Carl-Friedrich von Langen

Carl-Friedrich von Langen (postage stamp 1968)

Commemorative plaque for Carl-Friedrich von Langen on the manor house in Parow

Carl-Friedrich Freiherr von Langen (born July 25, 1887 in Klein Belitz , † August 2, 1934 in Potsdam ) was a German rider and Olympic champion .

Life

Carl-Friedrich von Langen, Rittmeister, landowner from Parow near Stralsund (line from Langen-Parow), seriously wounded in World War I , severely handicapped for a short time due to severe paralysis, began a sporting career in 1920. Eight years later he won two gold medals in dressage (individual and team) with his horse "Daredevil" at the first Olympic Games in which Germany was allowed to participate again . A heroic image of Langen's life , written by Clemens Laar in 1936, entitled " … rides for Germany " was filmed in 1941 with Willy Birgel and published in 1991 as a video.

Langen was a student of Gustav Göbel, a student of Gustav Steinbrecht and James Fillis , who trained many German top runners in the interwar period.

In 1921 Langen won 26 jumping competitions, was second 20 times and placed 44 times; in addition there were dressage and eventing tests. He usually traveled to tournaments by train.

In 1922 Langen started abroad for the first time ( Malmö , Sweden), but remained unsuccessful. The next year he won five times in Malmö. In 1924 he started in Italy, the stronghold of show jumping at the time (see Federico Caprilli ). In Rome he won a jumping against 102 competitors and was victorious in the power jumping.

Langen won the dressage test at the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam against participants from 13 nations. In jumping his horse, the two-time Derby winner Falkner (1927 and 1928), failed at the beginning; 8 errors resulted in 28th place. The Olympic Games had a special meaning for the national feeling of the Germans in this post-war period (the Rhineland was still occupied). Germany won the most medals after the USA , and the riders had their share of it. This situation was repeated in a certain way after the Second World War , with the successes of Hans Günter Winkler and Fritz Thiedemann .

Von Langen described a rideable horse as follows:

“A rideable horse should willingly go straight on in all gaits, should be able to turn in every gait, make volts and U-turns - depending on the strength of the gait. It should hold willingly without blocking itself, be obedient, step backwards briskly when requested, always stand lightly on the reins, canter on both sides as easily as possible, and be comfortably led short distances at a fast pace. A horse that fulfills these conditions is rideable in the sense of the Germanic concept of riding, is in natural balance according to Italian requirements and fulfills the condition of suppleness as required by the French school. "

- Carl-Friedrich von Langen : Riding over obstacles, Kiel n.d., p. 6

In the fall of 1930, before the NSDAP had grown into a mass party, Langen became a member of the SA . After the National Socialists came to power , as SA-Sturmbannführer he worked energetically for the transfer of the rural riding and driving clubs to the storm department . After his death he was built up by the National Socialist propaganda as a symbol of a German hero. The Nazis filmed his life in 1941 with the title ... riding for Germany as an Aryan heroic stirring piece, which in 1944 Reich Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels classified as a film of "national importance".

Former Neuhof manor house

Langen died as a result of a fall in a military competition in Döberitz . His grave is in the palace gardens of Neuhof near Bibow , where he grew up and was buried on August 6, 1934 (possibly together with a horse).

Honors

• In 1928 von Langen was awarded the Golden Band of the sports press .
• The Equestrian Association (FN) resides in the "Freiherr-von-Langen-Straße" in Warendorf, which is named after him .
• The Deutsche Bundespost issued a postage stamp with his picture in 1968.
• Prize "In memoriam Freiherr von Langen" at the horse festival organized by Paul Schockemöhle at the Redefin State Stud . As of 2013, the price will no longer be named after Langen.

literature

• Carl-Friedrich Freiherr von Langen: Riding over obstacles , Olms Verlag, (reprint of the edition Kiel, Hanover 1931 and 1933), 1983 ( ISBN 3-487-08257-8 ).
• Susanne Hennig: 100 Years of FN , FN-Verlag 2005 ( ISBN 3-88542-377-4 ).
• Clemens Laar: ... rides for Germany. Carl-Friedrich Freiherr von Langen. A fateful fate. Sponholtz, Hanover 1936. With a foreword by Hans von Tschammer and Osten .
• Nele Maya Fahnenbruck: "... rides for Germany": Equestrian sport and politics under National Socialism . Die Werkstatt, March 15, 2013, ISBN 978-3-7307-0036-5 (Dissertation Uni Hamburg)
• Romedio Count of Thun-Hohenstein:  Langen, Carl-Friedrich Freiherr von. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 13, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1982, ISBN 3-428-00194-X , p. 578 ( digitized version ).
• Joachim Puttkamer: Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania: 100 famous heads . Sutton Verlag 2011, ISBN 978-3-86680-851-5 , p. 102 ( excerpt (Google) )

Web links

Commons : Carl-Friedrich Freiherr von Langen  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Carl-Friedrich von Langen in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Literature by and about Carl-Friedrich von Langen in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Clemens Laar: ... rides for Germany. Carl-Friedrich Freiherr von Langen. A fateful fate. Hanover: Adolf Sponholtz Verlag, 1936., page 80ff.
2. ^ Susanne Hennig, Werner Ernst: 100 years of horse breeding and equestrian sports in Germany . FN-Verl. of the German Equestrian Association Warendorf 2005, ISBN 3-88542-377-4 , p. 100.
3. ^ ^{A b} Erik Eggers, Michael Wulzinger: Brauner Herrenreiter. Der Spiegel No. 10/2013 of March 4, 2013, page 119
4. ↑ Roland Güttler: Story (s): When the Rittmeister and his horse came to the same grave | svz.de. In: SVZ. September 23, 2014, accessed May 2, 2020 .