I first heard both of these songs as a college student in the Southern US back in the 80s. I (still!) have a cassette tape version of Peter Schilling's album with both on it. I was taking German at the time (I've had four semesters; it was a long time ago, and I'm currently trying to recover from that with study), and, to be honest, I preferred the German one (I also preferred "99 Luftballons" by Nena to "99 Red Balloons"). I think both unpack more information in a subtler way. I did not know about David Bowie's "Space Oddity" then (it came out when I was young and buried under a rock at home before I discovered pop music of the time) and only made the connexion later. This was a great video, and I really appreciate the comparison of the text and the ideas behind them.
Also, I do not read music, or play an instrument, but this guy explains to me exactly why I react a certain way to this song's lyrics vs. chorus:
And just for completeness, here's Nena's "99 Luftballons".
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