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76-528: The Kurfürstendamm ( German pronunciation: [ˌkuːɐ̯fʏʁstn̩ˈdam] ; colloquially Ku'damm , [ˈkuːdam] ; English: Prince Elector Embankment ) is one of the most famous avenues in Berlin . The street takes its name from the former Kurfürsten ( prince-electors ) of Brandenburg . The broad, long boulevard can be considered the Champs-Élysées of Berlin and

152-620: A German Lightheavyweight Champion in 1926. After a long period of decline the park was finally closed in 1933. Large parts are today covered by the Stadtautobahn. In 1913 the new Marmorhaus cinema opened. A number of major film premieres were held here during the silent era . Especially during the " Golden Twenties " the Kurfürstendamm area of the "New West" was a centre of leisure and nightlife in Berlin, an era that ended with

228-399: A chance at a rematch with Louis and in the meantime padded his record against overmatched fighters Ben Foord and Steve Dudas. In 1938, champion Joe Louis announced that he would face Schmeling for the title. The rematch became an instant international sensation. Many clamored impatiently for its happening, but others, afraid of international tensions and the possibility of Hitler taking over

304-478: A fight billed as the 'Battle of the Continents,' Schmeling, known as a slow starter, fell slightly behind on points going into the fourth round. He was trying to corner his opponent when Sharkey let loose with a very fast, clear hit to the groin. Schmeling fell to the canvas, claiming to have been fouled. When manager Jacobs ran into the ring, prompting chaos, the referee disqualified Sharkey and declared Schmeling

380-407: A fight with Johnny Risko , one of the biggest names in the division, though somewhat beyond his prime. On 1 February 1929, Schmeling floored Risko four times with his right hand before the referee halted the contest in the ninth round, handing Risko his only loss by TKO. The surprised crowd in attendance roared with appreciation and The Ring magazine subsequently recognized the win as its 'Fight of

456-455: A future hall-of-famer with 239 wins to his credit by 1931. In order to solidify his title as undisputed, Schmeling signed a contract to face the "Boston Gob" once more. On 21 June 1932, the championship picture became even more muddled when Sharkey won a highly controversial split decision, taking the championship. Many in attendance, including former heavyweight champion Gene Tunney and the mayor of New York, felt that Schmeling had proven himself

532-628: A large straight street in a city, often created as part of a large scheme of urban planning such as Baron Haussmann 's remodelling of Paris or the L'Enfant Plan for Washington D.C.; "avenues" will typically be the main roads. This pattern is very often followed in the United States, indeed all the Americas, but in the United Kingdom this sense is less strong and the name is used more randomly, mostly for suburban streets developed in

608-623: A portion of it. A few years later, the Kurfürstendamm became the site of protests and major demonstrations by the German student movement . On 11 April 1968, spokesman Rudi Dutschke was shot in the head while leaving the office of the Sozialistischer Deutscher Studentenbund on Kurfürstendamm No. 140. After German reunification the Kurfürstendamm had to compete with central places like Potsdamer Platz , Friedrichstraße , and Alexanderplatz , which led to

684-483: A sadistic attack, in "the most brutal anti-Jewish manifestation since Hitler's rise to power," with Hitler 's instigation, and Nazi managed press blaming the victims. Varian Fry , an American journalist and future Righteous Among the Nations , witnessed the brutality and was inspired to become an "ardent anti-Nazi." The shops and businesses owned by Jewish tradespeople became the target of several pogroms, culminating in

760-536: A sensation. He became the first to win the heavyweight championship (at that time vacant) by disqualification in 1930, after opponent Jack Sharkey knocked him down with a low blow in the fourth round. Schmeling retained his crown successfully in 1931 by a technical knockout victory over Young Stribling . A rematch in 1932 with Sharkey saw the American gaining the title from Schmeling by a controversial fifteen-round split decision. In 1933, Schmeling lost to Max Baer by

836-609: A tenth-round technical knockout. The loss left people believing that Schmeling was past his prime. Meanwhile, Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party took over control in Germany, but Schmeling never joined the Party. The same year, he married Czech film actress Anny Ondra . In 1936, in their first fight, Schmeling knocked out American rising star Joe Louis , placing him as the number one contender for Jim Braddock 's title, but Louis got

