Otto Placzek

German stone sculptor and medalist Otto Placzek was active as an artist since 1898, and was educated from 1902-06 at the National Museum of Decorative Arts Berlin. He then started his studies at the Professional School of Fine Arts in Berlin, and received numerous awards for his work until 1933. In 1933 Placzek was unemployed for a short period due to lack of orders. Some of his works were the tombstone of art collector Henriette Hertz (1846-1913) in Roma, portal figures for the “Graveyard of the March Fallen” in Berlin, a war memorial in Linz (Austria) and several Hitler busts. Placzek created the official participation medal of the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, and numerous other military insignia, medals and decorations, as well as awards for war heroes. He was a member of the Nazi Party.

The Commemorative plaque was made of bronze, had a diameter of 70 mm and at a thickness of 7 mm, the weight was 114 g. The number of casts was 20,000, produced in four foundries in four different color graduations. However, probably less than 3,300 have been issued. In addition, Placzek designed other medals for events around the Olympic Games, for instance for the cycling and the car rally.