Wilhelm Ehmer

Biographical information

RolesCompeted in Olympic Games
SexMale
Full nameWilhelm•Ehmer
Used nameWilhelm•Ehmer
Born1 August 1896 in Hong Kong, Hong Kong (HKG)
Died16 June 1976 in Lüdenscheid, Nordrhein-Westfalen (GER)
NOC Germany
Medals OG
Gold 0
Silver 1
Bronze 0
Total 1

Biography

Wilhelm Ehmer, who spent his childhood in his native Hong Kong, lost his right arm in 1943 during a World War II air raid on Berlin. After the war ended, in which his two sons were killed in action, but his three daughters survived, he became a journalist and newspaper editor and also a writer with modest success. His work from 1936 Around the Peak of the World was his most famous, which described the failed summit ascent of Mount Everest by the British mountain climbers George Mallory and Andrew Irvine. Both lost their lives in this expedition. Ehmer won the silver medal with this work in the category “Literature – Epic Works” at the Berlin Games. During World War II he initially worked as a press officer in France and Norway, from 1942 as a clerk for soldier newspapers, but also as a soldier of the Wehrmacht High Command in Berlin. Beginning in 1949, after a short period of imprisonment, he took an editor’s job in Lübeck. In 1973 he was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland).

Results

Games Discipline (Sport) / Event NOC / Team Pos Medal As
1936 Summer Olympics Art Competitions GER Wilhelm Ehmer
Literature, Epic Works, Open (Olympic) 2 Silver