In the middle of this labor-intensive period, a steady beep sounded from space in October 1957 that made humanity sit up and take notice. Without prior notice, the Russians had launched the first satellite, Sputnik 1, into orbit.
In a good hour and a half, Sputnik 1 orbited the Earth until it burned up in the atmosphere after about 94 orbits. Shortly thereafter, Sputnik 2 was launched with Laika the dog on board. Unfortunately, the brave animal did not survive the journey into space.
These pioneering feats sent shivers down the spines of the Cold Warriors in the West, especially in the United States. If the Soviets had launchers capable of carrying satellites into orbit in rapid succession, the Russians were also capable of hitting any point on the globe with their continental missiles, possibly with nuclear weapons.
In response to the Soviet lead in space research, President Eisenhower launched an extensive rocket research program in the United States. A mad arms race for supremacy in space began.
After initial setbacks by the U.S., the Soviet Union, considerably weakened in World War II, could no longer keep up in the arms race without profound restrictions on its national economy. The Cold War reached a new climax. Humanity moved a little closer to the brink of nuclear war again.
Fortunately, apart from dangerous political tensions, life also had pleasant sides in store. A then unknown presenter named Heinz Quermann invented a radio and television program called ‘Herzklopfen kostenlos’ The project was curried favor with the highest political circles.
Above all, the aim was to make cultural life more diverse. Throughout the GDR, especially in the large companies, with the support of the local FDJ (organization for German teenagers in the GDR) and party organizations, there was a call to mobilize all the artistic talents available among the working people, for example in music, singing, acrobatics or magic.
At that time, I was an enthusiastic supporter of the remarkably successful Dresden singing group, called ‘Die vier Brummers.’ Accompanied by accordion, guitar, and double bass, the four performed socially critical lyrics to well-known pop tunes with excellent musical skills and immense success. I found the texts of the band worthy of imitation.
Convinced by my idea, I sat down and wrote a parody on the very topical subject of the ‘race of the great powers for supremacy in space.’ For the performance, however, I still needed an accordion player and a bass player.
Fred from the forge and Walter from my area were ready to participate. We rehearsed every spare minute, yet our musical skills remained meager.
At the public performance in the large club hall we received stormy applause for the two-part singing and the perfect lyrics, performed with youthful freshness and carefreeness. Of course, it was not enough for radio or television, but the ‘Chemistry Trio’ was born. The name ‘Chemie-Trio’ was a spontaneous idea, born out of our sense of belonging to the plant.
However, the fact that we had unintentionally chosen the club management as our godfather with the naming proved to be extremely useful in the time that followed. We were given a free rehearsal room in the building and generous financial support as the chemistry trio gradually molted into the chemistry combo. The years of trusting cooperation with the club management staff remained well in my memory. 𝓣𝓸 𝓑𝓮 𝓒𝓸𝓷𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓾𝓮𝓭…
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