Rolf Mulka

Rolf Mulka started sailing in 1940, with his first notable success the German junior title in the Pirate Class. After the war, he became one of the most successful German sailors. In Melbourne, he started with his longtime partner Ingo von Bredow in the Sharpie Class but without much success. Their major achievements came in the Flying Dutchman Class, in which they won the World Championships in 1956 (the first ever) and 1957. In 1959 they placed third in the same event. In 1960 at the Olympic début of the Flying Dutchman class, Mulka and von Bredow won the bronze medal with a victory in the final race.

The publicity that Mulka gained from his bronze medal in Naples in 1960, however, led prosecutors to track down his father Robert Mulka, who was adjutant to the camp commandant Rudolf Höß at Auschwitz concentration camp. When Robert Mulka was put on trial as a war criminal, he was responsible for the ordering process of Zyklon B – and eventually sentenced to 14 years in prison, Rolf took over his trading company and interrupted his sailing career for two years. He returned to competitive sailing in 1963, mostly on a national level, this time in the Dragon Class. Rolf Mulka remained a member of his club, the Norddeutscher Regatta-Verein, all his life, rose to the rank of vice-commodore, and was noted for playing the trumpet when attending regattas. Dying after a long illness in 2012, he just missed seeing his granddaughter Friederike Belcher compete in the women’s 470 Class at the London Olympics.