![]() ![]() ”I said, `If this is a Nazi, he’s a good Nazi, but I want you to know one thing: I wouldn’t be sitting here today if it wasn’t for this Nazi.»’Īfter a huge buildup for Schmeling’s rematch against Louis, the bout lasted only 124 seconds. ”He risked his life for us our lives weren’t worth a penny,» Lewin said in a 2002 interview with the Jewish Bulletin of Northern California. Schmeling’s role in hiding the boys wasn’t known until Henri Lewin revealed it at a dinner honoring the former champion in 1989. The boys, Henri and Werner Lewin, made their way to the U.S., where Henri became a hotel owner. 9, 1938, when Jewish homes, businesses and synagogues were attacked and destroyed by Nazis. Schmeling, who served as a German paratrooper in World War II, later received an award from the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation for risking his life to hide two Jewish brothers during Kristallnacht on Nov. Louis angered Nazi officials by associating with German Jews and having an American Jewish manager. ![]() Several Jewish groups tried to get the rematch canceled, and Louis said he was ”backing up America against Germany.»Īlthough Hitler had praised Schmeling after the first fight, Schmeling was not an admirer of the German leader and refused to join the Nazi party. The battles between Louis, a black man, and Schmeling came to symbolize for some the coming struggle between Hitler’s Third Reich and the Allies in World War II. It set the stage for a rematch two years later at Yankee Stadium, where Louis, the ”Brown Bomber,» gained revenge with a first-round knockout. Schmeling’s most notable rivalry was with Louis, who was a rising 22-year-old American contender when Schmeling knocked him out in the 12th round of a non-title bout. Above all, Max Schmeling was much appreciated inside and outside Germany as a human being and private person.» ”He didn’t only become a legend because of his unique boxing successes, as heavyweight world champion and all-class world champion. ”Max Schmeling was an idol for generations of people,» German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said in a faxed statement. ![]() After one successful title defense, the German lost the belt to Sharkey in a rematch in 1932. Nicknamed ”The Black Uhlan of the Rhine,» Schmeling won the world heavyweight crown in 1930 when Jack Sharkey was disqualified for a low blow at Yankee Stadium in New York. Schmeling, who became the first fighter to beat Louis in their 1936 meeting, died on Wednesday in the German town of Hollenstedt and was buried today in Lower Saxony, German Boxing Association President Bodo Eckmann said in a phone interview. 4 (Bloomberg) - Max Schmeling, the German heavyweight boxing champion who was miscast as a symbol of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime in his 1938 bout with Joe Louis, died in his native Germany. In the summer of 1926, when Joe was 13, his newly expanded family moved to Detroit, where Brooks landed a job in the emerging automotive industry.Feb. Louis’s mother took in washing to help support the family before marrying Patrick Brooks, joining her family of eight with his family of eight. Louis’s father was a sharecropper the circumstances of his life and death are somewhat unclear, but he was likely deceased early in Louis’s life. He became known simply as “Joe Louis” when he ran out of room for his last name when filling out a form for one of his first amateur fights. Joseph Louis Barrow was born to Munroe and Lillie Barrow on May 13, 1914, in a shack at the foot of Buckalew Mountain near LaFayette in Chambers County. ![]() Upon his death in 1981, President Ronald Reagan waived the requirements for burial at the Arlington National Cemetery so that Joe Louis could be buried with full military honors. He still holds the record for successfully defending his title more times than any other heavyweight boxer and for his 27 championship bouts. Following his service in World War II, Louis went on to a career of 68 wins, 54 by knockout. His 1938 defeat of German boxer Max Schmeling was a vivid refutation of Nazi Germany’s official policy of white superiority and was celebrated throughout the nation. Louis was among the first African Americans to achieve national hero status in a white-dominated society. Known as the “Brown Bomber,” LaFayette’s Joe Louis is considered one of the greatest heavyweight boxing champions of all time. ![]()
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