Manfred von Brauchitsch
Born in Hamburg, von Brauchitsch was one of the racing driver elite who helped establish the nimbus of the Mercedes-Benz Silver Arrows in the 1930s. He devoted himself to motorsport at a young age, initially competing in motorbike races. A heavy fall ended this phase of his career, but not von Brauchitsch's ambitions. With the support of well-heeled patrons, he was able to successfully participate in sports car races as a private driver in Mercedes-Benz cars after his recovery.
In 1929, he won his first car race with a Type S (S for Sport), at the Gaisberg outside Salzburg. With his victory at the Berlin AVUS on 22 May 1932 in a Mercedes-Benz SSKL (Super-Sport-Kurz-Leicht, super-sport-short-light), which the aerodynamicist Reinhard Freiherr von Koenig-Fachsenfeld had fitted with a streamlined body that still looked shapeless, von Brauchitsch stepped into the limelight for the first time.
Racing director Alfred Neubauer also had his eye on the up-and-coming talent and signed the Hamburg native as a works driver for the new Grand Prix racing cars from 1934, which were to go down in the history books as the Silver Arrows. Highlights of von Brauchitsch's career, apart from a brilliant debut with the W 25 as winner of the 1934 Eifel Race, were the victories at the Monaco Grand Prix in 1937, but above all at the 1938 French Grand Prix in Reims.
His fame is almost enhanced by the accidents and mishaps that lined his path, such as at the German Grand Prix in 1935, when a puncture on the last lap spoiled what he thought was a certain victory, and three years later at the same event, when he was refuelling on the 16th lap. Fuel spilled over the rear of the W 154 and ignited. Von Brauchitsch was dragged out of the car and rolled on the ground until a fire extinguisher smothered the flames on his overall. Marked by burns, the driver and car continued the race until it ended in the ditch just four kilometres later.
The outbreak of the Second World War ended his active career. During the war years, von Brauchitsch served as a member of the National Socialist Motor Vehicle Corps (NSKK) and later as an advisor in the Armaments Ministry under Albert Speer. In 1949 and 1950, he lived in Argentina.
After his return in spring 1950, contacts developed with the SED leadership which, under pressure from the Federal German State Security Service, led to his relocation to the GDR at the end of 1954, where he subsequently took up various positions as a top functionary. In 1957, he became sports president of the General German Motorsport Association of the GDR and was a founding member, and from 1960 to 1990 he was president of the Society for the Promotion of the Olympic Idea in the GDR. In 2003, von Brauchitsch died at the age of 97 at his home in Schleiz, Thuringia.