Rudolf Harbig

Rudolf Harbig
Full name	Rudolf Waldemar Harbig
nation	German Empire
birthday	November 8, 1913
place of birth	Dresden
size	174 cm
Weight	67 kg
job	Wheelwright
date of death	March 5, 1944
Place of death	Olkhovets, Soviet Union
Career
discipline	Short distance run medium distance run
Best performance	10.6 s ( 100 m ) 21.5 s ( 200 m ) 34.6 s (300 m) 46.0 s ( 400 m ) 1: 01.7 min (500 m) 1: 46.6 min ( 800 m ) 2: 21.5 min ( 1000 m ) 4: 01.0 min ( 1500 m )
society	Dresdner SC Eintracht Braunschweig
Trainer	Woldemar Gerschler
Medal table
Olympic games 0 × 0 × 1 × European championships 2 × 0 × 0 × German championships 7 × 0 × 0 ×
Olympic games bronze Berlin 1936 4 × 400 m relay  European championships gold Paris 1938 800 m gold Paris 1938 4 × 400 m relay  German championships gold Berlin 1936 800 m gold Berlin 1937 800 m gold Wroclaw 1938 800 m gold Berlin 1939 800 m gold Berlin 1940 800 m gold Berlin 1941 800 m gold Berlin 1942 400 m

Rudolf Waldemar "Rudi" Harbig (born November 8, 1913 in Dresden ; † or missing since March 5, 1944 in Olchowez , Swenyhorodka , Ukrainian SSR , Soviet Union ) was a German athlete who was particularly successful as a middle-distance runner .

Harbig's running career began in 1934. Under the guidance of coach Woldemar Gerschler , he became an exceptional athlete within a few years. In 1936 he became German champion for the first time and won a bronze medal at the Olympic Games in Berlin as a runner in the 4 x 400 meter relay . In 1938 he became a two-time European champion. At the height of his sporting career, he set four world records in just a few months in 1939. He was unable to take part in the 1940 Olympic Games because the Games were canceled as a result of the Second World War . Harbig ran his last world record in 1941 over the 1000 meter distance. In the years that followed, being drafted into the Wehrmacht prevented further major successes. He started a total of 233 times on 175 competition days (including relay , but without forest runs and without indoor events), where he won 201 times.

Since a combat mission as a paratrooper in the Air Force in March 1944, Harbig has been killed or missing .

Childhood and teaching

Rudolf Harbig lived in this rear building on Großenhainer Straße during his childhood during the Weimar Republic .

Rudolf Harbig was born on November 8, 1913, the second of five children in Dresden-Löbtau. In his early childhood he lived with his family first in the Löbtau district , then in Trachenberge . From 1919 he grew up in Trachau , where he lived in a back building at Großenhainer Strasse 219 in the Wilder Mann district. He had an older and two younger sisters and a younger brother. His father A. Rudolf Harbig, a stoker by trade, could not find a job after returning home from the First World War . Harbig's mother brought the family through the Depression.

As a student, Rudolf Harbig belonged to the gymnastics and sports club "Frischauf" Trachau; later he moved to the Brandenburg Sports Association . He took part in runs in the Dresdner Heide and also played handball . After eight years of school, Harbig wanted to learn the butcher's trade. However, since his parents could not raise the financial means for the necessary laundry, he started an apprenticeship as a wheelwright in Dresden's old town . During his apprenticeship, Harbig remained loyal to the sports club; In 1930 he won a 3,000-meter run . The following year he finished sixth with a time of 34:25 minutes in a 10,000 meter run . When his club was dissolved after internal conflicts, Harbig moved to the Dresden club Olympia . After his apprenticeship, his master could not take him on as a journeyman due to the prevailing global economic crisis . So Harbig went on a journey . From Dresden he first traveled to Munich and from there as "Tippelbruder" through Germany. When he couldn't find work abroad either, he returned to his family and continued to do sports.

In addition to the handball game and athletics, Harbig was active as a swimmer and footballer , he cycled and went skiing in the Ore Mountains during the winter months . Still unable to find permanent employment, he got by with odd jobs. In order to secure his existence, he finally signed up for three years in the Reichswehr at the end of 1932 . After the final examination in the Jäger barracks, he was employed. In addition to his military training on the Heller , he was able to devote himself largely to athletic activities during military service. Harbig was soon known for his “spur qualities”; he won several races for his company .

Athletic career

Discovery and Ascension

In the Heinz Steyer Stadium (photo from 1986), Harbig was discovered by his later mentor Woldemar Gerschler in 1934 during the competition on the day of the "Unknown Sportsman".

The professional soldier Harbig continued to take part in races. In the summer of 1934, preparations began in Germany for the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin . In order to discover unrecognized sporting talents, there were numerous sporting events in the Reich, including on June 24, 1934, when the Day of the Unknown Sportsman was held in Dresden . In the Heinz Steyer Stadium of the Dresdner SC (DSC) in the Ostragehege , Harbig took part in an 800-meter run . This competition became a turning point in his life. The field of runners, which hit a very fast pace after the start, initially stayed close, but drew apart significantly in the second half of the race. Harbig defeated his opponents with a time of 2:04 min. However, his victory was hardly noticed by the public, only one sports expert who was present was interested in the aspiring runner. It was Woldemar Gerschler , the then head of the Dresden Olympic training community and Harbig's later mentor. The Gerschler from Meißen had observed Harbig during the entire run and had come to the decision to support and look after the young man. He offered to join the Olympic training community, which Harbig did. In addition, Harbig joined Gerschler's team in the DSC, where he trained him physically, technically and tactically, especially in interval training, which was little known at the time . This was the beginning of Harbig's sports career.

In July 1934, the Army Sports School held sports courses in Wünsdorf and the surrounding area. He was third in a competition in Luckenwalde on the 800 meter distance with a time of 2: 04.5 min. He achieved second place in the 1000 meter run in Wünsdorf. At the end of July 1934, then Reich trainer Josef Waitzer subjected the Dresden training community to an examination. In the scheduled 800-meter run, Harbig won ahead of the former Olympian Max Tarnogrocki and stayed below the two-minute limit with 1: 59.4 minutes. At the German championships on July 27, 1934 in Nuremberg , however, Harbig retired in the run-up to the 800-meter distance with 2: 05.6 minutes in sixth. In September he won again in Wünsdorf over the same distance with a time of 1: 58.2 minutes.

In the first months of training and during winter preparation at Gerschler's side, Harbig's performance potential increased. At the track opening events in Dresden in May 1935, he won the 800-meter route. On June 1st he decided again in Dresden the half kilometer and the day after the 100 meters for himself. In the 800-meter run on June 9, 1935 in Breslau , Silesia , he again prevailed against his opponents. That Harbig did not get the victories for free was shown on June 15 in Kassel when he only finished seventh on the 1000 meter distance. The next day he ran there in the Olympic test run over the 800 meters in first place. A little later, Harbig injured his knee so unhappily during a handball game that he had to go to hospital for two weeks. As a result of the lack of training, Harbig was out of shape on July 21, 1935 at the German junior championships taking place in Kassel , he only finished seventh in the 800-meter run. After two further first places over the 400-meter route (50.3 s) and with the 4 x 400 meter relay (3: 28.4 min) in Dresden on July 28th, Harbig accepted at the beginning of August 1935 the German championships in Berlin. In the pre-race over the 800 meters, he was third with a time of 1: 56.8 minutes. In the final, several runners collided after about 500 meters. Harbig received a kick in the heel from an opponent. As his running shoe was no longer fitting properly and was rubbing on the heel injury, Harbig got severe pain and finished seventh.

Because of the increasing stress caused by military service and the more intensive training, Harbig submitted his resignation in the summer of 1935. Although he had no job prospects, he retired from the professional army in August 1935 in the course of the transition from the Reichswehr to the Wehrmacht and kept himself afloat with odd jobs. He used the free time he had regained to train systematically. During this time he and Gerschler laid the foundation for his later running technique. In September 1935, Harbig won an 800-meter run in Berlin and came second in the 400-meter distance. A first place over the 1500 meters followed in Dresden on September 6th. The competition season ended in October 1935 with further victories in the 1000 meter run and in the 4 x 100 meter relay in Reichenberg , Czechoslovakia . Then Harbig, who in the meantime had found a job as a temporary worker for a wheelwright from Lower Sedlitz, returned to training.

Olympic Games 1936

"Food House of Nations" in the Olympic Village

In February 1936 Harbig got a permanent job as a gas reader at the Dresden Gas, Water and Electricity Works Drewag , in whose employee magazine he reported his sporting experiences to his work colleagues. As a reader he was responsible for the Mitte district of Dresden's old town. In terms of sport, too, things continued to improve: after winter training, Harbig achieved the form he and Gerschler had aimed for at the start of the 1936 competition season. He won the Saxon district and state championships. At the German championships on July 11 and 12, 1936 in Berlin 's Mommsen Stadium , Harbig was concerned not only with the German championship but also with qualifying for the Olympic Games that began a few weeks later . In the preliminary round for the 800-meter run, he came second. In the main run he was initially in the midfield after the start, after about 400 meters he took the lead and won ahead of Wolfgang Dessecker . With a time of 1: 54.1 min, Harbig was German champion and was allowed to start the Olympics. With him, Dessecker and Alexander Mertens also qualified .

