Since 1975 a barracks of the Luftwaffe near Hamburg was called Marseille after the Wehrmacht pilot.
Now the NCO school has a new namesake: the Landshut pilot, Jürgen Schumann, who was murdered by terrorists in 1977.
But also Marseille will continue to be honored.
Appen - An air force barracks in Appen (Pinneberg district) near Hamburg has been bearing the name of the pilot of the "Landshut" plane hijacked in 1977, Jürgen Schumann, since Wednesday.
The name was changed as part of a festive ceremony by the Luftwaffe, in which the murdered pilot's widow, Monika Schumann, also took part.
According to the Bundeswehr, Jürgen Schumann was a reserve captain and before his career at Lufthansa, he was a Starfighter pilot.
He completed part of his training in 1961 at the former Uetersen air base and attended courses at the neighboring NCO school in Appen.
During the hijacking of the passenger plane, he was shot dead by Palestinian terrorists on October 16, 1977 in Aden (Yemen).
“He died among the people whose lives he protected. He died for his passengers, ”said the Air Force Inspector, Lieutenant General Ingo Gerhartz, in his address. Schumann embodies the true meaning of courage, bravery, responsibility and selflessness. That is what makes the naming so important for the junior management staff at the NCO school. "Captain Jürgen Schumann is one of us," said Gerhartz.
The barracks previously bore the name of the Wehrmacht pilot Hans-Joachim Marseille (1919-1942), who was celebrated by Nazi propaganda because of numerous enemy aircraft being shot down over North Africa. The name Marseille will not be withheld or denied by the air force in the future, said Gerhartz. It will be used actively for a critical and differentiated discussion within the framework of historical-political education. On Monday, a memorial stone and a stele for Marseille were set up on the barracks site. In the autumn of next year there is to be a public exhibition in Appen, at which the tradition of the Bundeswehr will be discussed.
"Our previous namesake, Hans-Joachim Marseille, has given an outstanding example of military excellence through his flying skills, but served an inhuman and criminal regime," said the commander of the non-commissioned officers' school, Colonel Thomas Berger.
"Professional skill in combat alone and without value commitment can no longer create meaning and tradition today." The Uetersen Air Base was named in 1975 after the Wehrmacht pilot.
The then Defense Minister Georg Leber (SPD) had agreed to this.
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In response to a small request from the left in the Bundestag last year, the federal government stated that the naming of the “Marseille” barracks at the Appen site did not comply with the guidelines for maintaining tradition. As early as 1997 the Bundestag had declared that Marseille, as a fighter pilot during the Second World War, was involved in a "war of aggression and extermination, a crime caused by Nazi Germany".
Schumann's widow herself did not comment publicly on the renaming. It was a very emotional day for her, in which memories of the German Autumn (1977) and the Red Army faction were washed up for her, said Gerhartz. Monika Schumann is very grateful for honoring her murdered husband. During the ceremony, a formation of four Eurofighters from Tactical Air Force Wing 71 "Richthofen" flew over the barracks area. One of the jets pulled out to symbolize the "missing man".
The "Landshut" was kidnapped on October 13, 1977 shortly after taking off from Palma de Mallorca. A four-man terror squad from a radical Palestinian organization demanded the release of members of the Red Army Faction (RAF) imprisoned in Germany. After a random flight over several stations, Schumann made an emergency landing next to the blocked runway in Aden. There he was allowed to leave the aircraft to inspect the landing gear. He took the opportunity to get the local authorities to intervene, but to no avail.
When he voluntarily returned to the Boeing 737, one of the hijackers shot him dead in front of the passengers and crew.
Copilot Jürgen Vietor had to fly the machine to the Somali capital Mogadishu.
There, on the night of October 18, 1977, a special command of the GSG9 stormed the machine and freed all of the hostages.
dpa