Waldemar Rämisch

The German-American sculptor Waldemar Raemisch did a craft apprenticeship before starting his artistic education. From 1919-39 he was a professor at the United States’ Schools of Free and Applied Arts in Berlin. He created mostly commodities such as lamps, reliefs, jewelries, vessels, cups, medals and coins, including the 50-Rentenpfennig-piece from 1923. He later devoted himself to more monumental works, and in 1936 he designed the Eagles in front of the “Haus des Deutschen Sports” in the Berlin Sports Forum.

Raemisch was also commissioned to design the Olympic insignia in 1936. He created a connection between the symbol of the city Berlin, the Brandenburg Gate and the symbol of the Olympic Games, the five intertwined rings. The design for the visitor badge was also designed by Raemisch, who again used the symbols of Berlin and the Olympics for this, but in the reverse order as the Olympic badges. The same badge in enlarged form was a car-use plaque that went on sale in a limited extent. The official bronze medal for the 9th IOC congress in Berlin 1930 came in the size 9.5 x 8.9 cm with a weight of 245 grams.

Raemisch was expelled from the Reich Chamber of Culture in 1937, because he was married to a Jew and in 1939 he immigrated to the United States, where he worked as a sculpture teacher in New York. He later designed the Olympic Order which is still in use through 2019.