In the three weeks before the start of the games, Harbig devoted himself to preparation. A week before that, he traveled to Ettlingen with Gerschler in order to consolidate his capabilities in a sports school. However, he had to stop training early because of a headache. On the way to Berlin he suffered a gastrointestinal infection that was made worse by motion sickness . Harbig moved into the Vosges house in the Olympic Village and sought medical treatment. The next day, August 2nd, the weakened Harbig started well over the 800 meter distance and was second behind the Canadian Phil Edwards . After about 600 meters he suffered a drop in strength - he came in sixth. Harbig returned with Gerschler to the Olympic Village, where both were exposed to serious allegations on the part of the German sports management. The disappointment in the 800-meter run led to serious doubts about his use in the 4-by-400-meter relay . So an elimination run was scheduled over the distance of 400 meters, in which Harbig had to compete against Friedrich von Stülpnagel . The two athletes fought a tough duel, which Harbig won with a time of 48.8 seconds. Von Stülpnagel was also nominated for the season with his time of 48.9 s.

In the run-up on August 8, the German team with Helmut Hamann , von Stülpnagel, Harry Voigt and Harbig prevailed over Canada with 3: 15.0 minutes . In addition to the German Empire, Canada, England, Sweden , Hungary and the United States of America took part in the final on August 9th . The German runners started in the same order. Canada was in the lead after the first 400 meters. In the second round, the USA took the lead ahead of England and Canada. Von Stülpnagel handed the baton in fourth position to Voigt. This caught up with Canada, overtook and handed the baton in third place to last runner Harbig. The Canadian John Loaring running behind him stayed close on Harbig's heels, but Germany won the bronze medal with a time of 3: 11.8 minutes.

After the Olympic Games, Harbig traveled to Sweden, where he took part in several sports festivals and was able to gain additional international experience.

Career high point

In London's White City Stadium, Harbig ran on August 14, 1937 his only competition over 880 yards.

Harbig joined the NSDAP in 1937 and became a member of the Dresden mountaineering troop affiliated to the SA . This year he caught up with the international top runners on a sporting level. He ran from success to success in his disciplines over 200, 400 and 800 meters. He achieved the opening victory on May 16, 1937 in Paris over the 800-meter distance. In the next races of the regional and Saxony championships, Harbig won both the 200 and 800 meter distances and helped the DSC team to finish first in the 4 x 400 meter relay. In the 800-meter comparison in Königsberg on July 9th, he won again. On July 11, Harbig started his club at the German relay championships and a week later at the German club championships. There he took first places on the 800 and 1500 meter courses.

He won the 800-meter run in Chemnitz on July 21, 1937. A tragic accident overshadowed the competition when a hammer hit Harbig's trainer Gerschler, who had to be rushed to hospital with internal injuries. Gerschler struggled with death for weeks and only recovered after months. So Harbig drove without him to the German championships in Berlin at the end of July 1937. After the start he took the lead and ran with a time of 1: 50.9 minutes (German record) to win and second German championship title. In his time he had improved Otto Peltzer's eleven-year record by seven tenths of a second and was four seconds ahead of the runner-up.

A week later, Harbig ran another German record in the Berlin Olympic Stadium - this time over 400 meters, where he undercut the record set by Joachim Büchner nine years earlier with a time of 47.6 seconds . Harbig was the record holder of these two middle-distance races. In the international match between Germany and France in August 1937 in Munich, he continued his winning streak. Harbig won the 800-meter run and won the 4-by-400-meter relay with his team. Just a week later he came to another success in London's White City Stadium over 880 yards (804.67 m) on August 14th. On August 22, 1937, Harbig defeated his competitors in front of a Dresden audience again on the 800-meter distance. On August 29, 1937 he won the German club championships both over the 200 meters and with the 4 x 100 meter relay. In the international match between Germany and Sweden on September 19, 1937, a victorious Harbig was seen again; He won more gold medals in the 400 and 800 meter distances and with the 4 x 100 meter relay. In the overall standings, however, the international match went to Sweden. The 1937 season ended with the competitions in Reichenberg, where Harbig went off the track again with victories on the 200- and 800-meter routes. At the end of 1937 he was fifth in the world rankings over the 800 meters .

Hans von Tschammer und Osten and Wilhelm Frick at the opening of the German Gymnastics and Sports Festival in July 1938

After preparing for winter in 1937/38, Harbig's running season began at the end of February 1938 with a 3-kilometer run in Hohen Neuendorf near Berlin, which he won. From May 1938 he took part in the district and Saxony championships. There were further competitions on the distances of 200, 400, 800, 1000 and 1500 meters and with the 4 x 400 meter relay in Dresden, Jena , Forst (Lausitz) , Cottbus , Leipzig and Nuremberg, which Harbig was able to win for the most part .

The first international run of the year took place on July 3rd during the international match between France and Germany in Paris. The competition ended with a success for the German team, with Harbig winning in the 800 meter run. His tactic was to just keep up with the pace of his predecessors at first. Mostly Harbig positioned himself in second place at the beginning and only passed his competitors in the final sprint. When his final spurt began was mostly down to the followers. Harbig was able to extend his final sprint to 200 or 300 meters, but also only initiate it between 20 and 50 meters before the finish. On July 9, 1938, the international match between Germany and Poland followed in Königsberg . Harbig started on the 800 meter course and won the race with a time of 1: 51.6 minutes. On July 19, 1938, he won another 400-meter run at the 3rd International Stadium Festival ( ISTAF ) in Berlin's Mommsen Stadium .

At the German athletics championships in July 1938 in the Hermann-Göring Stadium in Breslau , Harbig was German champion in the 800-meter distance for the third time in a row. In the international match between Germany and the United States on August 13, 1938, Harbig won again over the 800-meter course. He had previously won the 400-meter run in Hamburg on August 3 ; on August 7th he ran the same distance in Dortmund (46.8 s) to victory and set a new German record. Harbig's winning streak continued. On August 16, he prevailed over 800 meters in Dresden; on August 21 he repeated the victory in Stuttgart. In the international match between Sweden and Germany in Stockholm at the end of August 1938 , he won both the 400 and 800 meter distances and won the 4 x 400 meter relay with his team.

The high point of the season were the European Athletics Championships from September 3rd to 5th, 1938 in Paris. After the heats for the 800-meter run, it became clear that Harbig's rival would be the Italian Mario Lanzi . After the start, Lanzi took the lead in front of Harbig. In the last corner Harbig started the final sprint, won in a time of 1: 50.66 minutes and was European champion. At the same time, his time was a new German record. In the 4 x 400 meter relay, the German team defeated the opponents with Harbig as the final runner and became European champions. The second meeting between Lanzi and Harbig followed on September 11, 1938 in Milan . The 800-meter run ended with Harbig's victory in 1: 52.6 minutes. Further first places followed in late September and early October 1938 in Budapest (1: 53.0 min) and in Vienna (1: 54.4 min). After the season was over, Harbig went on a three-week trip to Italy.

After the obligatory forest runs in February 1939, Harbig's running season began in early May with the track opening competitions and relay races in Dresden. On May 21, 1939, he took part in the Olympic test competitions in Mannheim over the 800-meter distance. In bad weather, Harbig immediately took the lead and did not give up the lead until the finish. His time of 1: 50.5 minutes meant a new German record. At the following Saxon district and state championships in Leipzig and Dresden on June 3 and 4 and June 10 and 11, 1939, Harbig was the first to cross the finish line in all seven starts. After proving his performance over 800 meters, he should break the world record in the 500-meter course in Erfurt . The record run on June 18, 1939 was achieved with a time of 61.7 s. The best time run on the unusual distance was hardly noticed by the general public. Further victories in Dresden and in the international match between Germany and France in Munich followed.

At the German championships, Harbig ran a world record of 1: 49.4 minutes on the 800 meter course on July 9th. On July 15 and 16, 1939, Harbig met Lanzi again in Milan as part of the international match between Italy and Germany. In the Arena Civica there was a duel over the 800-meter distance on the first day of competition. Harbig won ahead of Lanzi with a time of 1: 46.6 minutes. That meant world record; Harbig had broken his own record by almost three seconds. The time was so extraordinary that the news agencies distributed it in letters ( "one-six-forty-six" ) to be on the safe side; it was not until 16 years later in 1955 that Roger Moens undercut it with 1: 45.7 minutes. The next day Lanzi and Harbig competed against each other again in the 400-meter run. Lanzi took the lead, but Harbig started the final spurt 50 meters from the finish, passed Lanzi and won with a time of 46.7 s (new German record). Finally, he and his team won the 4 x 400 meter relay. As an award for his achievements, Harbig received a bronze miniature version of the ball thrower, a statue created by Richard Daniel Fabricius based on the model of the athlete Ewald Redam , from the hands of the Lord Mayor of Dresden, Hans Nieland .

