Please join us for a fabulous look-back at one of Germany’s all-time great athletes. On July 16, 2015, at 6:30 p.m., Houston-Leipzig presents ESPN Classic’s: Katarina Witt – The Diplomat: “The World was watching, so was the Government . . .”
At the height of the Cold War, Katarina Witt became one of East Germany’s most famous athletes. Trained in an ice rink that gave rise to socialist heroes, Witt dominated her field by winning six European skating titles, four world championships and back-to-back Olympic gold medals to become arguably the world’s best figure skater. Known as “the most beautiful face of socialism” her success gave her a unique status in East Germany. It also triggered constant surveillance by the Stasi, East Germany’s notorious secret police force. This film chronicles how Witt, one of the greatest skaters of all time, fought for her future in socialist East Germany, how she faced the great changes that occurred after the fall of The Berlin Wall and, ultimately, how she ended up both a beneficiary and victim of the East German regime (See amazon.com).
This hour-long documentary in English and German with English subtitles includes new footage of Katarina Witt and historic footage of the Peaceful Revolution which occurred in Leipzig in 1989. Just so we all remember how important sports were to Leipzig in the former DDR times, please consider this:
So prolific was the Leipzig Sports Machine in the DDR that it is estimated that Leipzig in its own right accounted for more medalists in the 1988 Seoul Korea Summer Olympics than any other “country” besides the United States and the Soviet Union.
Enjoy this movie with us! We’ll have our usual food and beverage reception at 6:30 p.m. at the Parish Hall at 2353 Rice Boulevard, Houston, TX 77005. Registration will begin at 6:15 p.m., the movie at 7:00 p.m. Meeting fees are $10 for members, $5 for students, and $15 for nonmembers, regardless of whether you participate in the reception. Ample parking is available on the Rice University parking lot off Greenbriar Street for $1, credit cards only. Please respond now to angelika@houstonleipzig.org to let us know that you’ll be attending on Thursday, July 16, 2015