Many Germans, on the other hand, had shown my dad a lot of respect. German long-jumper Lutz Lang helped Dad learn to jump without fouling. Then Dad beat Lang for the gold medal. After Dad had won three gold medals, he tried to step aside in the 4x100 relay so Marty Glickman, a Jewish teammate, could replace him and win a gold medal, too. But the Germans refused to let a Jew compete. So Dad ran the opening leg and got his fourth gold. After that, Marty and Dad remained lifelong friends.
In 1986, the German government invited our entire family to attend several track meets in Germany. At one meet in Berlin, we sat in the very box that Hitler had occupied 50 years earlier. It was the weirdest feeling. Mother got roses and a tremendous ovation from the crowd. It sent shivers through all of us. We were all thinking about 1936.