On July 29, 1939, Harbig met Lanzi again in Berlin, whom he was able to beat again in the 800-meter distance. This was followed by another international competition in Dresden and races in Munich, Braunschweig , Karlsruhe, Duisburg , Krefeld and Cologne , most of which were successful for Harbig. Harbig and Lanzi met again on August 12, 1939 as part of the Eintracht sports festival in Frankfurt's Waldstadion . In the 400-meter run, Lanzi took the lead again from Harbig, who followed closely. The duel from Milan was repeated. Both runners were at the same height for the last 50 meters. When Lanzi ran out of strength, Harbig pushed past and won. The clocks stopped at 46.0 s; this meant another world record.

In the subsequent international match between Germany and England in Cologne, Harbig won again on the 400-meter distance and took first place with his team in the 4-by-400-meter relay. He achieved another 800 meter victory on August 26th in Krefeld in the international match between Germany and Belgium. However, the competition was canceled a few days before the outbreak of the Second World War . At the same time, a visibly shaken Harbig received the draft notice for military service on August 28, 1939 as part of the general mobilization. According to the memories of Harbig's later wife, a world collapsed for him that day.

Decline

Milan's Arena Civica , where Harbig set a world record, in 1940

The outbreak of war confronted the sports management with a conflict. From their point of view, sport was, on the one hand, decisive for the “physical and mental defensive strength” of young people; German sport also gained in prestige abroad in the summer of 1939, in particular through Harbig's world record run over 800 meters. On the other hand, Reich Sports Leader Hans von Tschammer und Osten proclaimed that “the leader's best athlete should now also be his best soldiers”. Tschammer and Guido von Mengden left no doubt from the start that the previous scope of national and international sporting events had to submit to the requirements of the war. In the first winter of the war in 1939/40, track and field athletes in particular, as high performers in German sport, were still hoping for the 1940 Olympic Games in Helsinki , which had not yet been canceled. Harbig was considered the favorite for double Olympic gold in the 400 and 800 meter run. In reality, the track and field athletes were already deprived of their systematic training opportunities - as was Harbig, who was sent to Gnesen as a private guard duty , which he complained about in a letter to his running friend Dieter Giesen.

It was not until August 1940 that he again took part in a competition with an international cast. In the international match between Germany and Italy in Stuttgart , he competed again against the Italian Lanzi in the 400- and 800-meter distances and won both races. He mostly competed in all other competitions without any preparatory training. At the German championships in Berlin, Harbig prevailed over 800 meters again. After the cancellation of the Olympic Games in Finland in 1940, the three-country battle between Finland , Sweden and Germany took place in Helsinki in September . Harbig, who competed there, secured victory in both the 400 and 800 meter races and took first place with his team in the 4 x 400 meter relay. After that, severe angina forced him to be hospitalized. Still weakened by this, he started again against Lanzi on September 29th in Como, Italy, and finished second behind him with 1: 54.7 minutes on the 800-meter course. The international match between Romania and Germany in Bucharest in October 1940 saw Harbig again on the highest podium. He won the 400 and 800 meter races and took gold with his team on the 4 x 400 meter relay.

Harbig's aversion to the war did not go unnoticed by Tschammer. After threats and serious words, he arranged for Harbig to be transferred to the paratroopers of the Air Force , to Parachute School III at the Braunschweig-Broitzem air base . The paratroopers as an " elite unit " were purely a volunteer force until 1944. The relatives were subjected to a strict selection based on certain physical, mental-psychological and political-ideological qualities. Harbig joined Eintracht Braunschweig at his station .

In addition to his military training service in the winter of 1940/41, Harbig prepared for the season in his new club. This includes two forest runs, which he could decide for himself. Although Harbig was not a fan of indoor races, he took part in the indoor run in Magdeburg on February 16, 1941 due to the reduced sporting opportunities . There he ran over 1000 meters to victory. On March 16, he won in Berlin over the same distance. On May 18, Harbig won the 1000-meter course again in Berlin. His time of 2: 24.9 minutes meant a German record.

On May 24, 1941, another race over 1000 meters followed in Dresden. There Harbig made another record attempt. The cinder track of the Ilgen-Kampfbahn was heavy due to previous rainfall and made the run more difficult. When about 800 meters had been completed, Harbig took the lead and ran a world record of 2: 21.5 minutes. At the 800-meter run on May 27, 1941 in Copenhagen , Denmark , he won again. From June 1941, Harbig u. a. in Bucharest, Brussels and Paris. The outstanding competition of these months was the Italian-German international match on June 28 and 29, 1941 in Bologna . Harbig was on leave from military service for this international match. But both on the 400- (47.2 s) and on the 800-meter course (1: 49.1 min) he had to admit defeat to Lanzi due to his war effort. The two runners were only separated by a tenth of a second at the finish.

At the competitions in the French Stade Olympique de Colombes on August 17th, Harbig just missed the existing world record with 46.7 seconds despite headwinds on the 400-meter distance, but it was still the European best time of the year. Gerschler had previously calculated a theoretical time of 45.8 s. Harbig compensated himself for the lost record by setting a world record on August 23, 1941 in Braunschweig with the 4 x 800 meter relay in a total time of 7: 30.3 minutes. Then Harbig took a break from training because no further races were to be started in 1941. When the Deutsche Dienstpost was commissioned by Arthur Seyß-Inquart , Reich Commissioner for the occupied Netherlands on 4th / 5th After organizing a competition in the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam in October 1941 , Harbig started with a three-week training deficit on the 800-meter course and won with 1: 50.2 s. Subsequently, it was used again in military service.

In the course of the winter battle in the east and the withdrawal of the Wehrmacht in the war winter of 1941/42, the athlete bonus was no longer considered. Deprived of any sports facilities, Harbig and his unit had to go to the Eastern Front. Only after being wounded did his superiors allow him to return to his Brunswick unit in May 1942. At the same time, Harbig was released again for national and international competitions and he resumed training in Braunschweig. In June 1942, Harbig won the 100-meter sprint in Braunschweig. At the German championships in Berlin on July 25th and 26th, he only ran the 400 meter distance and took first place there. German champion on the 800 meter course was Dieter Giesen . Harbig had his last appearance in Berlin on September 13th in the Mommsen Stadium, where he was able to win the 800 meters again. Congratulators were the Charlottenburg head sportsman and SS standard leader Walter Blume .

Harbig's last major sporting event in 1942 included the international match between Sweden and Germany in Stockholm and Malmö in September . There he had to admit defeat in second place in both the 400 and 800 meters due to his training deficit. On November 8, 1942, Harbig's 29th birthday, he took part on the XIX. Indoor sports festival in Magdeburg and won at 1000 meters. This was his last competition. Immediately after this event, Rudolf Harbig was transferred back to the front.

Burial of the urn of the Reich Sports Leader Hans von Tschammer und Osten in March 1943, at which Harbig had stood guard of honor

In March 1943 he and other athletes held an honor guard at the burial of the urn of the Reich Sports Leader Hans von Tschammer und Osten, who died of pneumonia on March 25, 1943 in the Berlin Langemarckhalle . It was one of Harbig's last public appearances. The funeral speech and the obituary for the deceased was given by Joseph Goebbels , who repeatedly proclaimed the outstanding position of top athletes as elite soldiers. Following this ideology, Rudolf Harbig's slogan “I'm going to battle for Germany!” Should also be understood, which corresponded to the zeitgeist of the time and met with sympathy among top Nazi sports officials. True to this motto, Harbig was then ordered to deploy again. He took part with his unit in fighting on the Italian front and again on the eastern front. Harbig, who was regarded as a highly decorated soldier who was wounded several times during his missions, so the left shin as a result of an infantry cross racket and a little later by a Pak splitter on the left thigh. During the hospital stays and convalescence leave mainly in France, Harbig tried to keep his running training. However, there was no question of regular training procedures, he no longer achieved his top performance. Harbig did not take part in the German championships on July 24th and 25th, 1943 in Berlin. Rudolf Harbig met his family for the last time in the winter of 1943/44 when he was recovering from another wound. One of the sisters later recalled her brother's statement that he might not have had to return to the front. On the other hand, Harbig knew from letters from his comrades on the front that he should not let them down. So he found himself in an inner conflict. He finally took part in the war again because he did not appear as a coward and because he wanted to "do his duty".

death

The arguments put forward on March 3, 1944 reconnaissance forays Soviet associations presented the prelude to Uman Botoşaner operation is on 5 March 1944, opened. 1st Ukrainian Front ( Marshal Georgy Zhukov ) on the southern front their major offensive against the German armies of Army Group South under Field Marshal General Erich von Manstein . On the Soviet side, the 4th Guards Army , 52nd Army , 27th Army and parts of the 5th Guard Army and the 6th Panzer Army were involved. On the morning of March 5, strong Soviet formations broke into the sector of the 2nd Paratrooper Division (Lieutenant General Gustav Wilke ) in Olkhovets near Kirovograd , Ukraine . Rudolf Harbig served at this time with the rank of Oberfeldwebel in the Paratrooper Regiment 6 (Major Friedrich August von der Heydte ) as platoon leader . The Soviet units also occupied the strategically important height of 208.9 on the southern edge. Harbig was killed in the fighting that day.

