Great sadness for TV cult figureRegina Zindler is dead! “Chain Link Fence” star loses battle with cancer

Regina Schindler died at the beginning of May

In October 1999, a neighborhood dispute was enough to make television history. Back then, Regina Zindler was arguing with her neighbor on the Sat.1 show “Judge Barbara Salesch” about a snap pea bush on the property. What no one knew: a single word from her mouth would make her instantly famous. In the Saxon dialect, Regina spoke of the “chain-link fence” – and became a cult figure thanks to Stefan Raab, who used it for his show.

Reading tip: Stefan Raab celebrates “mesh-wire-fence” in his new show

Now Regina Zindler is dead. As the Bild newspaper reports, the Saxon woman died on May 5th in her home town of Zwickau as a result of serious cancer. She was 78 years old. Her urn burial therefore took place on May 29th. At his own request, the TV star is said to have been buried in an anonymous communal grave in the main cemetery in Zwickau.

At the end of April, Regina Zindler's health is said to have deteriorated dramatically. When reporters from the Bild newspaper went to visit her, her husband opened the door and explained that his wife was dying. She is receiving palliative care at home and is already too weak for visitors. Particularly moving: Her husband announced at the time that he would stay by her side until the end. The doctors gave her a few more weeks. In fact, Regina Zindler only stayed a single week.

Video tip: Stefan Raab & Barbara Schöneberger: They speak so honestly about their moderation duo

Fame became a burden for Regina Zindler

Things had become quiet around Regina Zindler in recent years. The actual legal dispute in Barbara Salesch's show was quickly forgotten. The lawsuit against the neighbor was dismissed, but then the Saxon woman's unusual career began. Moderator Stefan Raab took up the excerpt from the court show and turned the word “chain-link fence” into a song. The title became a huge hit and stayed at the top of the German charts for six weeks at the end of 1999. Suddenly the whole of Germany knew Regina Zindler.

What initially seemed like a funny television moment increasingly became a problem for Regina Zindler. Fans made pilgrimages to her property, taking memorabilia and even damaging parts of her home. The public hustle and bustle became so great that she and her husband temporarily left Saxony and moved into a prefabricated building in Berlin. It was only years later that the couple returned home.

There, Regina Zindler finally found the peace that she had been missing for a long time. During a visit to the Bild newspaper in 2014, she appeared conciliatory. At the time, she said about Stefan Raab that she was no longer angry with him. She has made peace with the fuss surrounding the “chain-link fence”. Now Regina Zindler has died. Your name may not immediately mean anything to many people. The word that once made her famous, however, will likely be remembered for a long time.

Sources used: Picture