Sigmund Jähn
East German cosmonaut, 1st German in space (1937–2019)
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Key Takeaways
- Sigmund Werner Paul Jähn ( German: [jɛ:n] ; 13 February 1937 – 21 September 2019) was a German pilot, cosmonaut, and Generalmajor (equivalent to a Brigadier General in Western armies) in the National People's Army of the GDR.
- He was the very last living East German holder of the title Hero of the German Democratic Republic when he died in 2019.
- His father, Paul Jähn, was a sawmill worker, and his mother, Dora Jähn, was a housewife.
- Shortly after the apprenticeship, he worked as a Pioneer Leader at the Hammerbrücke Central School.
Sigmund Werner Paul Jähn (German: [jɛ:n]; 13 February 1937 – 21 September 2019) was a German pilot, cosmonaut, and Generalmajor (equivalent to a Brigadier General in Western armies) in the National People's Army of the GDR. He was the first German to fly into space as part of the Soviet Union's Interkosmos program in 1978.
He was the very last living East German holder of the title Hero of the German Democratic Republic when he died in 2019.
Early life
Jähn was born on 13 February 1937, in the town of Morgenröthe-Rautenkranz, located within the Vogtland region of Saxony, Nazi Germany. His father, Paul Jähn, was a sawmill worker, and his mother, Dora Jähn, was a housewife. Sigmund attended primary school from 1943 to 1951 and then trained in an apprenticeship program as a book printer from 1951 to 1954. Shortly after the apprenticeship, he worked as a Pioneer Leader at the Hammerbrücke Central School. Jähn (via his father's stories and memorabilia) and his father were impressed by the early rocketry pioneers of the 1920s around Fritz von Opel and the first manned rockets on land and in the air, igniting his enthusiasm for aviation, rocketry and spaceflight.
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