VON CRAMM’S DEATH RUMOURED

Southland Times, Issue 23540, 21 June 1938, Page 7

VON CRAMM’S DEATH RUMOURED

GERMAN DAVIS CUP PLAYER IN NAZI PRISON LONDON, June 19. Rumours circulating in Berlin and Paris that Baron Gottfried von Cramm, the former Davis Cup tennis player, died in prison are officially denied by a member of his family who stated that Baron von Cramm was in good health and that his mother had seen him in prison twice. She hoped for a pardon soon, after a request to Herr Hitler from sportsmen and other influential people.

INDISCREET ATTACKS ON NAZIS? TENNIS PLAYERS RECALL WARNINGS TO GERMAN LONDON, May 22. The Sunday Referee says that as a protest against the sentence of one year’s gaol imposed on. Baron von Cramm, the former German Davis Cup player, many international tennis players are likely to follow a lead given by Donald Budge, of America, and refuse to play against Germany. “The fact that the trial was made a secret one supports the belief that the morality offence was trumped up against the tennis player,” adds this paper. The Sunday Dispatch states that Baron von Cramm’s Wimbledon friends declare he is paying the penalty for indiscreet attacks on the Nazis, against which they warned him as far back as 1936.

“Von Cramm was my partner in California in 1936, and I found him charming” stated Mrs Helen Wills Moody in an interview. Ellsworth Vines, the American professional, declared that if von Cramm had beaten Budge in the Davis Cup match at Forest Hills all would have been forgiven. “Because he lost, he is in the German hoosegow (gaol),” added Vines. Baron von Cramm may appeal against the sentence imposed on him under the penal code dealing with sexual offences, says a message from Berlin. The judge at his trial, Judge Sponer, has warned him, however, that if the case were reheard, he might receive a heavier sentence. Baron von Cramm’s mother, who was the only person allowed to see him after the trial, said that her son had taken the sentence calmly. His former wife spent the day locked in her flat with the telephone disconnected.