Munich's first Olympic champion - Father Timofej successfully defied the planners

Created: 01/22/2022, 09:55 am

By Phillip Plesch

A world-famous original: Father Timofej in front of his East-West Peace Church.

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No event shaped Munich after the Second World War more than the 1972 Olympic Games. In a series to mark the 50th anniversary, we are remembering that time.

Today: Father Timofej.  

Munich – Munich had its first Olympic champion before the 1972 games even started: Father Timofej.

The Russian hermit managed to have the entire construction plans for the Olympic site changed especially for him.

A story unimaginable today.

In order: Timofej Wassiljewitsch Prokhorov, as he was called by his full name, left Russia after he had an apparition of Mary, as he later related.

The Mother of God gave him the task of going west and building the East-West Peace Church there.

In 1952 he came to Munich with his future wife Natascha via detours.

He settled at Oberwiesenfeld and built a church out of the rubble left behind by the Second World War.

Only then did he build a small house next door.

Both unauthorized black buildings on the ground of the city.

Cheers to the then (allegedly) 106th birthday: Timofej and Mayor Christian Ude.

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All attempts by the city to evict Timofej from his small property failed.

Former Lord Mayor Christian Ude (74), who has known Timofej for a long time, says that Father pinned the notice of eviction to the wooden wall of the church with thumbtacks and asked the visitors to pray for the administration.

Timofej's empire was supposed to give way to the Olympic Games

Then the bad news: Timofej's East-West Peace Church was to be removed for the 1972 Olympic Games so that an equestrian center could be built there.

The Munich rebelled.

"The young people supported Timofej and the newspapers were full of pages of letters to the editor," says Ude.

Public pressure was so great that the black building was allowed to stay.

The expensive Olympic plans were overturned and the equestrian center was built in the east of the city.

The international press celebrated the hermit as the first Munich Olympic champion.

Selling flowers led to the next lawsuit

Former mayor Hans-Jochen Vogel had a fine feeling for the mood in the population and realized that it was incredible advertising, says Ude.

Vogel's message: There is no authority here that mercilessly enforces its plans, but the cosmopolitan city with a heart that wants to host cheerful games.

So Timothy stayed, and with him the church.

During the games, the hermit enjoyed the time.

He sold flowers, allegedly from his own cultivation.

But there were so many that the rumor spread that there was a shuttle service from the wholesale market hall that supplied the enterprising father with whole truckloads of flowers.

A lawsuit was even initiated.

The result was – how could it be otherwise – nothing.

Natascha came to Germany with Timofej.

The two later married.

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After the games, Timofej remained one of the most popular Munich players.

"He was a humorous person," says Ude.

Even if he hardly spoke German.

Father died on July 13, 2004, allegedly at the age of 110.

Nobody knows for sure.

According to his statement, he was born on January 22, 1894.

His legacy lives on today in the East-West Peace Church.

An association around Serge Kaiser takes care of it.

But not only there: Timofej was happy to say that the planners of the famous Olympic roof were also inspired by his little church.

One of many stories about the first Munich Olympic champion.