Postwar period

Hunger and hardship in bombed-out Berlin

The heavy bombing that Berlin experienced during the war had spared Walter Rutt's apartment on Stephanstraße, but he too suffered from the circumstances caused by the blockade of the city. Once again, it was his old friend Clemens Schürmann whom he asked for help in August 1948.

"Day and night, countless planes roar over our area on their way to Tempelhof. It is reassuring that we are being supplied with food, but there is a shortage of vegetables and fruit. Potato rations have also been disrupted, but my sister has been sending potatoes in air parcels for weeks.

Could I dare to ask you to send us a parcel with some fruit and vegetables? There will soon be an opportunity to reimburse you for the money you spend. I would be very grateful. Perhaps your school friend could help you choose items that don't spoil too quickly, as experience has shown that the parcels take between 4 and 14 days to arrive."

Herbert Weinrich wins the Walter Rutt Prize in 1955

"Due to the power outage, I am also out of work and am using my free time to search for wood in the ruins. It is dangerous and dirty work because the wood is charred.

I have one more request. Do you perhaps have a used 1/2 x 1/8 chain for my roadside? Here, they charge 30 marks for a new chain, payable in West German marks, which is over 90 marks in East German marks. My chain has stretched into a tired rubber band so that it constantly slaps against the ground. We are still very disadvantaged in Berlin, because like the chain, all other items from the West are outrageously expensive."

At that time, Walter Rutt liked to reminisce about better times. In 1949, he wrote for the magazine “Natur und Technik” about the “track cycling experiences of an old cyclist”

In February 1950, he had to undergo eye surgery, and some time later he was forced to stay in hospital because a thrombosis had caused his left thigh to swell by several centimeters.

Call for help to Frankfurt

In a letter to Clemens Schürmann, who was staying in Frankfurt at the time, he wrote in September 1951:

"Since you are now with Adolf Schön every day, I would ask you to speak to him about whether I could be employed there in some capacity during the six-day race, perhaps in the prize committee, where a certain amount of routine is required, but I am also willing to take on any other position.

My small pension means I lead a meager existence, and if I were to be employed at a six-day race and prove myself, there is a chance that other organizers would also call on me. Remind Schön that I won the first Frankfurt six-day race with Stol, and ask him to consider whether he could employ me, as he is surely aware of my difficult situation."

Photo: Wolfgang Rupprecht

Walter Rutt in 1957

A package from the UCI

In 1953, shortly before his 70th birthday, Walter Rutt received a parcel from France, sent by the International Cycling Union. The reason for the delivery was that during the victory ceremony at the 1913 World Championships in Leipzig, they had forgotten to present him with the certificate confirming his world championship title. It then lay in a cupboard at the UCI secretariat in Paris for 40 years and only now reached its rightful owner. Its further whereabouts are unclear.

Honorary celebration on the 70th birthday

Walter Rutt, former figurehead of the tire manufacturer, was among the 600 guests at the inauguration of the Conti Tower in Hanover, at that time the tallest skyscraper in West Germany.

On the occasion of his 70th birthday, he was awarded the Badge of Honor of the City of Berlin. Among those congratulating him were the mayor of Steglitz, the magistrate of Berlin, and numerous former cyclists. Reinhold Habisch, alias “Krücke,” a Berlin original, also took the opportunity to send a bouquet of flowers.