Unohdettu mies joka lopetti kylmän sodan

David Hasselhoff on loukkaantunut siitä, että hänen roolinsa kylmän sodan loppumiseen, sekä Saksojen yhdentymisessä on tyystin unohdettu.

"I find it a bit sad that there is no photo of me hanging on the walls in the Berlin Museum at Checkpoint Charlie"

Mikä sitten oli Hasselhoffin rooli Saksojen yhdistymisessä?

1989 Hasselhoff levytti 70-luvun saksalaisen hitin "Auf Der Strasse Nach Suden".

Renaming it Looking for Freedom, with Hasselhoff singing in English, the song raced up the charts in the late summer, just as a wave of revolt began sweeping through Eastern Europe.

By the time Berliners started hacking away at the concrete wall that had divided their city for a generation, the torch-bearing anthem had been number one for several weeks in West Germany.

With its lament, "I've been lookin' for freedom; I've been lookin' so long; I've been lookin' for freedom; still the search goes on," the song embodied the frustrations of Germany's years of division.

Kyseinen levy pysyi kolme kuukautta listoilla, ja Hasselhoff kutsuttiin esiintymään Berliinin yhdistymistä juhlivaan uuden vuoden konserttiin.

The singer himself has powerful memories of the performance. "It was the first time Germany had been unified, and close to a million East and West German fans stood together in the freezing cold at midnight watching me perform. I was overcome with emotion," he recalls.

Hasselhoff olikin 90-luvun yksi menestyneimmistä artisteista Saksassa. Eräs lehti otsikoikin "Hasselhoff: not since the Beatles".

Mutta mitä mieltä tähden saksalais-fanit ovat idolinsa roolin unohtamisesta? Sascha Tauber, Hasselhoffin virallisen fan clubin johtaja toteaa:"Did David Hasselhoff help bring an end to the Cold War? No, I think this is just a joke."