… once shone on a radio tower near Oldenburg. 500 light bulbs, around two tower platforms and on steel cables up to the top at a height of 140 meters. Two Telekom colleagues initiated this – and ended up in the Guinness Book of Records twice, first almost exactly 25 years ago. A review.
Not a site visit like any other: Tanja Hayen can be seen moving through the memories when she stands on the Wahnbeker radio tower near Oldenburg in December 2025 for the first time in many years. At a height of 85 meters. A journalist is there. It’s also about the fairy lights project that her father once initiated. This caused a stir at the tower every year from 1999 to 2010.
Tanja Hayen was at the top of the tower as a child. She grew up in plain sight below. Her father, Hans-Herman Hayen, was an engineer at the Oldenburg telecommunications office. From time to time she was allowed to accompany him on his work. “Of course something like that is unthinkable today,” says the 54-year-old. She also works at Telekom, but in Darmstadt. For them, the tower is a piece of home. Just like for many others in the Ammerland district.
Astronaut took picture into space
And the Hayen family is involved in this. Hans-Hermann Hayen died in 2021. But the memory of him and “his” illuminated radio tower remains. How he, already retired, turned an idea into a tradition. This is also confirmed by the other man from the start, Fritz Haferkamp. The current Telekom pensioner is present at the site visit, as are colleagues from the DFMGwhich operates the tower. “Those were special years. First the lights for the wreath, later we put six-meter-high illuminated ‘candles’ on top. We rolled them out of construction wire mats,” he looks back and smiles: “And the hype around the tower kept getting bigger and bigger.”
More than 1,000 people celebrated the first illumination in 1999, on the grounds of the neighboring tennis club. There was bratwurst and mulled wine. In the following years, a Christmas market was set up on the site of a shopping market. Well-known personalities turned on the lights from there, including Thomas Reiter. The North German astronaut later even took one Image of the new landmark his adopted home into space. Fritz Haferkamp and Tanja Hayen fondly remember the joy 25 years ago when the Advent wreath made it into the Guinness Book of Records. And again a year later, after the team raised it above the top of the tower with an aluminum structure.
“The whole thing was visible up to 30 kilometers away, for example to everyone who was traveling on the motorway towards Oldenburg,” says Tanja Hayen. A letter to the editor to the Rasteder Rundschau summed it up: “’Who will discover the tower first?’ This is perhaps a shout and a joy,” wrote holiday guests from southern Germany. The wreath became a landmark. And on New Year’s Eve the tower offered cheerful flashing lights. Television crews arrived and newspapers reported. Someone produced postcards and a calendar.
It started at a party and ended in a fire
The idea for the “light tower” came from a party mood in the Hayen house. A semi-circular birthday at the end of 1998, an exuberant atmosphere, fairy lights: “Where should the light bulbs go?” was the motto at the end. “Let’s hang them on the tower,” someone suggested with a wink. And that’s how it all started. Hayen asked his former employer for permission, and master electrician Fritz Haferkamp came onto the project. They got supporters from local associations, also to cover the costs, and they planned what needed to be done. Her shopping list included steel cable, a switch box, hundreds of light bulbs, almost a kilometer of cable material and screw clamps. The team coordinated local helpers, hauled, assembled, rehearsed and organized the celebration. Eleven times in a row, with changing line-ups.
Until the beginning of 2010. A transformer overheated and triggered a fire department operation high up. The Nordwest-Zeitung headlined at the time: “Wahnbeker Advent wreath in the dark”. After safety concerns, those responsible then decided to end the tradition. What remains are many memories and photos as well as pride in the lights and the local landmark. With Fritz Haferkamp and many others in Oldenburg and the surrounding area – and elsewhere, such as with the exiled Ammerlander Tanja Hayen in distant Darmstadt.
The Wahnbeker radio towerYear of construction: 1974
Construction height: 134 meters
Platform 1: 75 meters
Platform 2: 85 meters
Diameter of platforms: 33 meters
Operator and owner…
… is the DFMG Deutsche Funkturm GmbH.
Radio tower visits…
… are unfortunately not possible at non-public locations for security reasons, only in exceptional cases such as press events.
Lighting (example year 2003)
• The wreath assembly begins at a height of 75 meters on platform 1
• Length of a string of lights from the upper platform to the top: 55 meters
• Tower elevation: A specially placed top raises the tower by six meters to 140 meters
• Length of all fairy lights: 800 meters
• Advent candles with 14,000 mini light bulbs
• Wreath with 500 large light bulbs (60 watts, dimmed)
• Length of all installation cables: 500 meters
• Screw clamps: 440 pieces
• At the turn of the year: switching to running and flashing lights
