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The ORF is celebrating the 50th anniversary of Licht ins Dunkel this year. In the course of the anniversary, Raphael Bergmann, son of the founder of Licht ins Dunkel, remembers the first broadcasts and the early days of the project.
Licht ins Dunkel has been around for fifty years now. The Christmas special on ORF 2 begins in the bathroom of a municipal apartment in Vienna in 1972.
It was there that the then ORF Provincial Director of Lower Austria, Kurt Bergmann, had an idea that had a lasting impact on the history of the ORF.
Shipment note:
“Light in the Dark”, December 24, 2022
A random idea in the bathroom
In an interview with ORF Steiermark, son Raphael Bergmann recalled the first hours of Licht ins Dunkel: “In the program, which took place in the afternoon, he wanted to start a call for donations for what was then a village for people with disabilities in Sollenau.” This idea was subsequently implemented. Raphael Bergmann and his siblings took over the service on the donation phone and made exact notes of the donations and the data of the donors.
A Christmas trick of the parental home
The parents of the then young Bergmanns killed two birds with one stone with this campaign. “The fact that we went to the studio with our father on December 24 also meant that our mother could prepare the presents and the feast together with the grandparents at home,” says Bergmann.
It all started with paper and pencil
For Raphael Bergmann – he was 14 at the time – looking after the donation line was a challenging but rewarding task. “Since I was the eldest of us brothers, I was entrusted with this task. My father said I should take the phone calls and write as legibly as possible so that he can announce the donations on the radio. I even wrote the names in block capitals. That’s how it actually started – on a simple piece of paper with a pencil or pen,” said the man from Graz.
In the years that followed, Licht ins Dunkel gradually expanded until the show reached its current status. Kurt Bergmann became state director of the ORF Styria after a commitment in politics.
His son Raphael Bergmann is now a grandfather and lives in Graz. From some of his acquaintances, which arose at that time with colleagues in the Lower Austria state studio, friendships developed that have endured to this day. For Raphael Bergmann as a viewer, Licht ins Dunkel is now a fixed part of the Christmas festival.