Konrad VON WANGENHEIM

Lieutenant Colonel Konrad von Wangenheim was a three-day event rider who won the gold medal with the German team at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, and finished 24th in the individual event. During the cross-country section he crashed after his horse Kurfürst hit the fourth barrier. Despite breaking his left collar bone, von Wangenheim got back on his horse and finished the section. Injured, and with the arm in a sling, he started the following day’s show jumping event and, despite another bad fall, onto his injured collar bone, he remounted and completed the course in the time to save the gold medal for the German team.

During World War II von Wangenheim was captured by the Russians in 1944. He was first taken to Moscow where he was tortured and interrogated, especially about his time at the German embassy in Ankara in 1942 as military attaché. It is reported, however, that he did not disclose anything. He was then sentenced to 25 years compulsory labor. He eventually died in a POW camp near Stalingrad in 1953 and was possibly murdered or committed suicide. He was found hanging and the circumstances were never cleared. His son was the well-known fashion photographer Chris von Wangenheim (1942-81), who died fairly young in a car accident.