D-96450 Coburg-Cortendorf /
Germany
HERMANN-Spielwaren GmbH
D-96450 Coburg-Cortendorf /
Germany
 For each old and traditional family owned
company exists beside the pure commercial facts many little stories and
anecdotes, which are mostly handed down only by word of mouth from generation
to generation. However these little events, which are always told again,
are the heart, which coined the character of a company. With its range of
"Story-Bears", the HERMANN-Coburg company wants to tell these little stories
anew to its collectors. The second Bear in this range is the "Sonneberg Dumpling
bear".
The Sonneberg Dumpling Bear tells a story from the beginning of the old Max Hermann Bears. It was the time short after the big world economy crisis at the end of the Twenties. At this time food was rationed in Germany. Specially meat was were rare. So it was not possible for Max Hermann to invite guests for a great dinner with meat and so on. For all meat, which you want to buy, you need special food cards, and these food cards were rationed by the government. But like many other people too in this poor German area, Max Hermann had a little arable land with many potatoes. Since many centuries potatoes were the main nourishment of the poor people in Sonneberg and many delicious potato recipes were developed there. Till today the "Sonneberg or Thuringian Dumplings" made of raw potatoes are one of the most famous specialities of this region known in the whole world.
One day in these difficult years Max Hermann wanted to introduce his new range of Teddy Bears to a buyer of a big department store. So he decided to invite the buyer for a home cooked meal to talk about his Teddy Bears. Max Hermann knew, that he could not present much meat for this dinner, but he had potatoes enough for as many dumplings as his guest wanted to eat. Everybody knew about the wonderful dumplings of Hilde Hermann, the wife of Max, and the buyer was happy about this invitation. Because also for him the food was rationed, and he wanted to eat himself one time fill. When they were sitting together, Hilde Hermann waited at table one dumpling after the other and with each dumpling she counted: this is the first, the second, ..... the ninth, the tenth and so on. Although the dumplings were excellent, the buyer was very angry. He couldn't believe, that every dumpling, which he ate was counted - and he ate very much. At the end of the dinner, he decided never to buy any Teddy Bear from Max Hermann. Only some days later he came to know by other Sonneberg people, that it is a very old custom to count the dumplings, which everyone eats, and as many dumplings a guest eats as more the housewife is honoured, and until today this custom lives on. When the buyer heard this, he was so emotionally touched by this old custom of such a poor region, where the folks had nearly nothing else to eat in crisis times than potatoes, that he visit Hilde Hermann with a big bunch of flowers to say thank you for this only one dinner. Although often in his life the buyer had been invited by others for great gala dinners, but never before he was invited for a meal, where all what he got to eat was given by so much heart. This was the beginning of a long and great friendship between Max Hermann, his Teddy Bears and the department store of that buyer, who never more had forgotten the "Sonneberg Dumplings" in his life.
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