Date of Birth: 
Place of Birth: Munich, Bavaria, Germany
About Otto Griessing
- Otto Griessing (born 19 January 1897 in Munich – died 11 November 1958 in Überlingen) was a German electronics engineer.
- He became known following his design of the so-called Volksempfänger (People's Receiver), one of the sets on display at the 10th German Radio Show (Internationale Funkausstellung Berlin) in August 1933.
- He designed the receiver at the request of Joseph Goebbels, the German Propaganda Minister.
- More Volksempfängers were manufactured in Germany between 1933 and 1945 than any other model.
- The budget-priced Deutsche Kleinempfänger (German small receiver) was also widely known as the Volksempfänger. Son of a Bavarian NCO, he was educated in Munich, enlisting as a volunteer in 1914 and serving as a signaller.
- He reached the rank of lieutenant and saw active service on the eastern and western fronts.
- He was posted to the Near East and interned following the armistice with Turkey.
- From 1919 he studied at Würzburg Polytechnic, now the University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt. Having an interest in radio technology, Griessing started work in Berlin with the firm, Erich F Huth, under the wing of its laboratory chief, Karl Rottgardt.
- A few years later he transferred to the regional broadcasting station at Munich, which he helped to develop.
- He was technical director of the private broadcaster ‘Deutsche Stunde’ (forerunner of the present Bayerischer Rundfunk) when this started its transmissions on 30 March 1924.
- Between January 1926 and August 1927, during the initial development stage, he was the head and technical director of a firm manufacturing communications equipment in Toblach, Italy. From September 1927 he worked in Berlin-Schönenberg at Georg Seibt, soon being promoted to the post of chief designer.
- In the spring of 1933, at the request of Joseph Goebbels, he began work on the development of a reasonably priced but high-quality broadcast receiver.
- Competitors were the Berlin firms Blaupunkt (previously "Ideal Radio") and Telefunken.
- The selection committee opted for his Model VE 301.
- The design of the cabinet was principally the work of Walter Maria Kersting.
- The set received high praise at the 1933 radio show (Funkaustellung) and, at 76 RM, was half the price of an equivalent receiver; by the autumn of that year 200,000 sets had been sold.
- At the 16th Berlin Radio and TV Show, (Grosse Deutsche Funk-und Fernseh-Ausstellung Berlin) Griessing, wearing SA uniform, was awarded a prize of over 10,000 RM.
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