The exact details of the circumstances of his death are still disputed today. According to some eyewitnesses from his immediate vicinity, Harbig is said to have been wounded by a bullet during a break in the fight and died in a first aid station . Other soldiers reported that Harbig fell in a retreat in a forest and could not be recovered or was killed in a hand grenade explosion. He has been officially missing since March 5, 1944. Nevertheless, in 1954 the Bild reported that Harbig had died in an Armenian prisoner-of-war camp in 1945 . The news of his death brought Harbig's long-time training friend Heinz Lorenz to the family. A grave has not been found to this day, as the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge confirmed in 2013.

Gerda Harbig still hoped until 1952 that her husband would return from the war after all. The Nazi daily newspaper Der Freiheitskampf of March 30, 1944 announced Harbig's death in a simple note. The obituary of the specialist journalist and editor-in-chief of the specialist journal Der Leichtathlet , Heinz Cavalier , was published on April 13, 1944. On January 1, 1945, Harbig was posthumously awarded the German Cross in Gold . Harbig's name is listed in the memorial book of the German war cemetery in Kiev.

The Nazi sports leadership had factored in Harbig's soldier death and that of other exceptional athletes such as Luz Long . The death of top athletes at the front was the consequence of the military interpretation of sport, which had a long tradition in the leadership circles of German sport. This "militarism of convictions" culminated in the view of the Reich Sports Leader Tschammer that the "... male physical education without the ultimate goal of military fitness (...) lost its meaning" and that sport at the national level should be viewed as part of total war . The resumption of international sports traffic in autumn 1941 was a tightrope walk between a powerful external sports presence and the ideological imperative to prove yourself at the front. In particular, there were no requests for postponement or indispensable certificates in German sport, as often occurred in the entertainment industry and in the cultural sector under the auspices of the Reich Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda . For example, after the Battle of Stalingrad , athletes could only be released from work with very good personal relationships. Soldier football teams in the army and air force in the home garrisons proved that top athletes could still be exempted from service at the front . Top athletes like Harbig were put on absurd and lossy double burdens. By 1943, 14 German champions had fallen in athletics alone. By the end of the war, 15 of the 60 athletes who represented Germany at the Olympic Games in Berlin had died.

Harbig remained, aided by the decline of the sport in the Second World War, the only athlete in history who simultaneously held the world records over 400, 800 and 1000 meters. The failure of the Olympic Games in 1940 - during the period of his absolute dominance - robbed him of his chance for Olympic gold.

Personal

Way of life

Rudolf Harbig was 1.74 m tall. His competition weight was between 67 and 68 kg. He strictly followed his life principles and went to bed no later than 10 p.m. Harbig did not adhere to a diet. He liked hearty mixed foods and preferred vegetables, salads and fruits without being a vegetarian. Harbig completely subordinated his lifestyle to sport. At Easter, Whitsun and Christmas Harbig went hiking or skiing in Holzhau , which he later had to give up in preparation for the 1940 Olympics . After these games, Harbig originally wanted to end his active career and turn back to skiing. Rudolf Harbig promoted youth sports and worked as a fitness coach within the DSC soccer team. The soccer team then became two-time cup winners (1940/41) and German champions (1943/44). His wife Gerda described her husband in her notes as a humble, fun-loving person and cheerful companion with a sense of culture. Wherever Rudolf Harbig appeared, he was surrounded by autograph hunters. He was always considered a "decent and fair athlete."

family

Gerda Harbig and Täve Schur at a reception as part of the International Peace Tour in 1955

His future wife Gerda (* 1920), née Heidrich, met Harbig at a festival of the Dresden gymnastics club in December 1933. They got engaged in 1937 . The marriage took place on May 5, 1941. Gerda Harbig worked from 1951 in the National Olympic Committee of the GDR at the NOK General Secretariat. There she was finance director and since 1952 archivist. She died on February 24, 1962 at the age of 42 after a brief period of serious illness.

The only child from the marriage was Ulrike Harbig, who was born on April 13, 1943 in Dresden. An acquaintance of the family rescued her in February 1945 after one of the air raids on Dresden from the Harbig's apartment in Johannstadt in the burning house at 40 Fürstenstrasse, today's Fetscherstrasse . Ulrike Harbig fled the GDR to Bavaria in 1966. She went in 2000 as a teacher in early pension and later moved to Gröditz . Her private collection contains a large number of photos, documents and newspaper excerpts, as well as some of her father's trophies that survived the Dresden firestorm in 1945. Ulrike Harbig is committed to preserving the memory of Rudolf Harbig in public.

Training way

The triumphant advance of interval training began with Rudolf Harbig, which was scientifically founded by Woldemar Gerschler and Herbert Reindell . For this purpose, he mainly ran 200-meter repetitions in winter (e.g. 20 × 200 m with a 90-second walk / trot break), whereby care was taken to ensure that after the exercise the pulse was about 180 beats / min and after the pause the pulse was around 120/130 beats / min. As the season progressed, the number of repetitions decreased and the speed increased until he was able to run 4-5 by 200 meters at 800-meter racing speed.

reception

Relationship to National Socialism

Harbig had been a member of the NSDAP since May 1, 1937, under membership number 5 878 331 . It is impossible to find out whether he joined the party out of conviction or opportunism. He became a member of the Dresden mountaineering troop affiliated to the SA , which he joined under political pressure - according to Popplow, "to evade extreme pressure". In this paramilitary organization he led the rank of SA-Sturm's and participated in the Nazi-fighting games that during party rallies were conducted in 1938 and 1939 for the SA part. Since the Jewish Community of Berlin considered Harbig to be a staunch National Socialist, it decided not to build its Heinz Galinski School, the first new Jewish school in Germany after the Holocaust , on Harbigstrasse in Charlottenburg, but around the corner on Waldallee. Further analogies to Harbig's relationship to the Nazi system are his original declaration of thanks to Hitler ("Our thanks to the leader") in the course of the annexation of Austria and his guard of honor at the urn of the sports leader Hans von Tschammer und Osten, who died in 1943 . The sports historian Markwart Herzog describes his numerous appearances during the war, for example at the sports festival on August 17, 1941, which the press dubbed the “Harbig Games”, as “sports propaganda in a soldier spirit”.

The sports historian Volker Kluge examined Rudolf Harbig's relationship to National Socialism . He stated that Harbig, like many other Germans, had behaved in a supportive and regime-friendly manner. Kluge sees in Harbig a sportsman from a simple background who willingly followed what was expected of him. He wasn't a resister. A deeper affinity Harbig for the Nazi system cannot be proven. Even the allegation of a Dresden sports official from 1990 that Harbig was involved in war crimes could not reveal any accusation or involvement by name of Harbig.

In his 1988 treatise Rudolf Harbig - from unknown sportsman to world record runner - the author Ulrich Popplow advocates the thesis that Harbig was an anti-militarist and a disguised resistance fighter. Even in his first year of military training, Harbig was disgusted with blind obedience to self-denial. Popplow stylized Harbig as the antitypus of Nazi sports ideology and states that Harbig was not a member of the NSDAP at all and that he rejected all offers in this regard, which was refuted by the later research of the sports historians Volker Kluge and Erik Eggers . Popplow sees Harbig's connection to the Nazi system only in his membership in the Dresden mountaineering troop, which was an insignificant appendage of the SA.

Eggers, who u. a. the study Popplows analyzed for his own treatise refers to Woldemar Gerschler's 1939 publication Harbig's rise to the world record , in which Gerschler portrayed himself and Harbig as anti-Semites . This book, which Popplow used for his study, is characterized by Eggers as a publication that contains racist and anti-Semitic text passages in places. Eggers emphasizes that Popplow, who viewed Harbig as an idol in his youth, left out the "disturbing passages" in his Harbig biography. The foreword of the book draws attention to Harbig's instrumentalization in Nazi war propaganda. In it, the athletics functionary Karl Ritter von Halt celebrates Harbig's "highest willpower" and Gerschler celebrates that Harbig "... like hundreds of thousands from the ranks of German sports youth, is at the front with a natural duty ...". Eggers goes on to say that all authors who have dealt with Harbig's biography after 1945 have kept silent about the racist passages in Gerschler's book. He also draws attention to the fact that Harbig's spectacular leaps in performance coincided with the invention of the methamphetamine Pervitin and the collaboration with the Freiburg doctor Herbert Reindell , who later made a name for himself in Germany with doping tests (see section: Suspected doping). Eggers comes to the conclusion that these aspects do not fit into the heroic and idealized picture that posterity has drawn of Harbig. At the same time, these arguments contradict the decade-old euphemistic view on which Harbig's admission into the German Hall of Fame is based. Eggers describes it as bizarre that Harbig - despite the clear sources - is considered a prime example of the apolitical athlete in German sport.

Suspected doping

Rudolfs Harbig's incredible increase in performance between the two world record runs over 800 meters in 1939 - the improvement was almost three seconds - gave room for speculation that he would have received performance-enhancing substances from his trainer Gerschler . It was in this record year that Gerschler began working with Herbert Reindell , who was soon to be one of Harbig's medical supervisors and had already measured his heart rate in 1939. The speculations are fed by the fact that Joseph Barthel - a protégé of Reindell and Gerschler - surprisingly won gold at the 1952 Olympic Games over 1500 meters in an "sudden explosion in performance". In November 1953, middle-distance runner Gordon Pirie was "programmed" for victory by Reindell and Gerschler. During this period, both Gerschler and Reindell worked at the University of Freiburg . As part of Reindell's sports medicine research, the athlete Oskar Wegener (* 1929) received his doctorate from Reindell in 1954 on the subject of "The effect of doping agents on the circulation". Harbig's increase in performance in 1939 could also be attributed to the ingestion of pervitin or other substances.