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912-561: Is lined with shops, houses, hotels and restaurants. In particular, many fashion designers have their shops there, as well as several car manufacturers' show rooms. The avenue includes four lines of plane trees and runs for 3.5 km (2.2 mi) through the city. It branches off from the Breitscheidplatz , where the ruins of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church stand, and leads southwestward up to

988-529: Is mentioned in the Günter Grass novel The Tin Drum (1959). For the film Max Schmeling – Eine deutsche Legende (2010) another former boxing champion, who moreover had known him, played Max Schmeling: Henry Maske . The Voyagers! episode "All Fall Down" depicts his second fight with Joe Louis. The series' time travelling protagonists Phineas Bogg and Jeffrey Jones convinced Louis not to back out of

1064-646: The Bundesautobahn 100 ( Stadtring ) at the Rathenauplatz  [ de ] roundabout, featuring the long-disputed 1987 "Beton Cadillacs" sculpture by Wolf Vostell . Unlike the adjacent streets, the Kurfürstendamm developed out of a historic corduroy road ( German : Damm ) laid out by the Brandenburg margraves to reach the Grunewald hunting lodge, which was erected about 1542 at

1140-552: The Great Depression and the Nazi Machtergreifung in 1933. On Sep 12, 1931, radical antisemite, Nazi Wolf-Heinrich Graf von Helldorff organizes a riot, about a thousand men appear from within the crowd on the streets and start attacking people who they think are Jewish, scream at them and then they beat them, scream anti-Jewish threats at them. On July 15, 1935, about 200 Nazi Storm Troopers went on

1216-937: The Ming tombs in China. British archaeologists have adopted highly specific criteria for "avenues" within the context of British archaeology . In French formal garden Baroque landscape design style, avenues of trees that were centered upon the dwelling radiated across the landscape. See the avenues in the Gardens of Versailles or Het Loo . Other late 17th-century French and Dutch landscapes, in that intensely ordered and flat terrain, fell naturally into avenues; Meindert Hobbema , in The Avenue at Middelharnis (1689) presents such an avenue in farming country, neatly flanked at regular intervals by rows of young trees that have been rigorously limbed up; his central vanishing point mimics

1292-708: The Theater am Kurfürstendamm , at the site of a former exhibition hall of the Berlin Secession art association. At Adenauerplatz the boulevard reaches the district of Wilmersdorf , where it passes the Schaubühne theatre on Lehniner Platz . The more sober western or "upper" end of the Kurfürstendamm is marked by the Berlin-Halensee railway station on the Ringbahn line and the junction with

1368-509: The " Reichskristallnacht " of 9 November 1938. In World War II the boulevard suffered severe damage from air raids and the Battle of Berlin . Nevertheless, after the war rebuilding started quickly, and when Berlin was separated into East and West Berlin , the Kurfürstendamm became the leading commercial street of West Berlin in its Wirtschaftswunder days. For that reason, too, John F. Kennedy 's tour of West Berlin on June 26, 1963, included

1444-544: The 20th century, though Western and Eastern Avenues in London are main traffic arteries out of the city, if not very straight. In cities which have a grid-based naming system , such as the borough of Manhattan in New York City , there may be a convention that the streets called avenues run parallel in one direction – roughly north–south in the case of Manhattan – while "streets" run at 90 degrees to them across

1520-455: The American antebellum era South , the southern live oak was typically used, because the trees created a beautiful shade canopy . Sometimes tree avenues were designed to direct the eye toward some distinctive architectural building or feature, such as a chapels , gazebos , or architectural follies . Avenue as a street name in French, Spanish ( avenida ) and other languages implies

1596-452: The German walked to the ring at Yankee Stadium on 22 June 1938, he did so under a hail of garbage thrown from the stands. Louis came out blazing in the first round and Schmeling tried to counter-punch as he had in the first bout, but to no avail. Driven into the ropes and battered with a fusillade of short, crisp blows from every angle, Schmeling turned his back to his opponent and clutched onto

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1672-523: The Louis camp, the New York Commission officially released an order for Braddock to fight Schmeling for the title. Any other fight, with Louis or otherwise, would not be recognized by New York as being for the championship. The Madison Square Garden Corporation, the largest promotional company in the sport at the time, even attempted to get a legal injunction against a Braddock–Louis fight (Louis

