The Franconian village of Wernfels was taken off the grid for several weeks in 1959 because otherwise there was a risk of catastrophe. How did the residents experience the giant blackout? A conversation about tricky farmers, sensationalist media and lessons for an imminent power failure.
Interviewed by
Thomas Balbier
It is a scenario that seems impossible even in times of a massive energy crisis: In the winter of 1959/60, the lights went out in the Middle Franconian community of Wernfels for a month and a half. The old power lines had become so rotten that the building authorities in Munich feared a catastrophe and therefore took the community off the grid. A new power supply was needed. “The cables lead through barns and houses. Where they broke, they were reassembled by ‘twisting’,” the SZ noted at the time. On December 29, the power supply was cut, and on February 10, the SZ reported: “Wernfels has light again.” How did the approximately 600 residents experience the time in between? Vinzenz Pfahler, 71, is the grandson of the then mayor. He remembers the historic blackout well.