Albert Richter

Albert Richter (October 4 1912 – January 2 1940) was a German cyclist. In 1932, after surprisingly winning classical "Grand Prix de Paris," he also became amateur world champion of sprint on the track on September 3.

Richter grew up in Sömmeringstraße 72, Ehrenfeld, a suburb of Cologne. His father wanted him to learn some skilled trade, as he himself had, but at the same time wanted to give him (and his two brothers) some education as a musician. The boy took lessons on violin besides being apprenticed as a kind of stuccoist.

Cologne being a heartland of German cycling at that time, the boy was more fascinated by sports and started to race at the age of 16 without telling his father, who seems to have been quite upset when he found out about it, when young Albert broke his clavicle in an accident.

Being jobless in 1932, [...and, due to his frequent absence from home, Richter also had difficulties in getting unemployment benefit: He therefore had to refuse to participate in international events more often than once.] he decided to become a professional. His Jewish trainer and manager Ernst Berliner sent him to Paris, which was at that time the center of European track cycling, where Richter, although reported to be homesick, was quite successful. He from then on spent more time abroad than in Germany. [Partially, this was because Six-day races could not profitably be arranged in Germany after a change of rules enacted by the Nazi on January 1, 1934. At the other hand, there were no adequate competitors for him in Germany any more.] He now rather was part of an international "gang" of sprinters, many of whom were close friends; especially Belgian Jef Scherens and French Louis Gérardin, together with Richter known as "The Three Musketeers". For instance, the World championship, Leipzig 1934, was won by Scherens, with Richter 2nd, and Gérardin 3rd. Richter made the top 3 in of the World Championship track sprint from 1933 to 1938 [ cite web|url=http://www.uci.ch/modello.asp?1stlevelid=F&level1=1&level2=2&idnews=1723 |title=MEN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS - SPRINT |accessdate=2008-01-06 |publisher=UCI ] .

Richter was against Nazism. He refused to collaborate with any other manager than the Jewish Ernst Berliner, he did not give the Hitler salute, did not wear jerseys with swastikas when he raced, and in 1939 also refused to participate in World War II.

The Nazis did not forgive these humiliations. In January 1940 Richter was captured by the Gestapo while trying to escape to Switzerland, and money that he wanted to bring out of the country for another Jewish friend was confiscated. Officially he committed suicide in Lörrach soon after by hanging, which seemed hard to believe to the rest of world. When one of his brothers tried to see him on January 2, he was shown Richter's corpse in the hospital's morgue. The corpse was bathed in blood, and his suit full of holes. After World War II, Berliner tried to learn the truth about the death of Richter, but was unsuccessful.

In Richter's honour, in 1997, the new Cologne velodrome was named "Albert Richter". [ cite web|url=http://www.radstadion-koeln.de/ueber_uns_01.php |title=Bahnradsport in Köln hat Tradition... ('Track cycling has a long tradition in Cologne') |accessdate=2008-01-06 |last=Bueker |first=Thorsten |publisher=Official site of Cologne Velodrome |language=German ] [ cite web|title=Velodrome Cologne/Radstadion Köln-Müngersdorf|url=http://www.velodromes.com/cologne.htm |accessdate=2008-01-06 |last=Schuermann |first=Ralph |publisher=Schuermann Architects ]

References

External links

(Google does not seem to find any EN websites on this sportsman; there is only one book on him, in German: Franz, Renate: "Der vergessene Weltmeister. Das rätselhafte Schicksal des Radrennfahrers Albert Richter", Covadonga, 2007.)
* [http://www.gazzetta.cycling4fans.de/index.php?id=532 On Albert Richter] (German)
* [http://www.velo-club.net/article.php?sid=26191 Biography Albert Richter] (French)
* [http://www.guerre-mondiale.org/Biographies/richter.htm Biography Albert Richter] (French). With note on a DE/FR documentary movie which appeared in "ARTE" in 2005 (52min).
* [http://www.velochronique.com/chroniques/article.php3?id_article=396 On his death] (French)