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Max Schmeling was Born in 1905 . He took up professional
boxing in the 1920s and in the 1930's became world heavyweight champion.
When Schmeling was to fight Joe Luis
at Yankee stadium, he was considered past his prime and the Nazis tried to have the fight called off. Joe Louis
was 22 and unundefeated .The world could not believe it when he was knocked out in the 12th round by Schmeling, who then
carried Louis to his corner.
Max Schmeling returned to German on the Hindenburg airship . When he returned,
Hiler invited him to lunch. "I had to go," he said later. At the lunch they both watched
a film of the fight and Hitler slapped his leg each
time Schmeling threw a dramatic punch. When Schmeling met Luis again in 1938, he would lose his title and Luis would be world
champion.
Schmeling was hospitalized with two broken vertebrae as a result of the fight. The regime would
later turn on Schmeling after he refused to act as a Nazi spokesman
Schmeling was pleased that he had lost the fight. It meant
that he could no longer be used by the Nazis as a symbol of an Aryan Superman.
In November 1938, Schmeling helped a Jewish friend who had to flee Germany during Kristallnacht. He hid the friend's two sons in his Berlin apartment
and later helped them to escape from the country. This deed only came to light in 1989, when one
of the sons invited Schmeling to Las Vegas to thank him
After serving as a paratrooper during World War II in Fallschirmjager
Regiment III , Schmeling attempted to return to boxing only to leave it in 1948. After leaving boxing he became a very successful
buisnessman, running the German operation of perhaps the most American companies, Coca-Cola. Unfortunately during that same
time, Joe Louis struggled with tax problems and drug addiction.
Schmeling sought out Louis in Chicago in 1958 . Their
meeting led to a friendship that lasted until Louis' death in poverty in 1981.
Before his passing, Schmeling had established his claim to dignity,
distancing himself from the evil regime that tried to exploit him..
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