Gerhard Karl Eduard Stöck (28 July 1911 – 29 March 1985) was a German athlete and Nazi officer. He won the gold medal in the

javelin throw The javelin throw is a track and field event where the javelin, a spear about in length, is thrown as far as possible. The javelin thrower gains momentum by running within a predetermined area. Javelin throwing is an event of both the men's de ...

event at the

1936 Summer Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XI Olympiad () and officially branded as Berlin 1936, were an international multi-sport event held from 1 to 16 August 1936 in Berlin, then capital of Nazi Germany. Berlin won the bid to ...

and placed third in the

shot put The shot put is a track-and-field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical Ball (sports), ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. For men, the sport has been a part of the Olympic Games, modern Olympics since their 1896 Summer Olym ...

. Stöck was the son of a butcher. He was born in Kaiserswalde in 1911, a small village now located in Poland, and grew up in the

Province of Posen The Province of Posen (; ) was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1848 to 1920, occupying most of the historical Greater Poland. The province was established following the Greater Poland Uprising (1848), Poznań Uprisi ...

. He was a versatile athlete and, besides throwing events, competed in decathlon and won the javelin and pentathlon events at the 1935 World Student Games. Domestically, he won the German javelin title in 1938 and placed second in 1933–1947. He never won the German shot put title, due to a strong competition from Hans Woellke, and placed second four times. At the 1938 European Championships, Stöck won a silver medal in the shot put, surprisingly beating Woellke, but placed only seventh in the javelin throw. Stöck had a degree in

philology Philology () is the study of language in Oral tradition, oral and writing, written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also de ...

and worked as a teacher from 1938. Earlier in 1933, he became a member of the Nazi

paramilitary A paramilitary is a military that is not a part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. The Oxford English Dictionary traces the use of the term "paramilitary" as far back as 1934. Overview Though a paramilitary is, by definiti ...

organization, the ''

Sturmabteilung The (; SA; or 'Storm Troopers') was the original paramilitary organisation under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party of Germany. It played a significant role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power, Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and early 1930s. I ...

'' and, in 1944, was promoted to SA-''

Sturmbannführer __NOTOC__ ''Sturmbannführer'' (; ) was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank equivalent to Major (rank), major that was used in several Nazi organizations, such as the Sturmabteilung, SA, Schutzstaffel, SS, and the National Socialist Flyers Corps, NSFK ...

''. In the lead up to

Operation Uranus Operation Uranus () was a Soviet 19–23 November 1942 strategic operation on the Eastern Front of World War II which led to the encirclement of Axis forces in the vicinity of Stalingrad: the German Sixth Army, the Third and Fourth Romani ...

, Stöck was the one who reported an expected Soviet attack that day to General Schmidt's division, this attack was the first of the operation. The message was not passed on to Schmidt however as it was thought to be another false alarm. This lack of early response is thought to have contributed to the Soviet success of Operation Uranus. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he continued competing until the early 1950s and then worked as a sports administrator. He served as Chef de Mission of the Unified German Olympic team in 1956 and 1960 and as deputy chef de mission in 1964. His past military activity was raised only after his death in 1985. Among other things, it was found that he falsified his birth year from 1911 to 1910. Stöck was married and raised an athletic family. His daughter,

Jutta Stöck Jutta Bettina Stöck (later ''Hertel'', born 29 September 1941) is a retired West German sprinter who won European silver medals in the 4 × 100 m relay in 1966 and 1969. She also held the national title in the relay in 1966–68. She competed a ...

, became an Olympic sprinter, while his son-in-law,

Peter Hertel Peter Hertel (born c. 1944) is a retired West German rower who won the 1966 world title in the eights. Earlier in 1965 he won the national title and a European silver medal in coxed fours. After retiring from competitions Hertel became a prom ...

, was a 1966 world champion in rowing. His grandson, Ole Hertel, was a competitive shot putter and discus thrower.

References

1911 births 1985 deaths 20th-century German sportsmen Athletes from Greater Poland Voivodeship Athletes (track and field) at the 1936 Summer Olympics European Athletics Championships medalists German male javelin throwers German male shot putters Medalists at the 1936 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Germany Olympic bronze medalists for Germany Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field) Olympic gold medalists for Germany Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) People from Piła County People from the Province of Posen SA-Sturmbannführer {{Germany-athletics-Olympic-medalist-stub