On Sunday, August 4, 2013, NDR television will broadcast the documentary Mythos Bernd Rosemeyer at 23:15 as part of Sportclub History.
The exceptional talent
Bernd Rosemeyer is a legendary racing driver. From 1935 to 1937, he won ten Grand Prix races, set a lap record on the Nürburgring and won the title in the European Racing Car Championship. Rosemeyer was an exceptional talent and knew like no other how to steer the Auto-Union car through the bends with its 520 hp.
Former Formula 1 driver Hans-Joachim Stuck, son of Rosemeyer's colleague Hans Stuck, says: "It was extremely difficult to drive this car. I tried it myself once. And my father also told me that you had to feel over the steering wheel when the car swerved at the back."
The public's favorite
Bernd Rosemeyer, the man from Lingen in Emsland, was a folk hero and crowd favorite. Hundreds of thousands of spectators came to the races back then, millions of people followed them on the radio, the Volksempfänger. Rosemeyer spoke freely in interviews, "blond Bernd" was extremely good-looking and fast, as his fans of the time remember in the film.
The propaganda success
Rosemeyer was a figurehead for National Socialist propaganda and, like the other drivers, helped to promote the superiority of German technology and thus the regime.
Rosemeyer's popularity was further boosted by his marriage to aviation pioneer Elly Beinhorn. The "fastest married couple in the world" traveled to races in Europe and Africa in their own plane.
The fastest
Rosemeyer not only battled against his biggest rival Rudolf Caracciola from Mercedes Benz for Grand Prix points, but soon also for the absolute speed record on the closed-off Reichsautobahn. Rosemeyer set a record and was 406 km/h fast! "He knew the danger, of course. And my mother said: "If a competitive situation like that continues during a record run, it could end in disaster," says Bernd Rosemeyer junior, the son.
Elly Beinhorn's worst fears came true: in January 1938, Bernd Rosemeyer, aged 28, had a fatal accident while attempting to set new records. Hitler, Himmler and Göring offered their condolences, the flags flew at half-mast and there was a hero's funeral. And, according to contemporary witnesses, the whole nation mourned Rosemeyer, who was much more than a sports idol.
The movie
What made him so fascinating, why do people still remember Bernd Rosemeyer today and what role did his membership of the SS play? "Sportclub History" provides the answers with an exciting film about Rosemeyer that is not only interesting for motorsport fans.
A sneak preview of the film can be found online here.
