Wilhelm Schmitz: forgotten ‘Olympian’ of the 1896 Games By Dietrich Quanz and Stephan Wassong The German and Austrian Olympic participants together with families of the Philadelphia Association on the Acropolis. In the centre sits Carl Schuhmann who, like all gymnasts, wears the white cap. Not to be confused with the two oars- men standing in the centre who have the ‘Keese’ on their heads. On the right stands Wilhelm Schmitz (x). Photo: Albert Meyer/Carl und Liselott Diem Archive (CULDA), Cologne, Schmitz Foundation Just like the German Olympians of the first modern primarily IOC­grandees. Wilhelm Schmitz had his share of Olympic Games, he wore the badge of the German this in the first Games. gymnasts, a white SPORTS CAP. It was a ticket into sporting Schmitz and the photographic evidence of the Olympics and social events in Athens. He began a compatriotic in 1896 can only be found with his descendants on the friendship with the Berlin Gymnast and multiple Rhine between Cologne and Düsseldorf. As document Olympic victor Carl Schuhmann. they are happy to show you a commemoration medal To this day the name Wilhelm Schmitz (1875­1953) from the 1896 Olympics. In later years of Olympic does not come up in the stories about Athens 1896, happenings this garnered some attention in the local even though he was captured by court photographer section of the Rheinische Post and the Stadtanzeiger Albert Meyer on the stadium field, on the stand and on newspapers. A year before his death Wilhelm gives an excursion to the Acropolis with the German team. them a statement. The occasion for this was the first Here the Olympic enthusiast is wearing the ceremonial participation of post­war Germany at the Helsinki clothing of the Philadelphia Association, Greek for Games. He garnered increased focus in the retrospective ‘Bruderliebe’, of the Germans in Athens. This goes back during the 1996 centennial, as well as in 2004. to the European institution of the Bavarian Wittelsbach Monarchy in the 1830s. Prof. em. Dr. Dietrich R. Quanz | more than 40 years In the Antique period the attribute of Olympian member of the German Sports University Cologne, as president was reserved for the Greek Gods, especially Zeus. This of the university member of the NOC und of the National Olympic Institute (called Carl Diem Institute), senior consultant honorary title is traditionally attributed to intellectual of the 25 volume history of the The Olympic Century giants, too. Today we refer to those who wind the clock (Los Angeles), founded the German Golf Archives. at the Olympic Games and keep it running smoothly, 36 Surprise in 1894, Olympic Games in Athens in 1896 On the south side of the Berlin Olympic The repeated Greek so called ‘Olympiads’ during the 19th Stadium the Carl century refer to national fairs, comparable to the early Schuhmann Way was Munich Oktoberfest: a show of economic and cultural inaugurated. Left: accomplishments with medal ceremonies for anything the grandson of the and everything, including incidental physical feats of same name as the strength or art, even provisionally during the stadium four time 1896 excavations in Athens. In Napoleon’s Europe such Olympic champion. festivals serve states with mixed national populations To his right: Berlin’s after borders were redrawn. During all the Olympics in sports president Athens the nimbus of the ancient Olympics plays an Klaus Böger. animating role. It lends not only its Olympic name; it ties Photo: Volker Kluge the national history to a distant but illustrious identity, to compensate for the centuries of Ottoman occupation. At the Olympic Congress in 1894 such notions and the support from European Philhellenes may have lead the Greeks to propose they host the modern Olympic Games planned in Paris. This offer lead the planned Olympic beginning, intended to coincide with the Paris World Fair in 1900, to jump one Olympiad forward. The first IOC President, in terms of France’s fair, was supposed to be the initiator, the Frenchman Pierre de Coubertin, and by his Cologne import and export company Flüren. It then always a national of the city that would next hold trades wine, spices, tea, dried fruits and similar colonial the Games. goods. Wilhelm’s father in Opladen was also interested So, when Athens was decided on, the Greek writer in these goods in the drugstore he founded in 1872. Demetrios Vikelas, who lived in Paris, was chosen to However, the business was at this time still trading as head the IOC. This lead to the Greco­European monarchy ‘Destillerie & Likörfabrik – Material & Farben Handlung’ being handed the Olympic reins. The crown prince was (Distillery & Liqueur Factory – Material & Colours Dealer). expected to steer the Athenian organisation of this new Wilhelm does his daily service in Athens and stays type of event. This would no longer be a complex world with his mentor. In terms of language, Greek from the fair with a few sporting events. The