1748-462: The Nazi Party's behavior. Articles continued to be published declaring the German "washed up", a "has been", or a "Nazi puppet". When he was matched with undefeated boxing sensation Joe Louis in 1936 for the German's first fight on American soil in more than two years, he was clearly the betting underdog, considered a name opponent for Louis to roll over on his route to the title. Nevertheless, he

1824-604: The Reich Ministry of Sports that he was very displeased at Schmeling's relationship with Joe Jacobs, his Jewish fight promoter, and wanted it terminated, but Schmeling refused to bow even to Hitler. During the war, Schmeling was drafted, where he served with the Luftwaffe and was trained as a paratrooper. He participated in the Battle of Crete in May 1941, where he was wounded in his right knee by mortar fire shrapnel during

1900-581: The Year.' When he defeated the highly regarded Spaniard Paulino Uzcudun via a fifteen-round decision at Yankee Stadium later that year, Schmeling was regarded as the foremost young contender in the division. With the World Heavyweight Champion Gene Tunney having recently retired, promoters arranged a matchup between the German and veteran contender Jack Sharkey to fill the vacancy. On 12 June 1930, at Yankee Stadium, in

1976-695: The avenue's propensity to draw the spectator forwards along it. In Austria-Hungary , the fashion for establishing representative avenues appeared as early as the Renaissance and reached its peak in the Baroque period. Avenues lined the access roads to chateaus and manors, as well as pilgrimage routes and Stations of the Cross. The manorial landscape architecture was followed by "folk landscaping" with wayside chapels, crosses and shrines accompanied by trees. Later, Maria Theresa decreed in 1752 to plant trees along

2052-539: The avenues; roughly east–west in Manhattan. In Washington, DC the avenues radiate from the centre running diagonally across the grid of streets, which follows typical French usage of the name (in France " boulevards " are often main roads running round the city centre). In Phoenix, Arizona , "the avenues" can colloquially mean "the west side of town", due to the numbered north–south-running roads being called "Avenues" in

2128-405: The bad publicity but also because of Baer's wild, brawling style and frequent fouls (including backhand punches and rabbit punches ), Schmeling was thrashed after ten rounds before nearly 60,000 onlookers at Yankee Stadium. When the German took a battering against the ropes in the tenth, the referee leapt in to stop the fight. The fight, combined with a follow-up loss to contender Steve Hamas early

2204-509: The beginning of 1935 intense anti Jewish incitement had newly surfaced among party radicals.... Jochen Klepper, a deeply religious Protestant writer whose wife was Jewish, wrote in his diary on July 13: "Anti-Semitic excesses on the Kurfürstendamm.... The cleansing of Berlin of Jews threateningly announced." A week later Klepper again wrote of what had happened on the Kurfürstendamm: Jewish women had been struck in

2280-522: The behest of the Hohenzollern elector Joachim II Hector . Although the exact date of the building is unknown, an unnamed causeway leading from the Stadtschloss through the swampy area between the settlements of Charlottenburg (then called Lietzow ) and Wilmersdorf to Grunewald is already depicted in a 1685 map. The name Churfürsten Damm was first mentioned between 1767 and 1787. From 1875

2356-439: The better man and was robbed. In losing the championship, the German had elevated his reputation in the minds of boxing fans. When Schmeling faced Mickey Walker , the future hall-of-famer who had recently held Sharkey to a draw that many felt Walker deserved, it was thought that this fight was for the real heavyweight championship. Walker, a former welterweight , was a popular slugger who had won championships in two divisions but

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2432-434: The boots and trousers worn by many, it was clear that they were Nazi Storm Troopers. Howling down their victims with cries of "Out with Jews!" and "Destruction to Jews!", the rowdies freely vented their passion against an unsuspecting defenseless populace. Including some foreigners. Frantic and hurried phone calls made to the police by café proprietors had very little effect because the police appeared most reluctant to prevent

2508-437: The championship, protested. The controversy and ballyhoo led to the event becoming the most anticipated boxing match since the rematch between Dempsey and Gene Tunney, or possibly earlier. Louis, with his poor, lower-class roots, was adopted by American fans as the symbol of America as a land of opportunity. In contrast, Americans perceived Schmeling and his ties to Hitler as an obvious threat to those opportunities and ideals. When

