The Olympic flame has been burning here for 50 years
Created: 08/18/2022, 11:00 am
By: Sabine Hermsdorf-Hiss
On August 25, 1972, Franz Samuel stole the Olympic flame from torch bearer Günter Zahn.
He's kept the flame alive ever since.
Even today, more than a year after his death, the fire still burns.
© Sabine Hermsdorf
The flame of 1972 did not go out even after the death of Franz Samuel.
The Olympic flame has been burning here in his house in Hohenschäftlarn for 50 years.
Hohenschäftlarn
– A colander, a crystal vase and lots of eternal light oil keep the 1972 Olympic flame burning in a cozy little house in Hohenschäftlarn.
The Olympic Flame was stolen by the late Franz Samuel 50 years ago, on August 25, 1972 to be precise.
Stolen from the Torch Runner
It was the day when the torch bearers passed through Ebenhausen-Schäftlarn on their way to Munich.
As the glee club performed a song and all eyes were on the singers, Samuel struck out.
He held a sliver of wood in the fire and used it to light a lamp he had brought with him.
"And I already had it," he recalled a few years ago with a mischievous smile and mischievous eyes in an interview with our newspaper.
Strictly speaking, the Olympic flame was already burning in the family home before middle-distance runner Günter Zahn officially lit it in front of 85,000 spectators in Munich's Olympic Stadium.
Everlight Oil keeps the fire alive
Keeping the light alive was another matter entirely.
Samuel benefited from his experience as a sacristan here.
He filled a vase with "eternal light oil" and put the wick in it.
"The employees in the Munich candle shop always laughed when I fetched the next five-liter canister with oil." For the fact that not even the smallest mosquito or the tiniest moth can fly into the flame and perhaps finish it off, provides a kitchen sieve as a cover.
Tinker so that the flame does not go out
It only got complicated when the family wanted to travel for a longer period of time.
She couldn't take it with her.
So the Schäftlarner began to tinker - and actually found a solution.
He linked several wicks together, which then passed on the light.
The plan worked: When Samuel unlocked the front door after three weeks' absence and looked around the corner, the Olympic flame was still burning.
His widow honors her husband's heart project
It wasn't actually planned that it would be kept alive for so long.
But somehow Samuel kept reaching for the oil can two or three times a month and filling up the vase.
Even now, a little over a year after Samuel's death, the light is still on in the corner of the hallway.
Widow Inge Samuel almost sounds horrified when our newspaper asks.
"Of course," comes the immediate answer, "that's a matter of honor."
