The Polyhymat – the music box from Erfurt
A device that is up to date
Whoever paid also ordered
Imagine visiting a pub and deciding what music is played there for half the evening. Or the whole thing. Your favorite song 10 times in a row! The other guests endure this in silence because they know: whoever has the pennies has the power. An unrealistic scenario? Today yes, but this was possible until the 1980s, because they were still available in many restaurants: the music box or jukebox. Insert money, select a title and what is ordered and paid for is played.
In the 1950s, the jukebox became popular and a good business. Julius Görner from Erfurt also knows this. During this time he sold boxes from the USA in the GDR. These are fragile and difficult to maintain. In addition, world politics is making it increasingly difficult to import Western products and spare parts into the GDR. You need your own music box. The Polyhymat A was created with a team led by managing director Julius Görner and radio and television mechanic Heinz Hebestreit.
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This is the result of good marketing, which Julius Görner masters. Once the course has been set at the decision-making level towards “The GDR needs a jukebox”, the end customer will also be convinced. In a radio broadcast, the radio presenter Rolf Krickow, who was extremely popular at the time, introduced the Polyhymat to an audience of millions under the motto “The right spin”.
From 1962 onwards, production was professionalized under the direction of Funkwerk Erfurt. The change from “garage-style” handcraft on Leipziger Straße to industrial production at Funkwerk resulted in around 1,500 music boxes being created over the next few years.
Some of them are now in storage at the Erfurt Electrical Museum. Here is a Polyhymat 80 E from 1967:
He spends his “active” time in Czechoslovakia and is therefore brought with crowns to play the selected music.
The polyhymat is waiting to appear
The user can choose their favorite songs from 80 music tracks, which are saved on 40 singles. Even after production ended, service technicians took care of the polyhymats, which were mostly set up in inns, until the 1980s.
Today the music boxes that still exist are privately owned collector's items. But some are also waiting to appear in public again, like the devices in the storage of the Erfurt Electrical Museum.
Many thanks to the Thuringian Electrical Museum in Erfurt and the Hebestreit family for the rights to use photos 1, 3 and 4.