2584-481: The closing of numerous cafés and cinemas. It retained the character of a flâneur and upscale shopping street as the western continuation of the Tauentzienstraße with its large department stores. The globally unique international art project United Buddy Bears was presented in Berlin on the Kurfürstendamm during the summer of 2011. Dr. Lindsay MacNeill: About a thousand men basically appear from within

2660-806: The crowd on the streets and start attacking people.  Erin Harper: That’s Dr. Lindsay MacNeill, a historian at the Museum. Dr. Lindsay MacNeill: Officers hesitated to make arrests on Kurfürstendamm in 1935 because they had a new boss: Wolf-Heinrich von Helldorf. In his prior role as leader of the Berlin SA, Helldorf had instigated in September 1931 the very same kind of street violence that took place on Kurfürstendamm in July 1935. In 1931, he had faced criminal charges for his actions. From

2736-684: The district of Grunewald . At the junction with Joachimstaler Straße it passes the Café Kranzler , successor of the Café des Westens , a famous venue for artists and bohémiens of the pre–World War I era. The Kurfürstendamm U-Bahn station and the Swissôtel Berlin can be found at the same junction. One block farther, near Uhlandstraße U-Bahn station , is the Hotel Bristol Berlin (formerly Kempinski ) hotel as well as

2812-519: The face of ' Cocacolonization ' and Coca-Cola's reentry into Germany. Before long, he owned his own bottling plant and held an executive's position within the company. Schmeling helped bring vending machines into use in Germany. He became friends with Joe Louis and he assisted his former rival financially in his later years, eventually financing his funeral in 1981. His wife of 54 years, the Czech-born actress Anny Ondra , died in 1987. In 1992, he

2888-540: The face; Jewish men had behaved courageously. "Nobody came to their help, because everyone is afraid of being arrested." [Citing, Klepper,  Unter dem Schatten deiner Fluegel: Aus den Tagebuechern der Jahre 1932-1942 , (Stuttgart, 1983), p.269]. On the night of July 15, 1935, about 200 German toughs invaded Berlin's fashionable Kurfürstendamm, seizing, chasing and savagely beating men and women who looked Jewish to them or displeased them by attitude and appearance. The young ruffians were clad in civilian clothes, but from

2964-621: The fight and knocked Braddock out to win the championship in 1937. Schmeling finally got a chance to regain his title in 1938 in the rematch, but Louis won by technical knockout in the first round. During World War II , Schmeling served with the German Air Force ( Luftwaffe ) as a paratrooper ( Fallschirmjäger ). After the war, Schmeling mounted a comeback, but retired permanently in 1948. After retiring from boxing, Schmeling worked for The Coca-Cola Company . Schmeling became friends with Louis, and their friendship lasted until

3040-519: The fight and witnessed his victory over Schmeling in Yankee Stadium on 22 June 1938. Schmeling is mentioned in the song Ambling Alp by indie-band Yeasayer , "Oh Max Schmeling was a formidable foe, Ambling Alp was too at least that's what I'm told" Schmeling is also referenced in the video game Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 by the German character Richtofen when he is hit by a zombie in the "Alpha Omega" DLC Zombies mode map ("OW! What are you,

3116-465: The film The Zurich Engagement (1957) The American-German film Joe and Max (2002) tells the true story of Joe Louis and Max Schmeling and their enduring friendship. In the book The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay , Joe Kavalier is beaten up by someone who may or may not have been Max Schmeling. The author hints that it probably wasn't, as Schmeling should have been fighting in Poland at

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3192-614: The first boxing match broadcast live in Germany. After defending both titles against Hein Domgoergen the same year and, in 1928, the European Title with a first-round knockout of Michele Bonaglia, he secured the German heavyweight championship with a points victory against Franz Diener and decided to chase bigger fights and bigger purses in the United States. Arriving in New York City for the first time in 1928, Schmeling

3268-508: The first day of the battle. After recovering, he was dismissed from active service after being deemed medically unfit for duty because of his injury. Nevertheless, in July 1944 a rumor that he had been killed in action made world news. He later visited American POW camps in Germany and occasionally tried to help conditions for the prisoners. By early 1945, he was spending his time giving exhibition bouts against former British Free Corps member Eric Pleasants in German officers' messes. After

