The heroisism of Max Schmeling

Find a reputable historian who agrees with you, you'll struggle. Germany didn't have the numbers and their bombers weren't winning a war for them.

 

My father was a huge Schmeling fan in the early 30s. He told me he hitchhiked from Scranton Pennsylvania to Milton NJ to Maxs training camp for the Baer fight with hopes of meeting him. We are talking a two-three hour drive so a huge distance to span via hitchhiking. After many hours he arrived on a dreary day to a relatively empty camp. He saw Schmelings manager Joe Jacobs outside one of the buildings and asked if he could meet his fav fighter. Jacobs angrily said " who the hell are you that you think you can walk in here and see Max Schmeling! ". As my Dad told the story he was so taken aback he literally turned around and started his journey home immediately and rooted for Baer when he listened to the bout on radio. He did say as he left the camp area he saw Schmeling fishing by the lake adjacent to the camp. Interestingly that campsite area and lake still exists today pretty much as it looked like back in 1932.

 

^ interesting story. Sorry Jacobs gave your pop the cold shoulder. Schmeling by almost all accounts was a good man. And one heck of a fighter.

 

Fleischer rated Schmeling no 9 all time great hwt. Marciano was no 10.

 

Schmeling defeated 4 hall of fame fighters. Louis, Sharkey, Stribling and Walker. He also defeated top contenders of his era - Neusal, Uzcudon, Risko, Hamas. He defeated Many fighters at their absolute peak too. Great fighter and better person.

 

I find that hard to believe, seeing as Hitler actually walked out of the stadium taking his lackey's with him after Owens won something like his 4th gold medal in Berlin.

Also the Nazi's were quoted as believing negroes would make good working dogs, as opposed to gassing them.

 

Owens was foolishly naive about the Nazis attitudes concerning blacks. The regime took down all antisemitic signs and posters during the Olympics to help improve their image and put on a false face, so to speak. There are many many references in pictures and words relating Negroes, Asiatics, Slavs, even Arabs and of course Jews to being inferior races. had he dared to remain in Germany, he would have been rudely shocked and awakened to the Nazis true intents and beliefs. The Nazis would have used any blacks who were so unfortunate to be in Europe during the war as slaves and would have totally dehumanized them...perhaps even exterminated them when their usefulness was depleted.

 

Excellent article about Max Schmeling in Sports Illustrated in 2001.

http://www.si.com/vault/2001/12/03/...end-of-jews-but-also-a-willing-pawn-of-hitler

Berlin was a pretty free-wheeling place in the 1920s. The artistic community gravitated there. The "human form" was also celebrated then.

In fact, there are some old fight films of Schmeling from the 1920s. And in his training footage, they show him afterward in the shower. It's a little jarring. You're like, "Why are they showing Max Schmeling's *ss?"

Check out the article.

 

Max was a great man.