Pilots in Pajamas

*Pilots in Pajamas*
Pilots in Pajamas
Written by	Walter Heynowski [de]
Directed by	Walter Heynowski; Gerhard Scheumann [de];
Composer	Reiner Bredemeyer
Country of origin	East Germany
Original language	German
No. of episodes	4
Production
Running time	294 minutes
Production company	DEFA
Original release
Network	Deutscher Fernsehfunk
Release	April 17 –; April 23, 1968

Pilots in Pajamas (German: Piloten im Pyjama) is a 1968 East German documentary film directed by Walter Heynowski [de] and Gerhard Scheumann [de], produced by DEFA, and aired in four parts in April 1968 on Deutscher Fernsehfunk.

Synopsis

The film features interviews with ten pilots of

Robinson Risner. Over the course of the interviews, the pilots are asked questions about their background and training, their experiences of being shot down and living as prisoners of war, and their thoughts on responsibility for the suffering caused by American bombing campaigns in Vietnam

.

The documentary concludes with many of the pilots stating that they oppose the American presence in Vietnam and hoping the election of a new American president in 1968 will lead to their release. The prisoners were not released until 1973 after the Paris Peace Accords.^[1]

Episodes

No.	Title	Original air date
1	"Yes, Sir"	17 April 1968 (1968-04-17)
2	"Hanoi Hilton" (German: Hanoi-Hilton)	19 April 1968 (1968-04-19)
3	"All in a Day's Work" (German: Der Job)	21 April 1968 (1968-04-21)
4	"The Phantoms and the Thunderchiefs" (German: Die Donnergötter)	23 April 1968 (1968-04-23)

Authenticity

In his autobiography, The Passing of the Night: My Seven Years as a Prisoner of the North Vietnamese, Robinson Risner claims he was ordered by the North Vietnamese to participate in the film and given a script of both questions and answers.^[2]

Accusations of coercion were commonly levelled against Heynowski and Scheumann in the U.S. and European press.

Communists and, alternatively, it cannot be ruled out that a Communist can tell the truth". Stern had been denied permission by the North Vietnamese government to interview the same pilots.^[3]

Reception

The film generated substantial interest both domestically and abroad. An English-narrated version of the film with the pilots' original speech (as opposed to a German dub) was produced and later sold to American broadcasting company NBC, but was never aired.^[1]

References

^
S2CID 251755154
.

^ Risner, Robinson (1973). The Passing of the Night: My Seven Years as a Prisoner of the North Vietnamese. New York: Random House. p. 163.
^
JSTOR 1354571
.

External links

Pilots in Pajamas at
IMDb

[Cuthbert-1] 
S2CID 251755154
.

[2] Risner, Robinson (1973). The Passing of the Night: My Seven Years as a Prisoner of the North Vietnamese. New York: Random House. p. 163.

[Alter-3] 
JSTOR 1354571
.

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[2]

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