international sporting classical language grammar school in Opladen helps sensation fully occupies the public consciousness, in him to grasp Modern Greek quickly. As a capable hiker, line with the America’s Cup between the USA and the UK he explores the nearer surroundings of Athens just as he during the first World Fair in London in 1851. did at home. The Philadelphia Association of the German In Athens there is now a specialised festive ‘exhibition’ colony in Athens takes him in. with lively international competitive sports between many nations on the agenda: a challenge for this country whose sport is still developing, the more so as there is not yet a framework of international sports rules and international sporting associations. There is little time to master this challenge by the spring of 1896, especially since Coubertin cannot officially present his ‘Neo­Olympism’ to the Parnassus society in Athens before the end of 1894, half a year after the founding resolution. Coubertin’s Olympic ‘Athleticism’ springs from his contemporary historical view of increasingly international competitions in European­American sports. Simultaneously, with regard to the contemporary peace movement, he seeks to ennoble the Olympic gatherings as a peaceful sports festival of nations. The 19­year­old Rhinelander Wilhelm Schmitz is unaware of all such Olympic intellectual flights. In 1894 he stayed in Athens with the company Alexandros Fischer Before their departure for Athens the ‘wild gymnasts’ from Berlin had themselves photographed for further commercial training until 1897, commissioned in the studio of Court Photographer Albert Meyer. Photo: Albert Meyer/CULDA, Foundation Schmitz JOH 3 | 2018 Wilhelm Schmitz: forgotten “Olympian” of the 1896 Games 37 opera composer Spyros Samaras to the text of Kostis Palamas. Today, the typical male chorus tones of the 19th century can still faithfully be heard at Olympic meetings. Under the German conductor Moritz Unger, the men of the Greek Philharmonic Society, founded in 1888, practice the four­part Olympic anthem in Athens. The text echoes far back into antiquity and, in the first and last lines, conjures up the immortal spirit of antiquity, to whose temples the nations should finally pilgrimage. No consideration is given to Coubertin’s modern concerns. Philadelphia Association also sought in Athens 1895 Business letter from the Athens firm The Philadelphia Association is enthusiastically drawn Alexandros Fischer, On the pre-Olympic year in Athens 1895 into the current excitement for the Olympics. They are which Wilhelm particularly looking forward to the visit of the youth Schmitz sent to his Above all, the Greek preparation has the ancient Olympia from the old fatherland and remember the gymnastics father Richard in the and national rebirth in mind. This can be seen from trip taken by the gymnasts from Saxony a few years Rhenish town of the planned opening and the stadium question. The previously. The appointment of Dörpfeld, the club’s Opladen on 17 May opening date of the Games serves the national cause: The current chairman, to the Greek Olympic Committee has (29 May) 1896 and celebration is symbolically placed on the 75th anniversary boosted the association’s Olympic pride. which he franked of the modern foundation of the Greek state and in Simultaneously, a request comes from Berlin, on the obverse with the restored ancient stadium. The date falls on Easter reminiscent of the friendly reception at the clubhouse Olympic stamps. Sunday 1896, the Christian day of resurrection according Philadelphia gymnasts enjoyed, as to whether the Photo: Collection Rüdiger Fritz to the Julian calendar used by the Greek state. When German team might be supported in Athens. In Berlin, Coubertin presents his modern Olympiads in Athens, the Dr. Willibald Gebhardt, who, quite late, is the only Greeks dream of their Olympic Resurrection directly from German to be appointed to the IOC after the Paris antiquity, without forgetting the concrete planning. Congress, sees himself as responsible for the participants. In the course of the emerging local Olympic enthusiasm, On behalf of the German Committee for the Revival of the Panhellenic Gymnastics Club opens itself to modern the Olympic Games he questions in Athens whether sport and does not remain in the nationalistic absti­ the French Olympic Initiative might exercise too much nence of the German Gymnastics Association towards influence on the Athens Games. He also asks whether the international sports competitions and the current par­ Germans might expect a less friendly reception from the ticipation wishes of active gymnasts. Ioannis Phokianos, population due to the ousted Wittelsbach rule in Greece, the chairman of the Greek gymnastics club, does not which was perceived as an occupation. disavow his participation certificate as an honorary But the association dispels such fears and asks the member of the 1894 Olympic Congress.