Win Labuda (1) (Winfried Gerhard
Labuda) was born in Danzig/Gdansk
in 1938. Between 1945 and 1952 he
spent his childhood years in Stralsund.
Due to the early death of his
parents he lived in the St. Mauritius
Orphanage in Cologne until reaching
legal age; by his own account, it was
a good home. His wishwas to become
a painter and a sculptor; however,
this was out of the question under
the circumstances. Accordingly, he
completed a precisionmechanics
apprenticeship at Siemens &Halske
from 1954 to 1957. After that, he
worked at the English electrical
corporation AEI-Associated Electrical
Industries as a business trainee for
several years.
After a year of working inmarketing and sales
for N
eye-Enatechnik GmbH
inQuickborn, in 1964
Labuda founded
Labuda, elektronische Bau-
elemente GmbH
in amakeshift renovated goat
stable in Solingen‘s Bismarckstrasse. The com-
pany first specialised in the import and sales of
high-frequency electron tubes and later became
the general agency in Germany for the British
Edison-Swan radio tubes of the Thorn Group of
London. The acquisition of further representa-
tions followed, such as for National Semiconduc-
tors, Piher Badalona andMorganite Resistors. As
the demand for radio tubes stagnated due to the
general trend of transistorisation,
Labuda elek-
tronische Bauelemente
was no longer profitable
and Labuda sold the company for one DM to the
Thorn Group in 1971. He then founded
Labuda
Elektromechanik
in Seehausen on the shore of
Lake Staffel. The new enterprise primarily dealt
with the import and sales of precision electro-
mechanical components, in particular Duncan
precision potentiometers, Morganite Trimming
potentiometers as well as Airpax switches.
WinLabuda
Researcher, Entrepreneur,Artist –ABiography (2008)
BIOGRAPHY
ReinRaumTechnik
3/2008
//
1
Win Labuda
in June 2016 (78)
