Olympic oaks
The Olympic oaks or, informally, Hitler oaks are the English oak trees grown from the year-old saplings given to the gold medal winners of the 1936 Olympic Games, in Berlin, which was seen as Adolf Hitler's games. They were called "Olympic oaks" at the time. Not many are known, and fewer have survived. Not all of the trees, if any, were presented by Hitler; Lovelock's, for example, was presented by Dr Theodor Lewald, and Boardman's was collected by members of his crew. 130 gold medals were awarded, and a corresponding number of trees.
Germany[edit]
While the largest number of oaks were given to German athletes, who won the most medals, many are said[according to whom?] to be planted near the stadium, though no record was kept, and they would be difficult to identify among the many oaks in the vicinity.[citation needed]
New Zealand[edit]
- Jack Lovelock's tree is at Timaru Boys' High School.[1]
South Korea[edit]
- Sohn Kee-chung's tree is at his memorial hall, Malli-dong, Seoul.[citation needed]
Sweden[edit]
- Ivar Johansson's tree is in Folkparken, Norrköping. The tree was first planted in Johansson's private garden, but in 1960 it was donated to the city of Norrköping.[citation needed]
United Kingdom[edit]
- The sapling presented to Jack Beresford was planted in the grounds of Bedford School.[2] It was removed many years later when building work was undertaken. The wood was used to make presentation shields for the rowing club.[3]
- Harold Whitlock's sapling was presented to Hendon School, and was removed due to fungal disease in July 2007.[4]
- Christopher Boardman's oak was planted in How Hill, Norfolk but was eventually killed by honey fungus. In early 2017 the remaining tree stump was carved into a sailing boat and olympic rings.[5]
United States[edit]
- Jesse Owens won four gold medals and so had four trees.
- One tree was planted at James Rhodes High School in Cleveland, Ohio.[4]
- One may have been planted at Ohio State University.[6]
- As of 2022, Cornelius Johnson's tree was still standing in the yard of his childhood home in Koreatown, Los Angeles.[7][8]
- John Woodruff (Connellsville, Pennsylvania) was the first African American to win gold in the 1936 Olympics (800 Meters). He brought his oak home to Connellsville and planted it in the northwest corner of the High School Stadium (Campbell Field) in Connellsville where it was still standing as of 2022.[9]
- Ken Carpenter was a student at the University of Southern California (USC). His Olympic Oak was planted on the main USC campus, where it still grows behind Bovard Auditorium. [10] [11]
See also[edit]
- Forest swastikas, arboreal relics of Nazi Germany
References[edit]
- ^ Holden, Joanne (2 April 2018). "Timaru's Jack Lovelock oak inspires photo exhibition of others gifted by Adolf Hitler". stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 8 October 2019.
- ^ Arthur Mee (January 1951) [April 1939]. The Counties of Bedford and Huntingdon. p. 23.
{{cite book}}:|work=ignored (help) - ^ "Greg Denieffe: 'Hitler Oaks'". Hear The Boat Sing. 21 April 2012. Retrieved 25 September 2017.
- ^ a b Smith, David; Radford, Peter (19 August 2007). "Hitler's Olympic oak gift to Briton axed | UK news". The Observer. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
- ^ "History". How Hill Trust. Retrieved 10 June 2022.
- ^ Vince Grzegorek. "Jesse Owens' Tree from Hitler in Cleveland | Scene and Heard: Scene's News Blog". clevescene.com. Retrieved 25 September 2017.
- ^ Crowe, Jerry (20 August 2007). "To protect and preserve a tree rooted in Games". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 8 October 2019.
- ^ Arango, Tim (28 May 2022). "In Los Angeles, a Tree With Stories to Tell". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 28 May 2022.
- ^ "75 years later, Connellsville still celebrating Woodruff's legend | TribLIVE.com". archive.triblive.com. Retrieved 8 October 2019.
- ^ Crowe, Jerry (20 August 2007). "To protect and preserve a tree rooted in Games". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 26 April 2024.
- ^ Kragen, Aubrey. "Olympic Oaks". USC Trojans. Retrieved 26 April 2024.
External links[edit]