It can no longer be clarified whether Gerschler and / or Reindell an Harbig - in whatever form - experimented. Harbig's sudden "performance explosion" remains unexplained to this day.

Appreciations

Street sign of the Rudolf-Harbig-Weg in the Ostragehege in Dresden, unveiled for the renaming on the occasion of the 100th birthday of Rudolf Harbig

Rudolf Harbig on a postage stamp from the Federal Post Office from 1968

In 1950, Karl Ritter von Halt , Honorary President of the German Athletics Association , donated the Rudolf Harbig Memorial Prize, which has been awarded annually to a deserving athlete since then . The Deutsche Bundespost paid tribute to Harbig with a stamp that appeared on June 6, 1968 with a circulation of 6,758,000.

According to the then President of the National Olympic Committee of the GDR , Kurt Edel , the Harbig legacy should not only be reserved for the Federal Republic of Germany. Dresden, Rudolf Harbig's hometown, tried to preserve a lasting memory of its athlete. The proposals submitted included an annual commemoration run and the naming of a sports facility after him. For the latter, the Ilgen arena , which was badly damaged in the Dresden air raids, was ideal , in which Harbig had won numerous victories and in 1941 had run the world record of 1000 meters. On September 23, 1951, the sports facility was given the name Rudolf Harbig Stadium on the occasion of its reopening . Previously, there had been disputes in connection with the Harbig baptism in the state sports committee, because some officials took the view that Harbig was a war criminal and Nazi activist. From 1951 to 1966, the Harbig sports festivals took place in the Rudolf Harbig Stadium every year . 20,000 spectators attended the premiere. At the sports festivals there was the Rudolf Harbig memorial run over 800 meters until 1966 . To this end, the Athletics Section donated a crystal challenge prize. Rudolf Harbig achieved cult status through these honors and is considered a legend.

In 1966, however, the GDR leadership broke with the model athlete. The background was Harbig's daughter Ulrike's flight to West Germany. In 1960, Harbig's entry was in the first edition of the Small Encyclopedia Physical Culture and Sport ; in the 5th edition of the work from 1979 this was deleted. A linden tree planted in Dresden in 1954 in honor of Harbig (Harbig tree) together with a memorial plaque was located opposite at today's memorial for football coach Walter Fritzsch near the stadium. However, the tree and the plaque disappeared overnight. The memorial plaque has been lost to this day.

Since 1972, the Rudolf Harbig Stadium has only been referred to as the Dynamo Stadium , without it having been officially renamed. The Sächsische Zeitung wrote in its edition of March 5, 1970 “Rudolf-Harbig-Stadion” and the next day “Dynamo-Stadion”. Who had given the instruction was never determined. It was not until 1990 that the sports facility was called the Rudolf Harbig Stadium again. After the name of the athlete disappeared from the cityscape of his native city with the renewed renaming to Glücksgas-Stadion in 2010, the state capital Dresden named Rudolf-Harbig-Weg in the Ostragehege after him on the athlete's 100th birthday . On the occasion of this anniversary, the postal company PostModern issued a custom stamp with the image of Harbig, which was created on the initiative of the Berlin Olympic and Sports Philatelic Club (OSPC). Since September 2018, the stadium has been called the Rudolf Harbig Stadium again .

Other stadiums named after Harbig are located in Neustrelitz , Grünstadt , Bruchköbel , Bad Schlema , Borna and Fürstenwalde / Spree . After the reunification of Germany , the Junge Welt found out that the break with Harbig in the GDR was also connected with the visit of a Soviet guest who asked the Chairman of the State Council Walter Ulbricht who this Rudolf Harbig was anyway. Since the GDR sports management tried to react as exemplary as possible, it was decided to take Harbig out of the public eye. This was also confirmed in 1990 by the then manager of Dynamo Dresden, Bernd Kießling, who spoke of “dark spots” in Harbig's biography in connection with the stadium naming.

In 2000 he was voted one of the “100 Dresdeners of the 20th Century” in the daily newspaper “ Dresdner Latest News ”.

In 2001, 41 streets across Germany were named after Harbig, 35 of them in the old federal states , including a path in Munich's Olympic Park . Rudolf-Harbig-Hallen in Berlin-Westend , Buseck , Garbsen-Berenbostel , Hockenheim , Bad Schwartau and Viernheim also remind of him. A locomotive of the type MaK G 1206 is named after Harbig. Harbig received another honor on June 23, 1993, when the 11th elementary school in Berlin-Lichtenberg received his name. The naming ceremony stated that he had distinguished himself through fairness, helpfulness, diligence in training and willingness to perform.

For his services to sport in Lower Saxony , Rudolf Harbig was accepted into the Lower Saxony Sports Honor Gallery of the Lower Saxony Institute for Sports History. In 2008 he was inducted into the Hall of Fame of German Sports . Harbig's only painted color portrait is now in the Triptis City Museum . The writer Günter Grass used the term “Wunderläufer” for Harbig in his autobiographical work When Skinning the Onion .

Achievements and Statistics

Start directory

Rudolf Harbig's starting directory includes all 233 competitions that he contested during his sporting career from 1934 to 1942. Excluded from this are forest runs and indoor competitions.

Championship title

Rudolf Harbig was two-time European and seven-time German champion. World Athletics Championships were not yet held at the time. Harbig's greatest successes include the bronze medal at the Olympic Games in Berlin, which he won on August 9, 1936 with the German 4 x 400 meter relay (3: 11.8 min, German record).

competition	distance	place	Day	time	comment
European championships	800 m	Paris	04th Sep 1938	1: 50.6 min	German record
	4 × 400 m relay	Paris	05th Sep 1938	3: 13.6 min
German championships	400 m	Berlin	July 26, 1942	0: 48.1 min
	800 m	Berlin	July 12, 1936	1: 54.1 min
	800 m	Berlin	July 25, 1937	1: 50.9 min	German record
	800 m	Wroclaw	July 29, 1938	1: 52.8 min
	800 m	Berlin	0July 9, 1939	1: 49.4 min	World record
	800 m	Berlin	Aug 11, 1940	1: 51.6 min
	800 m	Berlin	July 20, 1941	1: 54.0 min

World records

Rudolf Harbig set six world records. His second world record over 800 meters lasted for 16 years and was not improved until 1955 by Roger Moens .

distance	place	Day	time
400 m	Frankfurt a. M.	August 12, 1939	0: 46.0 min
500 m	Erfurt	June 18, 1939	1: 01.7 min
800 m	Berlin	July 9, 1939	1: 49.4 min
800 m	Milan	July 15, 1939	1: 46.6 min
1000 m	Dresden	May 24, 1941	2: 21.5 min
4 × 800 m relay	Braunschweig	August 23, 1941	7: 30.4 min

German records

From 1936 to 1941, Harbig set the German record 18 times.

distance	place	Day	time
400 m	Berlin	August 1, 1937	0: 47.6 min
400 m	Dortmund	August 7, 1938	0: 46.8 min
400 m	Milan	July 16, 1939	0: 46.7 min
400 m	Frankfurt a. M.	August 12, 1939	0: 46.0 min
500 m	Erfurt	June 18, 1939	1: 01.7 min
800 m	Berlin	July 25, 1937	1: 50.9 min
800 m	Paris	September 4, 1938	1: 50.6 min
800 m	Mannheim	May 21, 1939	1: 50.5 min
800 m	Munich	July 2, 1939	1: 50.5 min
800 m	Berlin	July 9, 1939	1: 49.4 min
800 m	Milan	July 15, 1939	1: 46.6 min
1000 m	Berlin	May 18, 1941	2: 24.9 min
1000 m	Dresden	May 24, 1941	2: 21.5 min
1000 m (hall)	Berlin	March 16, 1941	2: 28.4 min
4 × 400 m relay	Berlin	August 9, 1936	3: 11.8 min
4 × 400 m relay	Milan	July 16, 1939	3: 10.4 min
4 × 800 m relay	Paris	August 17, 1941	7: 37.8 min
4 × 800 m relay	Braunschweig	August 23, 1941	7: 30.3 min

Personal annual bests

From 1934 to 1942 Harbig achieved the following 34 personal bests for the year.

year	200 meter run	400 meter run	800 meter run	1000 meter run	1500 meter run
1934			1: 58.2 min	2: 35.0 min
1935		50.0 s	1: 54.1 min	2: 36.3 min	4: 10.5 min
1936	22.0 s	48.8 s	1: 52.2 min	2: 31.0 min	4: 05.5 min
1937	21.9 s	47.6 s	1: 50.9 min		4: 02.6 min
1938	21.8 s	46.8 s	1: 50.6 min	2: 32.4 min	4: 01.0 min
1939	21.5 s	46.0 s	1: 46.6 min
1940	22.0 s	47.0 s	1: 47.8 min	2: 28.2 min
1941	21.7 s	46.7 s	1: 49.2 min	2: 21.5 min
1942	21.7 s	47.9 s	1: 51.9 min

International battles

Harbig took part in 17 country battles from August 8, 1937 to June 29, 1941. He started in 40 runs.

