Real-life Stasi film shows East German oppression
BERLIN (Reuters) - Two years after the release of Oscar-winning movie “The Lives of Others”, communist East Germany and its Stasi secret police are back in the spotlight in a new film that examines the persecution of a top cyclist.
While the 2006 international hit was a fictional tale of a Stasi officer who develops feelings of compassion for his victims, documentary “Sportsfreund Loetzsch” recounts a true story.
Wolfgang Loetzsch, once feted as the most talented cyclist of his generation, was booted off the national team, ostracised, persecuted and even imprisoned for refusing to join the Communist party.
“Loetzsch’s story is a snapshot of the Cold War,” said director Sascha Hilpert, who hopes to secure foreign rights deals when the movie is screened later this month at the Split film festival in Croatia.
“He was a hero for the little people in East Germany. What was the film ‘The Lives of Others’ all about? I think real-life stories are sometimes more incredible than the fictional ones,” he told Reuters in an interview.
Hilpert said the tragic story of Loetzsch should enlighten those with nostalgic pangs for East Germany.
Born in 1952, he won 500 cycling races in the late 1960s and early 1970s, achieving such dominance that he was spoken of as a future world and Olympic champion.
But he refused to join the Communist Party that ruled East Germany and was therefore barred from going to the 1972 Olympics in Munich. He said he was not interested in politics and refused to join the party on principle.
“I just didn’t want to join the party,” said Loetzsch, who admits in the film he is naturally stubborn and difficult. “I was naive to think they would not dream of preventing me going to the Olympics only because I was the best cyclist.”
Fifty Stasi officials were put on his case but he continued training on his own and still beat the best cyclists in East German races where he was allowed to compete.
After a West German newspaper published an article on Loetzsch, he was sent to jail for 10 months in 1977 as an “enemy of the state”. After being released he still outclassed other riders in races and became a cult figure for East Germans.
The film, a remarkably balanced production that includes interview excerpts from the Stasi major who ran his case, has had a strong run in German cinemas since its release last month.
“It wasn’t easy to get him to agree to take part,” said Hilpert, who co-directed the film with Sandra Prechtel. “But at the end of the day he did and I think he deserves a lot of respect for that.”
(Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
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