Background
Rumours appeared in 1966 as to who was the father of one of her daughters, after her daughter Giselle claimed in a book to be the daughter of Adolf Hitler. Ottilie Fleischer was born on October 2, 1911. Her father was a butcher.
Rumours appeared in 1966 as to who was the father of one of her daughters, after her daughter Giselle claimed in a book to be the daughter of Adolf Hitler. Ottilie Fleischer was born on October 2, 1911. Her father was a butcher.
She competed for Germany in the 1932 Summer Olympics held in Los Angeles, United States in three different events, taking the bronze medal in the javelin. The reaction of Olympic officials to the congratulations given to her by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler was put forward as the reason why Hitler never congratulated American athlete Jesse Owens after his first gold medal victory. Even at an early age she was interested in sports, initially gymnastics, but when she was a teenager she became involved in athletics.
She trained in a variety of events including pentathlon, javelin, discus and shot put.
At the 1932 Games, she went in as one of the favourites for the gold medal in the women"s javelin along with Ellen Braumüller. In the competition, she finished third, while Braumüller took the silver medal.
She also competed in the Women"s 4 x 100 metres relay with teammates Grete Heublein, Marie Dollinger and Braumüller. The team came in the sixth and final position out of the teams that entered the race.
She also finished fourth in the women"s discus throw, just outside the medal positions.
Whilst competing at the 1936 Summer Olympics, she broke the Olympic record for the women"s javelin throw twice during the rounds of the competition. She threw a javelin 148 feet, 2 25/32 inches, beating the previous record holder by over five inches. As opposed to the 1932 Games, the javelin event was the only competition she entered at the 1936 Games.
She was congratulated by the German leader and Hermann Göring and posed for photographs.
Hitler was later warned by Olympic officials that heads of states were not permitted to conduct such congratulations, which was what Willi Daume said in 1984 said prevented Hitler from congratulating gold medallist Jesse Owens, causing the story that the Nazi leader refused to shake his hand. After retiring from athletics Fleischer became involved in handball and played for Eintracht Frankfurt handball club, winning the German championship in 1943.
Fleischer travelled across the Atlantic Ocean on board the Steamship Europa with the other members of the German team and then across the United States by train to Los Angeles in order to compete at the 1932 Summer Olympics.