3344-584: The former bridlepath was embellished as a boulevard with a breadth of 53 m (174 ft) on the personal initiative of chancellor Otto von Bismarck , who also proposed the building of the Grunewald mansions colony at its western end. In 1882, Ernst Werner von Siemens presented his Elektromote trolley bus concept at an experimental track near Halensee station. The nearby Lunapark opened in 1909, then Europe's largest amusement park , modelled on Coney Island , where boxer Max Schmeling won his first title of

3420-403: The jaw repeatedly. In the twelfth, he sent the American tumbling to the floor once more, and this time Louis could not recover. He was counted out on the floor, and Schmeling had scored the most talked-about sports upset of the year. Now the unexpected number one contender for the heavyweight crown held by Jim Braddock , Schmeling looked forward to his chance to become the first fighter to regain

3496-521: The latter's death in 1981. Schmeling died in 2005 aged 99, a sporting hero in his native Germany . Long after the Second World War, it was revealed that Schmeling had risked his life to save the lives of two Jewish children in 1938. At the age of 99, Schmeling was the longest living heavyweight boxing champion in history. In 2003, Schmeling was ranked 55 on The Ring magazine's list of 100 greatest punchers of all time. Max Schmeling Jr.

3572-631: The life of Joe Louis . Schmeling figures prominently in the 2010 novel by P.F. Kluge A Call From Jersey . In a novel by Curzio Malaparte , Kaputt (1944), Schmeling figures prominently in the chapter "Cricket in Poland" depicting a gathering in February 1942 hosted by Governor-General Dr. Hans Frank in the Belvedere palace in Warsaw. Schmeling's role as a paratrooper in World War II

3648-415: The light heavyweight division. Shortly thereafter, he turned professional. Ironically, though he idolised the raging, brawling Dempsey, Schmeling developed a careful, scientific style of fighting that lent itself more to counterpunching. Using this style, he won seventeen of his first twenty-three bouts, thirteen by knockout. In 1925, he got into the ring with Dempsey, who was then still heavyweight champion of

3724-420: The middle of the 19th century, when the construction of imperial roads continued, but at the same time a network of non-state side roads was created, the law ordered the planting of avenues along them, especially fruit trees and mulberries. Many baroque alleys have aged and been felled, and fruit tree alleys have become increasingly popular. At the time of the development of motoring, the oldest avenues often hinder

3800-408: The most powerful political force in Germany, and its ideologies, voiced by party leader Adolf Hitler, overflowed with anti-Semitic tendencies. Major American cities such as New York had large Jewish populations, who worried over what the party could mean for people of their religion in the future. Schmeling, because he was German, was viewed as an extension of Hitler's plans for world domination. When he

3876-442: The new imperial roads for economic, aesthetic, orientation and safety reasons. Most avenues were created during the reigns of Maria Theresa and Joseph II. At the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, new landscaping came from England, and formal aesthetics were replaced by the aesthetics of the natural landscape. During Napoleonic wars, pyramidal poplars became a new element, popular due to their fast growth and distinctive shape. Also in

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3952-401: The next year, left many wondering if Schmeling was still a world top-class fighter. Returning to his native Germany, Schmeling won three of his next four fights, with one draw, including knockout wins over first Walter Neusel , then another avenging his previous loss to Steve Hamas. However, many among the American press and fans remained unmoved on the idea of rooting for Schmeling in light of

4028-413: The right cross. The fight proved to be a competitive, hard-hitting affair for the first three rounds, but, in the fourth, a counter right from the German dropped Louis for the first time in his career. Though Louis rose, he was badly dazed for the remainder of the fight. For a further eight rounds, Schmeling battered Louis, often standing toe-to-toe with the vaunted puncher and landing that same right hand to

4104-427: The ropes, letting out a scream that even years later, many spectators could recall vividly. Schmeling later said that he screamed because he had been hit with a blow to the kidneys. Schmeling's knees buckled under the punishment, and referee Arthur Donovan pushed Louis away, beginning a count on Schmeling. Schmeling reluctantly stepped away from the ropes, and Donovan allowed him to continue. A few punches later, Schmeling

