Wolfgang Fürstner (4 April 1896 – 19 August 1936) was a German

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the '' Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previo ...

captain who was appointed as commander and later vice-commander of

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

's Olympic village during the 1936 Summer Olympics.

Family

Wolfgang Fürstner was married to Leonie von Schlick, the daughter of Marie Gräfin von Reventlow and Albert Heinrich Hans Karl von Schlick (1874–1957), the last commander of the

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

battlecruiser

SMS Derfflinger SMS was a battlecruiser of the German Empire, German (Imperial Navy) built in the early 1910s during the Anglo-German naval arms race. She was the lead ship of her ship class, class of three ships; her sister ships were and . The s were larg ...

Career and replacement

After being tasked with building and organising the Olympic village, Fürstner was replaced by Lieutenant Colonel Werner Freiherr von und zu Gilsa in June 1936. Fürstner was demoted to local vice-commander. Officially, the demotion was because "Fürstner did not act with the necessary energy" since 370,000 visitors had poured through from the opening on 1 May to 15 June 1936 and caused damage. The explanation was a pretext to disparage Fürstner because of his background. Fürstner, along with fencer

Helene Mayer Helene Julie Mayer (20 December 1910 – 10 October 1953) was a German-born fencer who won the gold medal at the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam, and the silver medal at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. She competed for Nazi Germany in Berlin, despite ...

and

Ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

star Rudi Ball, was one of the few people with Jewish ancestry connected with the 1936 Olympics. The non-Jewish Werner von Gilsa was given Fürstner's position and promoted to ''General der Infanterie''. Gilsa became the last Wehrmacht commandant of Dresden and committed suicide on 8 May 1945.

Death and cover-up

Fürstner committed suicide with a pistol shot on 19 August 1936, three days after the end of the games. He had been awarded the Olympic Medal First Class and had attended a banquet for his successor, Gilsa, but Fürstner, a career officer, had learned that according to the

Nuremberg Laws The Nuremberg Laws (german: link=no, Nürnberger Gesetze, ) were antisemitic and racist laws that were enacted in Nazi Germany on 15 September 1935, at a special meeting of the Reichstag convened during the annual Nuremberg Rally of ...

, he was classified as a Jew and was to be dismissed from the Wehrmacht. (His grandfather Dr.

Karl Fürstner Karl Fürstner (7 June 1848 - 25 April 1906) was a German neurologist and psychiatrist born in Strasburg, Uckermark. He studied medicine in Würzburg and Berlin, where he received his doctorate in 1871. In 1872 he was an assistant at the patho ...

was a Jewish convert to Christianity.) To cover up Fürstner's suicide and to protect the international reputation of Germany, the Nazis said that Fürstner had died from a car accident. However, word of the cover up leaked out to foreign journalists, who reported that he had shot himself. For example, ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

'' in Australia, reported he had been found dead with a gun by his side.''

'', 21 August 1936 pp. 12. He was buried in the Invalidenfriedhof, section F, alongside the honoured dead of Germany's wars. The grave was listed in the Official Berlin Invalidenfriedhof Guidebook (''Der Invalidenfriedhof in Berlin – Ein Ehrenhain preußisch-deutscher Geschichte''), which appeared between 1936 and 1940 in several editions.

Restoration of grave

A new stone marker for Fürstner's grave was donated by the German Olympic Committee and dedicated in June 2002 by the Committee President, Walther Tröger. The stone lists Fürstner as "Deputy Commandant of the Olympic Village 1936" (''stellvertretender Kommandant des Olympischen Dorfes 1936'').

References

Bibliography

* * * Dost, Susanne. ''Das Olympische Dorf 1936 im Wandel der Zeit'', Neddermeyer, Berlin 2003, {{DEFAULTSORT:Furstner, Wolfgang 1896 births 1936 deaths Nazi propaganda German people of Jewish descent Military personnel from Berlin History of the Olympic Village Burials at the Invalids' Cemetery German military personnel who committed suicide Recipients of the Iron Cross (1914), 1st class Suicides by firearm in Germany People from the Province of Brandenburg