Gretel Bergmann

Gretel Bergmann ( Margaret Bergmann -Lambert, born April 12, 1914 in Laupheim ) is a former German track and field athlete.

Life

Gretel Bergmann began her career in her home town of Laupheim. In 1930 she went to the Ulmer Football Club 1894 ( UFV ). In 1931 she presented at the Southern German championship in the high jump with a height of 1.51 m skipped a German record. In April 1933, she was expelled from her sports club because of her Jewish origin. Then she left Germany and took on June 30, 1934 to the British championships. She won the high jump with 1.55m.

The Nazis forced the Jewish Gretel Bergmann then to return and for training for the Olympic Games in Berlin, by threatening her family remained in Germany with reprisals. Background was the objective of the National Socialists to present Germany as an open and tolerant country. The key may also have been that the Americans demanded the participation of German Jews as they might otherwise have boycotted the games. In 1935 she won the Württemberg Championship, in 1936, it terminated the German record (1.60 m). This record has been recognized by the DLV until 2009. Shortly before the start of the competitions you informed the Reich Sports Leader Hans von Tschammer and east, they would not be excluded because their performance level was not sufficient. To avoid public scandal during the Olympics, her exercise bike for the duration of the Games was taken into ' protective custody '.

The following year, Bergmann emigrated to the United States. With odd jobs they earned their living. In 1937 she married the doctor Bruno Lambert, who had emigrated with their financial support from Germany. Margaret Bergmann -Lambert also won the U.S. National Championships in the high jump (1937, 1938) and in the shot put (1937 ). With the war in 1939, her athletic career was over. In 1942 she became an American citizen. She lives in New York in Jamaica district.

In 1980, Margaret Bergmann -Lambert was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, 1995 was admitted to the U.S. National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame and Museum. In 1999 she was awarded the Georg von Opel - Price, 2012, she was inducted into the Hall of Fame of German sport, as well as sports venues in Berlin and Laupheim were named after her.

Biographical film

In August 2008, her life was filmed by the Gemini Film for the cinema. The movie was released on September 10, 2009 in the German cinemas under the title Berlin '36. The film was directed by Kaspar Heidelbach, the role of Gretel Bergmann played Karoline Herfurth.

It also in the context of artistic freedom, among other things, a relationship with a " Marie Ketteler " (real Olympian: Dora Ratjen ) is presented from the Olympic squad, which did not take place according to the documents so.