HANS LEDWINKA

The exhibition is presented in Brno

20. 10. - 18. 12. 2009
ÖSTERREICH INSTITUT BRNO

Moravské náměstí 15
Open: MO - FR  10:00-13:00 and 14:00-17:30 

The exhibition was prepared in the Tatra Technical Museum at the occasion of the 130th anniversary of H. Ledwinka’s birthday.
Hans Ledwinka (1878 – 1967), D.Tech. Honoris Causa and M.Tech., who devoted 40 years of his life to the Kopřivnice Tatra company, gained worldwide fame with his patents, designs and inventions. At that time his name was pronounced with the same respect as e.g. the name of Ferdinand Porsche. Ledwinka´s name is connected with first automobile Präsident, Tatra 11, Tatra 57, aerodynamic Tatra 77, vehicle Tatra 111 and train Slovenská strela.
Everything changed after the World War II, when Ledwinka was condemned for his cooperation with Nazis. While Porsche, Wernher von Braun and other important designers started working intensively on new technologies and designs, Ledwinka’s fame began to be forgotten by wider audience. Two entire generations of young people learned about construction of socialism and socialist planning, the result of which also included popular Tatra vehicles. However, the ingenious Tatra concept, which has been used till today, was not a result either of that era or of people who promoted it. It was work done by a man, damned and repudiated by socialism, called Hans Ledwinka. This fact should be remembered.

The exhibition has a modern graphic design, because we want to introduce this theme for young people.
The exhibition is in three languages: Czech, German and English.

Nowadays the exhibition is traveling arround the Czech and Europian countries.

More info for parties concerned: call or mail to Jan Ražnok / +420 556 801 138 / jan.raznok@tatramuseum.cz