Albert Richter

Albert Richter, known to friends as Teddy, grew up in Sömmeringstraße 72, Ehrenfeld, Cologne. He was one of three brothers born in Cologne to a talented musician. Charles learned the saxophone, Josef the clarinet and Albert the violin.

Albert worked with his father and Charles in a family business making plaster figurines, although some sources say he was a plasterer, but he was frequently out of work in the Depression. He used his spare time to train on the velodrome in Cologne, in secret because his father disapproved. He rode his first races, on the road and on the track, at 16. His father found out when Albert broke his collar bone. His rides, however, attracted the attention of Ernst Berliner, a former cycling champion who ran a furniture business in the city and who had become a reputed cycling coach. Berliner was Jewish and had had his business ransacked several times by Brown Shirts.

In 1932, after winning the Grand Prix de Paris, Richter hoped to be picked for the Olympic Games in Los Angeles. But he was disappointed. The German federation could not afford his fare.

Richter went to Rome and won the world sprint amateur championship on September 3. He was greeted enthusiastically in Cologne. He turned professional and Berliner sent him to Paris, the centre of European track cycling. Agnès Granjon said in her short biography:

There were races all through the year on the four vélodromes in Paris. Richter quickly learned French in particular by watching films, and adapted quickly to his new life. After uncertain beginnings, the young German triumphed at the Vélodrome d'hiver by winning a competition for foreign sprinters. His fluid style, dynamic and powerful, won him the admiration of all. Adopted in a few months by the Parisian public, Albert Richter became very popular in France and gathered a new nickname: the German eight-cylinder.

Richter lived in Paris and spent more time abroad than in Germany. He was open about his opposition to the rise of Hitler and his National Socialism. Sepp Dinkelkamp, a Swiss sprinter, said:"I say with confidence that Albert was an anti-Nazi. If he had followed the Nazis, it would certainly have been a lot easier for him, and to his advantage. But Albert chose another way."

Richter became part of a travelling circus of sprinters that included Jef Scherens and Louis Gérardin. Richter refused to wear a German jersey with a swastika when he raced, preferring the older style with the traditional German eagle. He was on the podium of every championship he rode from 1933 to 1939 (e.g., UCI Track Cycling World Championships – Men's Sprint), although never with the gold medal. Scherens won the world championship every year from 1932 to 1937. Richter came third in 1933 behind him and Lucien Michard. In the two following years Scherens, Richter and Gérardin finished in that order. In 1936, Richter and Gérardin changed places. In 1937 and 1938 he again came in third.