Editing Max Schmeling (section)

===Schmeling in his later years===
[[File:Louis-schmeling-1971.jpg|thumb|right|[[Joe Louis]] and Max Schmeling in 1971]]
When he returned to Germany after his defeat by Joe Louis, Schmeling was now shunned by the Nazis. He won both the German and European heavyweight championships on the same night, with a first-round knockout of [[Adolf Heuser]]. During the Nazi purge of Jews from Berlin, he personally saved the lives of two Jewish children by hiding them in his Excelsior hotel room in Berlin. He claimed he was sick and permitted no one to enter.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.jweekly.com/2002/03/08/s-f-hotelier-recalls-the-day-a-german-boxer-saved-him/ |title=S.F. hotelier recalls the day a German boxer saved him |newspaper=J |date=8 March 2002 |publisher=The Jewish News of Northern California, 8 March 2002}}</ref> It was not the first time that Schmeling defied the Nazi regime's hatred for Jews. As the story goes, Hitler let it be known through the Reich Ministry of Sports that he was very displeased at Schmeling's relationship with Joe Jacobs, his Jewish fight promoter, and wanted it terminated, but Schmeling refused to bow even to Hitler.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/fight-joe-jacobs-1898-1939/|title=Joe Jacobs (1898–1939)|publisher=WGBH Educational Foundation|accessdate=April 21, 2022}}</ref> During the war, Schmeling was drafted, where he served with the ''Luftwaffe'' and was trained as a paratrooper.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/fight-max-schmeling-1905-2005/|title=Max Schmeling (1905-2005)|publisher= WGBH Educational Foundation|accessdate=April 22, 2022}}</ref> He participated in the [[Battle of Crete]] in May 1941, where he was wounded in his right knee by mortar fire shrapnel during the first day of the battle. After recovering, he was dismissed from active service after being deemed medically unfit for duty because of his injury. Nevertheless, in July 1944 a rumor that he had been killed in action made world news.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Chicago Tribune from Chicago, Illinois on July 21, 1944 · Page 19 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/195902584/?terms=max+schmeling+reported+killed |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20180203005808/https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/195902584/?terms=max%2Bschmeling%2Breported%2Bkilled |archive-date=2018-02-03 |access-date=2025-05-04 |work=Newspapers.com |language=en}}</ref> He later visited American [[Prisoner of war|POW]] camps in Germany and occasionally tried to help conditions for the prisoners. By early 1945, he was spending his time giving exhibition bouts against [[British Free Corps]] member [[Eric Pleasants]] in German officers' messes.<ref>Weale, Adrian (12 November 2014). Renegades (Kindle Locations 2992–2994). Random House. Kindle Edition</ref>

After the war, Schmeling settled in [[Hamburg]] where in 1947, strapped for money, he embarked upon a moderately successful comeback in boxing, winning three of his five bouts with two point-defeats before re-entering retirement for good in October 1948.

Schmeling became a successful mink, chicken, and tobacco farmer in the early 1950s. Towards the end of the decade, after multiple meetings with [[The Coca-Cola Company]]'s offices in Germany, Schmeling became the face of '[[Cocacolonization]]' and Coca-Cola's reentry into Germany. Before long, he owned his own bottling plant and held an executive's position within the company. Schmeling helped bring vending machines into use in Germany.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Erenberg |first=Lewis A. |title=The Greatest Fight of Our Generation |date=2006|chapter=Last Rounds |pages=199–222 |chapter-url=https://academic.oup.com/book/4369/chapter/146317813 |language=en |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195177749.003.0008|isbn=978-0195177749 }}</ref>

He became friends with Joe Louis and he assisted his former rival financially in his later years, eventually financing his funeral in 1981.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/fight/peopleevents/p_schmeling.html |title=American Experience &#124; The Fight &#124; People & Events |publisher=PBS |access-date=5 March 2017}}</ref>

His wife of 54 years, the Czech-born actress [[Anny Ondra]], died in 1987. In 1992, he was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. His autobiography, ''Max Schmeling: An Autobiography'', was published in 1994. He lived his remaining years as a wealthy man and avid boxing fan, dying on 2 February 2005, at the age of 99.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/boxing/4235901.stm | work=BBC Sport | title=Heavyweight legend Max Schmeling dies| access-date=11 February 2012| date=4 February 2005}}</ref>

In 2010, a bronze statue of Schmeling was erected in Hollenstedt.<ref>"Hollenstedt: Max-Schmeling bekommt ein Denkmal", ''Hamburger Abendblatt'', 01.04. 2010.</ref>