NEWS: Film brings East German spaceman out of the cold

28 August 2003 08:42

Film brings East German spaceman out of the cold

AFTER years of being out in the cold, the first German cosmonaut, sent
into space 25 years ago to prove the superiority of socialism over
capitalism, is being reinstated as a national hero. Sigmund Jahn's
journey aboard the Russian Soyuz 31 on Aug 26, 1978 boosted East
Germans' faith in the communist system. He became a champion of the
German Democratic Republic and was decorated with accolades from Hero
of the GDR to the Order of Karl Marx. Schools, streets and babies were
named after him and songs and poems written in his honour. In West
Germany his feat was barely mentioned. Five years later, when the West
German Ulf Merbold was a crew member aboard the US space shuttle
Colombia he became known as "the first German in space". But Good Bye
Lenin!, the hugely successful German film released in Britain last
month, is helping to put the record straight. In Wolfgang Becker's
satirical film, set in 1989, a young man tries to recreate East
Germany in the bedroom of his sick mother, recently recovered from a
coma during which her beloved country disappeared with the fall of the
Berlin Wall. He even fakes newsreels in which Dr Jahn, his boyhood
idol, replaces Erich Honecker as the country's leader. The film will
this week lead to Dr Jahn's rehabilitation as a national hero - this
time for all Germans - when he is decorated by the president. The
achievements of the first - and last - East German cosmonaut will be
celebrated in his hometown, Morgenrothe-Rautenkranz, near the Czech
border, when President Johannes Rau attends a party with 800 guests in
Dr Jahn's honour and presents him with a certificate. His fictional
rise to leader is a far cry from what really happened. After the fall
of communism, the printer-turned-pilot was summarily thrown out of the
East German army and stripped of his rank. However, in the 1990s he
was head-hunted for a job with the German Centre for Air and Space
Travel by Mr Merbold, now a close friend. Dr Jahn, now retired, is
taking his renewed fame in his stride. "I take it all as it comes," he
said. "I don't regret losing my hero status - many lost a lot more
than I did, so I can't complain. "At the end of the day what counts
for me was the unforgettable opportunity to go into space and no one
can take that away from me."
[UKIR [UK & Ireland Intelligence Wire]]

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