest focused on the new traffic lights, not the symbols. The prototypes of the Ampelmännchen traffic lights were built at the VEB-Leuchtenbau Berlin.
However, the man's "perky", "cheerful" and potentially " petit bourgeois" hat – inspired by a summer photo of Erich Honecker in a straw hat – was retained, to Peglau's surprise. The initial concept envisioned the Ampelmännchen to have fingers, but this idea was dropped for technical reasons of illumination. Peglau's secretary Anneliese Wegner drew the Ampelmännchen per his suggestions. The yellow light was abandoned because of generally unhurried pedestrian traffic. The thick outstretched arms of the frontal-standing red man is associated with the function of a blocking barricade to signal "stop", while the side-facing green man with his wide-paced legs is associated with a dynamic arrow, signalling the permission to "go ahead". Peglau therefore resorted to the realistic-concrete scheme of a little man that is comprehensible for everyone and appeals to archetypical shapes. Unlike motor traffic, pedestrian traffic has no constraints for age or health (physical or mental), and therefore must allow for children, elderly people and the handicapped. This idea received strong support from many sides, but Peglau's plans were doomed by the high costs involved in replacing existing traffic light infrastructure. Peglau proposed retaining the three colours while introducing intuitive shapes for each coloured light. Peglau criticised the fact that the standard colours of the traffic lights (red, yellow, green) did not provide for road users who were unable to differentiate between colours (10 percent of the total population) and that the lights themselves were too small and too weak when competing against luminous advertising and sunlight. The East Berlin Ampelmännchen was created in 1961 by traffic psychologist Karl Peglau (1927–2009) as part of a proposal for a new traffic lights layout. At that time, traffic lights were the same for cars, bicycles and pedestrians. The first traffic lights at pedestrian crossings were erected in the 1950s, and many countries developed different designs (which were eventually standardised). Concept and design Karl Peglau's proposal for a traffic lights layout (left) compared to modern traffic lights (right) The Ampelmännchen is a beloved symbol in former East Germany, "enjoy the privileged status of being one of the few features of East Germany to have survived the end of the Iron Curtain with his popularity unscathed." After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Ampelmännchen acquired cult status and became a popular souvenir item in the tourism business.
Prior to German reunification in 1990, the two Germanies had different forms for the Ampelmännchen, with a generic human figure in West Germany, and a generally "male" figure wearing a hat in the East.
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