4180-579: The sadistic attack. Avenue (landscape) The French term allée is used for avenues planted in parks and landscape gardens, as well as boulevards such as the Grande Allée in Quebec City , Canada, and Karl-Marx-Allee in Berlin . The avenue is one of the oldest implements in the history of gardens . An Avenue of Sphinxes still leads to the tomb of the pharaoh Hatshepsut . Avenues similarly defined by guardian stone lions lead to

4256-522: The song "Max Schmeling" on their album Hlaskover rock (2000). Schmeling was referenced in the British Second World War song " Hitler Has Only Got One Ball ". In a season 9 or 10 episode of "Law and Order", Schmeling's name is mentioned when the detectives are looking for a certain gun. The man who is supposed to own it is a fighter from the 1930s who went the distance with Schmeling in 1937. Schmeling briefly appears as himself in

4332-401: The street's size, importance, or function. Avenues were usually lined with trees when first built, although many avenues have lost their trees to make way for overhead wiring, parking or to allow light into properties. Max Schmeling Maximilian Adolph Otto Siegfried Schmeling ( German pronunciation: [maks ˈʃmeːlɪŋ] , audio ; 28 September 1905 – 2 February 2005)

4408-435: The time. In 2005, Österreichische Post issued a stamp commemorating Max Schmeling, based on the 1926 painting by German artist George Grosz . In Rocky IV , the climactic fight between American Rocky Balboa and Russian Ivan Drago was inspired by the bout between Joe Louis and Max Schmeling, updated to reflect Cold War relationships. Schmeling also appears as a character in the opera, Shadowboxer , based on

4484-418: The victor and the first man to win the world heavyweight championship on a foul. The New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC), reviewing the call, agreed. The first European-born boxer to win the heavyweight championship in thirty-three years, Schmeling was also the first from Germany to hold the distinction. Still, the way in which he won the title proved an embarrassment. Called the 'low blow champion,' he

4560-564: The war, Schmeling settled in Hamburg where in 1947, strapped for money, he embarked upon a moderately successful comeback in boxing, winning three of his five bouts with two point-defeats before re-entering retirement for good in October 1948. Schmeling became a successful mink, chicken, and tobacco farmer in the early 1950s. Towards the end of the decade, after multiple meetings with The Coca-Cola Company 's offices in Germany, Schmeling became

4636-830: The western part of the city, separated from the eastern "Streets" by a "Central Avenue". Similarly, "the avenues" in San Francisco, California refers to the Richmond District and the Sunset District , the two neighborhoods on the Pacific coast, north and south of Golden Gate Park , respectively. In Anglophone urban or suburban settings, "avenue" is one of the usual suite of words used in street names, along with "boulevard", "circle", "court", "drive", "lane", "place", "road", "street", "terrace", "way", "gate" and so on, any of which may carry connotations as to

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4712-448: The widening and modernization of rural roads and are the subject of dispute between conservationists and traffic safety requirements. To enhance the approach to mansions or manor houses , avenues were planted along the entrance drive. Sometimes the avenues are in double rows on each side of a road. Trees preferred for avenues were selected for their height and speed of growth, such as poplar , beech , lime , and horse chestnut . In

4788-509: The world and was touring Europe. Dempsey boxed for two rounds with the then-unknown German and, according to a story later told by Schmeling, was greatly impressed. He proved Dempsey's praises correct on 24 August 1926, when picking up the German light heavyweight championship with a first-round knockout of rival Max Diekmann, who had previously beaten Schmeling. The next year, Schmeling won the European championship by stopping Fernand Delarge in

4864-424: The world heavyweight title by winning the fight with Braddock that had been scheduled for that September. The fight was postponed, however, when Braddock injured his hand in training. Rumors existed that the fight's organizers were stalling, afraid of the negative publicity that would be generated over a perceived Nazi getting a shot at the world's title. When it was confirmed that Braddock's managers were in talks with

4940-444: Was a German boxer who was heavyweight champion of the world between 1930 and 1932. His two fights with Joe Louis in 1936 and 1938 were worldwide cultural events because of their national associations. Schmeling is the only boxer to win the world heavyweight championship on a foul. Starting his professional career in 1924, Schmeling went to the United States in 1928 and, after a ninth-round technical knockout of Johnny Risko, became