International match	place	Day
Germany versus France	Munich	Aug 8, 1937
England versus Germany	London	Aug 14, 1937
Germany versus Czechoslovakia	Dresden	22 Aug 1937
Germany versus Sweden	Berlin	18./19. Sep 1937
France versus Germany	Paris	July 3, 1938
Germany versus Poland	Koenigsberg	July 9, 1938
Germany versus USA	Berlin	13./14. Aug 1938
Sweden versus Germany	Stockholm	27./28. Aug 1938
Germany versus France	Munich	July 2, 1939
Italy versus Germany	Milan	15./16. July 1939
Germany versus England	Cologne	Aug 20, 1939
Germany versus Belgium	Krefeld	Aug 26, 1939
Germany versus Italy	Stuttgart	3rd / 4th Aug 1940
Three-country battle between Finland, Sweden and Germany	Helsinki	7th / 8th Sep 1940
Hungary versus Germany	Budapest	5th / 6th Oct 1940
Romania versus Germany	Bucharest	June 21, 1941
Italy versus Germany	Bologna	28/29 June 1941

Competitions

Rudolf Harbig competed 233 times on 175 days between 1934 and 1942. Forest runs and indoor starts are not included in this number. He was winner 201 times, 19 times second, six times third, once fourth and three times sixth and seventh. Harbig took part in 19 different competitive disciplines; He competed 50 times in the 400-meter distance, 83 times in the 800-meter run.

distance	number
50 m	1
100 m	10
200 m	23
300 m	1
400 m	50
500 m	2
800 m	83
880 y	1
1000 m	10
1200 m	1
1500 m	5
4 × 100 m relay	11
4 × 400 m relay	22nd
10 × 400 m relay	1
4 × 800 m relay	3
3 × 1000 m relay	2
Olympic relay	2
high jump	3
Long jump	2
total	233

year	Starts
1934	6th
1935	18th
1936	23
1937	38
1938	36
1939	37
1940	26th
1941	31
1942	18th
total	233

Competition locations and countries

Rudolf Harbig started in 45 cities between 1934 and 1942. 15 of them are foreign. Harbig ran 186 times in 142 days in 30 German cities, including the cities of Breslau, Königsberg (Pr) and Vienna that are now abroad. In his races abroad, Harbig competed 47 times in eleven different countries on 33 days.

place	Starts
Berlin	37
Braunschweig	18th
Wroclaw	3
Chemnitz	1
cottbus	2
Dortmund	1
Dresden	60
Duisburg	2
Erfurt	1
Forst (Lausitz)	1
Frankfurt am Main	3
Frankfurt (Oder)	1
Glauchau	2
Hamburg	1
Hanover	1
Jena	2
Karlsruhe	2
kassel	3
Cologne	3
Koenigsberg (Pr)	3
Krefeld	1
Leipzig	19th
Luckenwalde	1
Magdeburg	1
Mannheim	1
Munich	5
Nuremberg	4th
Stuttgart	4th
Vienna	1
Wünsdorf	2
total	186

country	place	Starts
Belgium	Brussels	2
ČSR	Reichenberg	7th
Denmark	Copenhagen	1
England	London	1
Finland	Helsinki	3
France	Paris	7th
Holland	Amsterdam	1
Italy	Milan	4th
Italy	Como	1
Italy	Bologna	4th
Romania	Bucharest	2
Sweden	Stockholm	6th
Sweden	Karlstad	1
Sweden	Malmo	2
Hungary	Budapest	4th
total		47

attachment

literature

• Erik Eggers : Myth in East and West: The "runner of the century" Rudolf Harbig. In: Diethelm Blecking , Lorenz Pfeiffer (ed.): Sportsmen in the "Century of the Camps". Profiteers, resistors and victims. Verlag Die Werkstatt, Göttingen 2012, ISBN 978-3-89533-872-4 , pp. 97-103.
• Gerda Harbig: Unforgettable Rudolf Harbig. A life picture of the world record runner. Verlag der Nation, Berlin 1955.
• Erhard Huhle / Ludwig Koppenwallner: Rudolf Harbig running miracle. The way of a master. Nuremberg 1949.
• Erhard Mallek: Rudolf Harbig. The miracle runner from Dresden (= Edition Sächsische Zeitung ). Publishing company Meißen, Meißen 2005.
• Hans Joachim Teichler : International sports policy in the Third Reich (= Scientific series of the German Sports Association. Vol. 23). Hofmann, Schorndorf 1991, ISBN 3-7780-7691-4 (also: Bochum, University, dissertation, 1990).

