German boxing legend Max Schmeling dies

German boxing legend Max Schmeling dies
By ROY KAMMERER
Associated Press Writer

BERLIN (AP) -- Max Schmeling wanted to be a heavyweight champion, not a symbol of Nazi supremacy.

Though he thrilled Germany by knocking out Joe Louis, there was another side to the fighter that Hitler tried to portray as an Aryan Superman.

Schmeling, who fought Louis in two of the most politically charged sporting events ever on the eve of World War II, once hid two Jewish boys in his apartment from marauding Nazis and later reportedly helped some Jewish friends escape death camps.

He said he feared only one thing in a long life that ended Wednesday at the age of 99.


"I don't want anyone to say I was a good athlete, but worth nothing as a human being - I couldn't bear that," Schmeling said in 1993.

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