16 replies to this topic

[Hans Etzrodt]

Was Adolf Hitler at the 1933 Avusrennen?
Well – we have been told so in several publications. The first time I read about it was 1984 in The Racing Fifteen-Hundreds "...the Avus had their fill of excitement. The sun shone and the event was honoured by the presence of Der Fuhrer himself." Then I saw it again 1986 in Racing the Silver Arrows "In May 1933, barely four months after he came to power, Hitler went to the Avusrennen in Berlin." In 1992, six years later, it appeared once more in Volume 3 of the "Black Books" "...AVUS which was attended by no less than 200,000 spectators including Herr Hitler himself...". There seemed to be no end of it because when I obtained a copy of First Among Champions in 2000 I stumbled over it again "...the races were watched by the new Reichschancellor, Adolf Hitler." In 2002 I bought a copy of Bugatti a Racing History and here I found it once more "...The meeting was attended by Adolf Hitler..."

I am not yet quite clear from where this idea truly originated but I stumbled over it after having looked into primary sources to review the 1933 Avusrennen on Leif Snellman’s Golden Era of Grand Prix Racing and could find nowhere that Hitler was attending. Yes, a lot of celebrity and almost all big animals of the new national Socialist Government were attending the Avusrennen but not Adolf Hitler. A friend of mine suggested that someone in England not very proficient in German may have falsely interpreted "Hitler at Avus" thinking it was the May 21 Avusrennen, when Adolf Hitler was not there. But Hitler was indeed at the Avus but on May 2, 1933 for the ADAC Reichsfahrt special stage held also at the Avus in Berlin.

[Leif Snellman]

Fastest driver that day received the "Ehrenpreis des Herrn Reichkansler Adolf Hitler". Perhaps someone translated it to "received the trophy from Hitler (himself)" rather than ""received the Hitler trophy"?

[ensign14]

Think he was driving an Adler in the support race?

[Hans Etzrodt]

Interesting is the lack of response to the first post. This being a British site where many of the members display an avid interest in NAZI related issues and then the forum is practically silent. I find that very awkward and astonishing.

Let me rephrase if I have not been clear enough in my first post. I am looking for the original source or the originator who came up with the idea that Hitler was at the 1933 Avusrennen. I would like to find out because it is a historical error, something which has never happened. Also, since this is a British site, it should be the right place to ask this question since the error seems to have originated in Great Britain.

[ensign14]

Political leader turns up at motor race? Probably not that newsworthy at the time, maybe no-one could be bothered. Only retrospect makes it more interesting.

[humphries]

Hans

In The Motor and The Autocar of May 1933 there is, of course, no mention of Hitler at the AVUS but at that time the only foreign politician who was of any interest to the British motoring press was Mussolini who supported motor-racing. Quite when and by whom Hitler was linked with the 1933 AVUS race I do not know. Until you mentioned it in this thread I had no recollection of any claim that Hitler was there - but there he wasn't! You are absolutely right to put the matter straight and hopefully stop the misinformation spreading.

John

[Leif Snellman]

Originally posted by ensign14
Political leader turns up at motor race? Probably not that newsworthy at the time, maybe no-one could be bothered. Only retrospect makes it more interesting.

Well
That Adolf isn't mentioned in British papers is no real surprise but its significant that he according to Hans isn't mentioned in the German papers either.

Here is an example from Motor und Sport's report at Eifelrennen one week later. (Yes, it is part of a race report ;) ) You think they would fail mentioning Hitler?

[David McKinney]

Maybe someone just read the fifth and sixth words and went from there

[Ralliart]

I don't have my copies in front of me but I seem to remember reading - in the Nixon or Monkhouse book - that Hitler had attended some races in the 20's and was familiar with Hans Stuck which was significant later when the Paula Stuck, and her religion, became an issue and Hitler told his administration to lay off. The fact that there are no photos of Hitler at the AVUS also holds weight. If he had attended any race in the 30's, there'd be a photo of it. I'm looking right now at "Grand Prix Greats" and the chapter on Varzi has a photo taken after the 'Avus GP' of 1933 with the caption "A watching Hitler was not amused when Varzi took this Type 54 Bugatti to victory..."

[Vitesse2]

Well, so far we have no primary source and no secondary source earlier than Venables in 1982 (I assume that's the 1986 Roebuck book ralliart?)

[Ralliart]

Yes, the Roebuck book. There is, of course, the possibility that Hitler did attend the race in question but leaving before the race or not sticking around for the finish yet. It was four years before the North turn banking went up yet I'd bet someone out there would be able to identify the course as AVUS were there a photo of Hitler there (or, like I say, any other race track). One path to determing which races, if any, Hitler did attend is the early connection with Stuck I would think. Maybe there is an early Porsche connection. Maybe one of his first chaueffers had raced. Early 20's races in Austria and surrounding area perhaps. Maybe the make of his limousine also participated in racing.

[ray b]

ww2 fans/nuts know where the furor was everyday
look up the date in one of the data bases and see if he was intown or elsewhere that day

[Leif Snellman]

According to Nixon Stuck met Hitler via Hitler's chauffeur Julius Schreck on a hunting event on Stuck's estate in May 1925. Naxt time was a arranged meeting at the party HQ in München 1931 . No talk of attending any races.

[wolf sun]

OT, but who would be a "fan" of WW2...

[sebbbl]

Adolf Hitler did 100% not attend the 1933 AVUS-Rennen. All the corresponding information is wrong.

Just one credible quote:

From Richard Kitschigin's "Rennen, Reifen und Rekorde - Die AVUS Story" from 1972:

Dazu war das halbe Kabinett vom Vizekanzler über den Reichspropagandaminister bis zum Reichsarbeitsminister auf die AVUS-Tribüne gekommen; die braunen Partei- und SA-Uniformen fielen den ausländischen Sportjournalisten als äußeres Merkmal der staatlichen Veränderung und einer neuen Atmosphäre bei internationalen Sportveranstaltungen im "Dritten Reich" auf.

I bet there're some more evidences in my archiv... I'll have a look.

[sebbbl]

From Ulrich Kubisch and Gert Rietner's "Die Avus im Rückspiegel - Rennen, Rekorde, Rückstaus" from 1987:

Auf der Tribüne saßen Reichspropagandaminister Goebbels, der preußische Ministerpräsident Göring sowie Reichswirtschaftsminister Hugenberg.

Both would have mentionned Adolf Hitler if he was there.

[ray b]

Originally posted by wolf sun
OT, but who would be a "fan" of WW2...

history nuts like my self
not really a fan of the war but the machines and battles but do look at some forums
here is a good one

http://forum.axishistory.com/

somewhere on there I saw a list of where AH was each day of the reich