5016-463: Was at a considerable size disadvantage against the European. Though Walker took the lead on points, Schmeling dealt out a beating as the fight progressed. After eight rounds, Walker's corner threw in the towel, confirming Schmeling's status as the leading heavyweight in the world. With the coming of 1933, however, Schmeling's image in America began to take a decided turn. In 1932, the Nazi Party became

5092-731: Was born in Klein Luckow , in the Prussian Province of Brandenburg , the son of Max Sr. and Amanda ( née Fuchs) Schmeling. He had an older brother, Rudolf, born in 1902 and a younger sister, Edith, born in 1913. He first became acquainted with boxing as a teenager, when his father took him to watch film of the heavyweight championship match between Jack Dempsey and Georges Carpentier . Impressed with Dempsey's performance in that fight, young Schmeling became determined to imitate his new hero. He began boxing in amateur competitions and, by 1924, won Germany's national amateur title in

5168-535: Was disparaged in both America and Europe as an unproven titleholder. When he initially refused to face Sharkey in a rematch, the NYSAC officially stripped him of their recognition as world champion, but he remained recognised by both the National Boxing Association (NBA) and The Ring magazine. Most of the criticism faded after Schmeling's first defence, a fifteen-round TKO over Young Stribling ,

5244-481: Was hardly noticed by the American fight circles. Considered a stiff European fighter who had padded his record against German and European unknowns, he was given few opportunities to prove himself until he hooked up with American manager Joe Jacobs. Schmeling's debut in America took place at Madison Square Garden with an eighth-round knockout of Joe Monte, who was not a top-flight heavyweight but nonetheless had been in with some tough competition. Two more victories led to

5320-627: Was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. His autobiography, Max Schmeling: An Autobiography , was published in 1994. He lived his remaining years as a wealthy man and avid boxing fan, dying on 2 February 2005, at the age of 99. In 2010, a bronze statue of Schmeling was erected in Hollenstedt. Schmeling lived in Stettin , Germany (now known as Szczecin, Poland); a band from this city, The Analogs , recorded

5396-537: Was knocked down again. From then on, he was helpless. He rose but fell moments later, and Donovan stopped the fight. Many years later, in 1975, Schmeling said, "Looking back, I'm almost happy I lost that fight. Just imagine if I would have come back to Germany with a victory. I had nothing to do with the Nazis, but they would have given me a medal. After the war I might have been considered a war criminal." When he returned to Germany after his defeat by Joe Louis, Schmeling

5472-560: Was not on their roster). Nonetheless, in February 1937, Schmeling received the news that the champion had indeed signed to defend his championship against Louis. A furious Schmeling protested, but to no avail, and he was forced to watch from ringside as Louis knocked Braddock out and gained the championship. Sorely disappointed and convinced that he would never receive his chance at redemption, Schmeling fought just once more in America, an eighth-round knockout of future contender Harry Thomas, before returning to Germany. In his native land, Schmeling

5548-471: Was now shunned by the Nazis. He won both the German and European heavyweight championships on the same night, with a first-round knockout of Adolf Heuser . During the Nazi purge of Jews from Berlin, he personally saved the lives of two Jewish children by hiding them in his apartment. It was not the first time that Schmeling defied the Nazi regime's hatred for Jews. As the story goes, Hitler let it be known through

5624-407: Was regarded as a hero and promoted by the Nazi propaganda machine as a perfect example of German supremacy over the rest of the world by virtue of his defeat of the current champion, Louis. The government ordered parades and rallies in his honor. He became a friend to Hitler and other powerful figures in the government and also a popular subject of newspaper articles and films. He continued to press for

5700-576: Was slated to fight heavy-hitting contender Max Baer on 8 June 1933, he immediately became the 'bad guy' in the eyes of fans. Baer, who did not practice the Jewish religion but had a Jewish father, came into the ring wearing the Star of David on his shorts. Promoter Jack Dempsey played up this angle and suddenly the fight was viewed as Baer defending his faith against the prejudice of the Nazis, represented reluctantly by Schmeling. Thrown off of his game in part by

5776-484: Was the number two contender for the title behind Louis. Prior to the match, Schmeling carefully studied films of Louis's prior fights, dissecting apparent flaws in the Detroit fighter's technique. Among the weaknesses he noticed was the fact that Louis lowered his left hand after throwing a left jab. In the ring, Schmeling exploited this subtle flaw to his own advantage, countering nearly every Louis jab with his best punch,

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