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The Boxer

Thanks to Tom Palmer for helping us to learn about the heroism and goodness of the late Max Schmeling.

I’d heard of Schmeling’s prize-fights with Joe Louis and of how Hitler sought to display Schmeling as a symbol of Aryan supremacy. But like most Americans born after WWII, I knew nothing beyond these bare facts. For all I knew, until I read Tom’s post, Schmeling was a swastika-sporting Nazi. He was not. Indeed, he risked his life to save Jews from the clutches of Hitler’s executioners.

Max Schmeling continued to serve humankind after the Nazi scourge was eliminated. He became a successful bottler, in Hamburg, of Coca-Cola.

And when Joe Louis died, with more renown than riches, Schmeling paid for his funeral.

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