Web links

Commons : Rudolf Harbig  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Rudolf Harbig in the catalog of the German National Library
• Portrait, dates and biography of Rudolf Harbig in the Hall of Fame of German Sports
• Gustav Schwenk: Rudolf Harbig was way ahead of his time . Leichtathletik.de, March 5, 2004.
• Gustav Schwenk: Rudolf Harbig - 100th birthday of a legend . Leichtathletik.de, November 8, 2013.
• Gustav Schwenk: Rudolf Harbig - tragic end of the running hero . Leichtathletik.de, November 9, 2013.
• Gerd Steins: Rudolf Waldemar Harbig was born 100 years ago on November 8th. germanroadraces.de, September 19, 2018.
• Rudolf Harbig in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Andreas Peschel: Rudolf Harbig (1913–1944) . In: Institute for Saxon History and Folklore (Ed.): Saxon Biography .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Hans-Martin Stimpel: The German Parachute Troop 1942-1945. Operations in theaters of war in the east and west. Ernst Mittler & Sohn Verlag, Hamburg 2001, p. 120.
2. ↑ ^{a b} Quoted from Jochen Mayer: Harbig's name lives in sport. In: Saxon newspaper . March 5, 1999, p. 19.
3. ^ Moeller / Stefan Schramm: The miracle runner Rudolf Harbig. Dresden honors exceptional athletes. ( Memento from December 20, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) In: dresdner-stadtteilzeitungen.de , November 24, 2013.
4. ↑ Gerda Harbig: Unforgotten Rudolf Harbig. Verlag der Nation, Berlin 1952, pp. 24-25.
5. ↑ Volker Kluge: From Herbert Runge to Rudolf Harbig - 1913 was a good Olympic year. In: Journal of the Olympic and Sport Philatelic Club Berlin. No. 2/2003, p. 50.
6. ↑ Gerda Harbig: Unforgotten Rudolf Harbig. Verlag der Nation, Berlin 1952, pp. 27–28.
7. ↑ Erhard Mallek: Rudolf Harbig - The miracle runner from Dresden. Verlagsgesellschaft Meißen, Meißen 2004, pp. 10–11.
8. ↑ ^{a b} Quoted from Fred Kickhefel: World record in the Waldstadion. On August 12, 1939, middle-distance runner Rudolf Harbig caught Mario Lanzi once again on the home straight. In: fr-online.de , Frankfurt, July 24, 2003. Retrieved January 13, 2014.
9. ↑ Gerda Harbig: Unforgotten Rudolf Harbig. Verlag der Nation, Berlin 1952, pp. 30–32.
10. ↑ Gerda Harbig: Unforgotten Rudolf Harbig. Verlag der Nation, Berlin 1952, pp. 34–35.
11. ↑ ^{a b c d} Jürgen Naumann: Historical walk around Dresden-Trachenberge. Sutton-Verlag 2011, p. 94.
12. ↑ Quoted from Uwe Prieser: German athletes of the century. In: Welt am Sonntag . December 26, 1999, p. 22.
13. ↑ Erhard Mallek: Rudolf Harbig - The miracle runner from Dresden. Verlagsgesellschaft Meißen, Meißen 2004, pp. 11–12.
14. ↑ Gerda Harbig: Unforgotten Rudolf Harbig. Verlag der Nation, Berlin 1952, pp. 38–39.
15. ↑ Erhard Mallek: Rudolf Harbig - The miracle runner from Dresden. Verlagsgesellschaft Meißen, Meißen 2004, pp. 12–13.
16. ↑ Gerda Harbig: Unforgotten Rudolf Harbig. Verlag der Nation, Berlin 1952, pp. 42–43.
17. ↑ Gerda Harbig: Unforgotten Rudolf Harbig. Verlag der Nation, Berlin 1952, pp. 44–45.
18. ↑ Erhard Mallek: Rudolf Harbig - The miracle runner from Dresden. Verlagsgesellschaft Meißen, Meißen 2004, pp. 13–15.
19. ↑ Ulrich Popplow: Rudolf Harbig - from unknown sportsman to world record runner. In: Social and Contemporary History of Sport. Vol. 2, H. 3, 1988, pp. 16, 18.
20. ↑ Gerda Harbig: Unforgotten Rudolf Harbig. Verlag der Nation, Berlin 1952, pp. 46–50.
21. ↑ Gerda Harbig: Unforgotten Rudolf Harbig. Verlag der Nation, Berlin 1952, pp. 54–62.
22. ↑ Gerda Harbig: Unforgotten Rudolf Harbig. Verlag der Nation, Berlin 1952, pp. 67–69.
23. ↑ Erhard Mallek: Rudolf Harbig - The miracle runner from Dresden. Verlagsgesellschaft Meißen, Meißen 2004, pp. 15–17.
24. ↑ ^{a b c d} Volker Kluge: Olympic Summer Games - The Chronicle. Volume 1: Athens 1896 to Berlin 1936, Sportverlag, 1997, p. 882.
25. ↑ ^{a b} Klaus Amrhein: Biographical Handbook on the History of German Athletics 1898–1998. Athletics Funding Society 1999, p. 160.
26. ↑ Gerda Harbig: Unforgotten Rudolf Harbig. Verlag der Nation, Berlin 1952, pp. 70–71.
27. ↑ Gerda Harbig: Unforgotten Rudolf Harbig. Verlag der Nation, Berlin 1952, pp. 72–75.
28. ↑ Gerda Harbig: Unforgotten Rudolf Harbig. Verlag der Nation, Berlin 1952, pp. 76–83.
29. ↑ Gerda Harbig: Unforgotten Rudolf Harbig. Verlag der Nation, Berlin 1952, p. 84.
30. ↑ Gerda Harbig: Unforgotten Rudolf Harbig. Verlag der Nation, Berlin 1952, pp. 85–88.
31. ↑ ^{a b} Quoted from Jochen Frank: How wonder runner Rudolf Harbig shaped athletics. In: Berliner Morgenpost . July 18, 2013, p. 22.
32. ↑ Gerda Harbig: Unforgotten Rudolf Harbig. Verlag der Nation, Berlin 1952, p. 88.
33. ↑ Gerda Harbig: Unforgotten Rudolf Harbig. Verlag der Nation, Berlin 1952, p. 211.
34. ↑ Gerda Harbig: Unforgotten Rudolf Harbig. Verlag der Nation, Berlin 1952, pp. 93–95.
35. ↑ Gerda Harbig: Unforgotten Rudolf Harbig. Verlag der Nation, Berlin 1952, pp. 96-100.
36. ↑ Erhard Mallek: Rudolf Harbig - The miracle runner from Dresden. Verlagsgesellschaft Meißen, Meißen 2004, pp. 20–22.
37. ↑ Gerda Harbig: Unforgotten Rudolf Harbig. Verlag der Nation, Berlin 1952, pp. 119–120.
38. ↑ Gerda Harbig: Unforgotten Rudolf Harbig. Verlag der Nation, Berlin 1952, pp. 122–123.
39. ↑ Quoted from Ulf Mallek: The unknown super athlete. In: Saxon newspaper . September 12, 2009, p. M8.
40. ↑ Gerda Harbig: Unforgotten Rudolf Harbig. Verlag der Nation, Berlin 1952, pp. 124–126.
41. ↑ ^{a b} Erhard Mallek: Rudolf Harbig - The miracle runner from Dresden. Verlagsgesellschaft Meißen, Meißen 2004, p. 36.
42. ↑ Quoted from Ulf Mallek: I like my father young and smiling. In: Saxon newspaper . December 29, 2011, p. 14.
43. ↑ Gerda Harbig: Unforgotten Rudolf Harbig. Verlag der Nation, Berlin 1952, pp. 128–130.
44. ↑ Gerda Harbig: Unforgotten Rudolf Harbig. Verlag der Nation, Berlin 1952, pp. 161–162.
45. ↑ Erhard Mallek: Rudolf Harbig - The miracle runner from Dresden. Verlagsgesellschaft Meißen, Meißen 2004, pp. 23–37.
46. ^ Hans J. Teichler: International sports policy in the Third Reich. Hofmann Verlag, 1991, p. 269.
47. ↑ Christian Zentner: Illustrated history of the Third Reich. Bechtermünz-Verlag 1990, p. 216.
48. ^ ^{A b} John Bale: Running Cultures: Racing in Time and Space. Routledge Chapman & Hall 2003, p. 163.
49. ^ Hans J. Teichler: International sports policy in the Third Reich. Hofmann Verlag, 1991, p. 279.
50. ↑ ^{a b c d} Erik Eggers: Myth in East and West: The "runner of the century" Rudolf Harbig. In: Diethelm Blecking, Lorenz Peiffer (Hrsg.): Sportsmen in the century of the camp. Profiteers, resistors and victims. Werkstatt Verlag 2012, p. 98.
51. ↑ Ulrich Popplow: Rudolf Harbig - from unknown sportsman to world record runner. In: Social and Contemporary History of Sport. Vol. 2, H. 3, 1988, p. 22.
52. ↑ Gerda Harbig: Unforgotten Rudolf Harbig. Verlag der Nation, Berlin 1952, pp. 163–164.
53. ↑ Hans Martin Stimpel: The German Parachute Troops 1942–1945: Operations in the theaters of war in the south. Mittler & Sohn, 2005, p. 11.
54. ↑ ^{a b} Gerda Harbig: Unforgotten Rudolf Harbig. Verlag der Nation, Berlin 1952, p. 165.
55. ↑ Erhard Mallek: Rudolf Harbig - The miracle runner from Dresden. Verlagsgesellschaft Meißen, Meißen 2004, p. 37.
56. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} Hans J. Teichler: International sports policy in the Third Reich. Hofmann Verlag, 1991, p. 324.
57. ↑ Gerda Harbig: Unforgotten Rudolf Harbig. Verlag der Nation, Berlin 1952, p. 213.
58. ↑ Gerda Harbig: Unforgotten Rudolf Harbig. Verlag der Nation, Berlin 1952, p. 166.
59. ↑ ^{a b} Eckhard Jesse (ed.): German history - From the empire to today. Compact-Verlag 2008, p. 187.
60. ↑ Gerda Harbig: Unforgotten Rudolf Harbig. Verlag der Nation, Berlin 1952, pp. 167–168.
61. ^ Markwart Herzog von Kohlhammer: Football at the time of National Socialism: Everyday life - media - arts - stars. Kohlhammer Verlag 2008, p. 100.
62. ↑ Gerda Harbig: Unforgotten Rudolf Harbig. Verlag der Nation, Berlin 1952, p. 169.
63. ↑ ^{a b} Gerda Harbig: Unforgotten Rudolf Harbig. Verlag der Nation, Berlin 1952, p. 171.
64. ^ Hans J. Teichler: International sports policy in the Third Reich. Hofmann Verlag, 1991, p. 325.
65. ↑ Gerda Harbig: Unforgotten Rudolf Harbig. Verlag der Nation, Berlin 1952, p. 170.
66. ↑ Erhard Mallek: Rudolf Harbig - The miracle runner from Dresden. Verlagsgesellschaft Meißen, Meißen 2004, pp. 37–40.
67. ↑ Gerda Harbig: Unforgotten Rudolf Harbig. Verlag der Nation, Berlin 1952, pp. 170–171.
68. ↑ Erhard Mallek: Rudolf Harbig - The miracle runner from Dresden. Verlagsgesellschaft Meißen, Meißen 2004, p. 35.
69. ↑ Gerda Harbig: Unforgotten Rudolf Harbig. Verlag der Nation, Berlin 1952, pp. 173–175.
70. ↑ Erhard Mallek: Rudolf Harbig - The miracle runner from Dresden. Verlagsgesellschaft Meißen, Meißen 2004, pp. 40–42.
71. ↑ Gerhard Fischer, Ulrich Lindner, Werner Skrentny, Dietrich Schulze-Marmeling: Striker for Hitler. On the interplay between football and National Socialism. The workshop, 1999, p. 123.
