Albert Richter, le champion qui a dit non
Michel Viotte
2005 - 52 min - France

A picture on the catch line of a German newspaper in 1934 : an enthusiastic crowd surrounds the racing cyclist Albert Richter who just won the German championship in Hanover. They all do the Nazi salute. All but one: the hero of the day, the right hand pointedly on his thigh (and the left one on his handlebar). A few months later, during the speed world championships, in August 1934, Richter wears the shirt with the imperial eagle though the others all raise the swastika.
The stunning and tragic path from Albert Richter coincides with the rise of Nazism. Born in 1912 in the suburbs of Cologne from a humble family, the young Albert registers secretly in a cycling club-sport that used to crowd velodromes. Very quickly, he becomes famous. His first big victory, in September 1932 in Roma, throughout the speed world championship is the beginning of a stunning international career.
1932 is the year of his departure in Paris and most of all of his meeting with Ernst Berliner, an ex cyclist became handler who helped Richter to be a champion. Richter will never stop to work with him despite that Berliner was Jew: another sign of his visceral opposition to Nazis. From 1933 to 1939, Richter is the unchallenged champion of the speed track. His fame and his victories protect him.
But his opposition to the Nazi regime finally killed him: at the beginning of 1940, he was arrested by the Gestapo that announce the third January his suicide by hanging. The truth about his death had never been revealed.