72. ↑ Kurt Hoffmeister : Time travel through the Braunschweig sports history. Self-published by Kurt Hoffmeister, Braunschweig 2001, ISBN 3-926701-50-1 , p. 97.
73. ↑ ^{a b} Gerda Harbig: Unforgotten Rudolf Harbig. Verlag der Nation, Berlin 1952, p. 175.
74. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l} Quoted from Jochen Mayer: German problems with Harbig. In: Saxon newspaper . November 8, 2013, p. 20.
75. ↑ ^{a b} Hans-Martin Stimpel: The German Parachute Troops 1942–1945. Operations in theaters of war in the east and west. Ernst Mittler & Sohn Verlag, Hamburg 2001, p. 112.
76. ↑ Gerda Harbig: Unforgotten Rudolf Harbig. Verlag der Nation, Berlin 1952, p. 178.
77. ↑ ^{a b c} Erhard Mallek: Rudolf Harbig - The miracle runner from Dresden. Verlagsgesellschaft Meißen, Meißen 2004, p. 42 f.
78. ↑ Erik Eggers: Myth in East and West: The "runner of the century" Rudolf Harbig. In: Diethelm Blecking, Lorenz Peiffer (Hrsg.): Sportsmen in the century of the camp. Profiteers, resistors and victims. Werkstatt Verlag 2012, p. 99.
79. ↑ Gerda Harbig: Unforgotten Rudolf Harbig. Verlag der Nation, Berlin 1952, p. 179.
80. ↑ ^{a b} Quoted from Gustav Schwenk: hasted through time. Rudolf Harbig was the world's best middle-distance runner until he was killed in the war. Today he would have turned 100. In: Der Tagesspiegel . November 8, 2013, p. 19.
81. ↑ ^{a b} Quoted from Herbert Mager: Virtues, no rabbits. Was the miracle runner Rudolf Harbig at the zenith of his possibilities? In: Supplement to the Saxon newspaper . October 23, 1999, p. M02.
82. ↑ without author: news for the troops. Vol. 2, Periodicals Service Company, 1973, p. 21 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).
83. ↑ Horst Scheibert: The bearers of the German Cross in Gold (Navy, Air Force, Waffen-SS) and the German Cross in Silver (Army, Navy, Air Force, Waffen-SS). Podzun-Pallas-Verlag, 1984, p. 198.
84. ^ Gustav Schwenk: Rudolf Harbig - Tragic end of the running hero. In: Leichtathletik.de , November 9, 2013. Accessed December 4, 2013.
85. ^ Bernhard Wetzstein: The National Socialist Instrumentalization of Sport for the Second World War: Physical training between education, the front and propaganda. Grin Verlag 2009, p. 103.
86. ^ Bernhard Wetzstein: The National Socialist Instrumentalization of Sport for the Second World War: Physical training between education, the front and propaganda. Grin Verlag 2009, p. 105.
87. ^ Gianluca Falanga: Berlin 1937: The calm before the storm. Berlin Story Verlag, Berlin 2007, p. 78.
88. ↑ ^{a b c} Erhard Mallek: Rudolf Harbig - The miracle runner from Dresden. Verlagsgesellschaft Meißen, Meißen 2004, p. 46.
89. ↑ Gerda Harbig: Unforgotten Rudolf Harbig. Verlag der Nation, Berlin 1952, p. 115.
90. ↑ Quoted from Günther Frank: Rudolf Harbig: 800 m world record remained unbroken for 16 years. In: Leipziger Volkszeitung . April 30, 1998, p. 4.
91. ↑ Quoted from Sascha Sieger: Wonder runners with fabulous times. Rudolf Harbig brought Dresden a lot of sporting fame - how does his hometown honor his son today? In: Dresdner Latest News . July 1, 2013, p. 16.
92. ↑ Gerda Harbig: Unforgotten Rudolf Harbig. Verlag der Nation, Berlin 1952, pp. 116–117.
93. ↑ Erhard Mallek: Rudolf Harbig - The miracle runner from Dresden. Verlagsgesellschaft Meißen, Meißen 2004, p. 63.
94. ↑ Quoted from Jochen Mayer: Harbig's Dresdner Rekord. In: Saxon newspaper . May 23, 2001, p. 24.
95. ↑ Klaus Amrhein: Biographical Handbook on the History of German Athletics 1898–1998 , Leichtathletik-Förderverein Darmstadt 1999, p. 160.
96. ↑ ^{a b} Gerda Harbig . In: Der Spiegel . No. 18 , 1951, p. 28 ( online ).
97. ↑ Volker Kluge: From Herbert Runge to Rudolf Harbig - 1913 was a good Olympic year. In: Journal of the Olympic and Sport Philatelic Club Berlin. No. 2/2003, p. 51.
98. ↑ ^{a b} Erhard Mallek: Rudolf Harbig - The miracle runner from Dresden. Verlagsgesellschaft Meißen, Meißen 2004, p. 57.
99. ↑ without author: Gerda Harbig died. Obituary of the NOK of the GDR. In: New Germany . February 26, 1962, p. 1.
100. ↑ Erhard Mallek: Rudolf Harbig - The miracle runner from Dresden. Verlagsgesellschaft Meißen, Meißen 2004, p. 55 f.
101. ↑ Arnd Krüger : Many roads lead to Olympia. The changes in training systems for medium and long distance runners (1850–1997). In: N. Gissel (Hrsg.): Sporting performance in change. Czwalina, Hamburg 1998, pp. 41-56.
102. ↑ Erik Eggers: Myth in East and West: The "runner of the century" Rudolf Harbig. In: Diethelm Blecking, Lorenz Peiffer (Hrsg.): Sportsmen in the century of the camp. Profiteers, resistors and victims. Werkstatt Verlag 2012, p. 103.
103. ↑ ^{a b c} Quoted from Michael Gernandt: The wheelwright with the three world records. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . November 8, 2013, p. 43.
104. ↑ ^{a b} Ulrich Popplow: Rudolf Harbig - from unknown sportsman to world record runner. In: Social and Contemporary History of Sport. Vol. 2, H. 3, 1988, p. 26.
105. ↑ Ulrich Popplow: Rudolf Harbig - from unknown sportsman to world record runner. In: Social and Contemporary History of Sport. Vol. 2, H. 3, 1988, pp. 8-30.
106. ↑ ^{a b c d} Erik Eggers: Myth in East and West: The "runner of the century" Rudolf Harbig. In: Diethelm Blecking, Lorenz Peiffer (Hrsg.): Sportsmen in the century of the camp. Profiteers, resistors and victims. Werkstatt Verlag 2012, p. 101.
107. ↑ ^{a b c d} Erik Eggers: Myth in East and West: The "runner of the century" Rudolf Harbig. In: Diethelm Blecking, Lorenz Peiffer (Hrsg.): Sportsmen in the century of the camp. Profiteers, resistors and victims. Werkstatt Verlag 2012, p. 102.
108. ↑ Quoted from Grit Hartmann: Secret Nazi past. In: deutschlandfunk.de , November 7, 2010. Accessed December 11, 2013.
109. ↑ Woldemar Gerschler: Harbig's rise to the world record . Verlag Hermann Püschel, Dresden 1939, page 116, caption.
110. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Quoted from Daniel Drepper: The heroes of Bern - all doped? ( Memento from November 19, 2015 in the web archive archive.today ) In: WAZ -Rechercheblog , September 20, 2012.
111. ↑ Quoted from Michael Reinsch: From the war arsenal to top sport. In: faz.net , October 25, 2010. Retrieved December 11, 2013.
112. ↑ Giselher Spitzer et al .: Final report according to the interface concept for the project “Doping in Germany from 1950 to today from a historical-sociological point of view in the context of ethical legitimation”. Research project 2009–2012, initiated by the DOSB, commissioned and funded by the BISp. P. 74. (PDF) In: bisp.de , Berlin, March 30, 2013. Retrieved December 19, 2013.
113. ↑ ^{a b} Erhard Mallek: Rudolf Harbig - The miracle runner from Dresden. Verlagsgesellschaft Meißen, Meißen 2004, p. 58.
114. ↑ Gerda Harbig: Unforgotten Rudolf Harbig. Verlag der Nation, Berlin 1952, p. 185.
115. ↑ Erhard Mallek: Rudolf Harbig - The miracle runner from Dresden. Verlagsgesellschaft Meißen, Meißen 2004, p. 55 f.
116. ↑ Quoted from Jochen Mayer: Behind the scenes. Is Dresden (not) a sports city? In: Saxon newspaper . November 29, 2006, p. 14.
117. ↑ SGD is now playing in the Rudolf-Harbig-Stadion on dynamo-dresden.de, accessed on September 19, 2018
118. ↑ 100 Dresden residents of the 20th century . In: Dresdner Latest News . Dresdner Nachrichten GmbH & Co. KG, Dresden December 31, 1999, p. 22 .
119. ^ Sebastian Rosenkranz: Street names of people in German sports. A quantitative and qualitative internet research. Student thesis 2003, Grin Verlag 2008, p. 6.
120. ↑ Quoted from Marco Henkel: Rudolf Harbig meets Heinz Steyer. In: Sächsische Zeitung (Dresden edition). July 2, 2013, p. 15.
121. ↑ Quoted after the school named after Harbig . In: neue-deutschland.de , June 23, 1993. Retrieved November 27, 2013.
122. ↑ Quoted from without author: Exceptional document revealed. In: Ostthüringer Zeitung . November 21, 2011, p. 23.
123. ↑ “... a few months earlier, the Olympic Games inspired us with their medal blessing. Later our miracle runner was called Rudolf Harbig. And in the newsreel, the German Reich shone in the bundled spotlight. ”Günter Grass: When peeling the onion. Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, Munich May 2008, p. 27.
124. ↑ Gerda Harbig: Unforgotten Rudolf Harbig . Verlag der Nation Berlin 1952, pp. 208–215.
125. ↑ Gerda Harbig: Unforgotten Rudolf Harbig. Verlag der Nation, Berlin 1952, pp. 205–206.
126. ↑ ^{a b} Gerda Harbig: Unforgotten Rudolf Harbig. Verlag der Nation, Berlin 1952, p. 20.
127. ↑ ^{a b} Erhard Mallek: Rudolf Harbig - The miracle runner from Dresden. Verlagsgesellschaft Meißen, Meißen 2004, p. 41.
128. ↑ Gerda Harbig: Unforgotten Rudolf Harbig. Verlag der Nation, Berlin 1952, pp. 203-204.
129. ↑ Gerda Harbig: Unforgotten Rudolf Harbig. Verlag der Nation, Berlin 1952, pp. 204–205.

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