What nationality was Jochen Rindt?

[Rollcage]

Had a question on our pub quiz tonight - what nationality was Jochen Rindt? I answered German, as that is what I thought was correct, but the quizmaster had Austrian as the answer.

I had thought that though he was raised in Austria and had an Austrian race licence, he never actually changed nationality from German.

Info on the web seems contradictory, with nobody agreeing either way, and FWIW his Wiki article states both!

Anybody have a definitive answer?

[EDLT]

Maybe he had a duel nationality?

[Egg Chaser]

Wikipedia said:

Jochen Rindt was born in Mainz, Germany, but after his parents were killed in a bombing raid in Hamburg during the Second World War, he was raised by his grandparents in Graz, Austria, where he grew up and started motor racing. Although Rindt never became an Austrian citizen, he did drive his entire career under an Austrian racing licence.

So technically, I think you were right in saying he was German if he never became an Austrian citizen.

[pauly]

Well iknow for a fact he was born in Mainz so that would make him German

[Rollcage]

EDLT said:

Maybe he had a duel nationality?

He certainly liked a good fight on the track .....

[skeggysteve]

Jochen was one of my first real live motor racing heros.
I watched my first F1 race live at Brands in 1970 and watching him drift around Clearways was just pure gold.
A few months later reading the Sunday paper I cried.

Sorry I went on a bit of a nostalgic thing there.

Jochen was Austrian.

[hondafanatic]

Rollcage said:

EDLT said:

Maybe he had a duel nationality?

He certainly liked a good fight on the track .....

Ok, from a few minutes research he was born in Germany as mentioned above. However, he chose to race under a Austrian Licence as he was raised in Austria and gained his racing experience in Austria.

However, in today's rules, that would not be allowed.

[hondafanatic]

skeggysteve said:

Jochen was Austrian.

Everything I've read has so far been that he was born in Germany and had a German passport and never took Austrian citizenship.

However, this is based on ten minutes research so I'm happy to be pointed in the correct direction

[Rollcage]

hondafanatic said:

skeggysteve said:

Jochen was Austrian.

Everything I've read has so far been that he was born in Germany and had a German passport and never took Austrian citizenship.

However, this is based on ten minutes research so I'm happy to be pointed in the correct direction

Yeah - a quick look round indicates that an awful lot of sites have the wrong info out there. He would seem to have been German through and through, though he may not have actually regarded himself as being so. However, he obviously wasn't that bothered, as he never changed nationality. His mother was Austrian though.

[skeggysteve]

hondafanatic said:

Everything I've read has so far been that he was born in Germany and had a German passport and never took Austrian citizenship.

However, this is based on ten minutes research so I'm happy to be pointed in the correct direction

I'm not an expert, just an old git!

Book on Jochen by Heinz Pruller.

The last page says this:

"His twenty-eight years were im-measurably fuller than the seventy-five years of an ordinary man.
His was a rich, almost fulfilled life, cut off at the very peak of achievement through no fault of his own.
We are the ones who are poorer."

[John D.]

Rollcage said:

EDLT said:

Maybe he had a duel nationality?

He certainly liked a good fight on the track .....

I always though he was German.

Rindt 'innit.

[Pints]

hondafanatic said:

Ok, from a few minutes research he was born in Germany as mentioned above. However, he chose to race under a Austrian Licence as he was raised in Austria and gained his racing experience in Austria.

However, in today's rules, that would not be allowed.

I did not know this. When somebody spots my talent (mid 30s is not too old!) I had planned on dithering between racing as Dutch (my passport) or British (where I live). I certainly didn't want to race as a South African just because I was born there.

[williamp]

So he's (sort of) the same as the Austrian Red Bull team, based entirley in the UK close to Milton Keynes, always has been, and only ever driven throguh Austria on the way to Italy then...?

[freedman]

Considered Austrian, certainly by the press of the day

Though an English paper published the headline 'unknown Australian beats Hill' after Rindt beat GH at Crystal Palace in 1964 (according to Prullers book)

Last page also lists his nationality as Austrian

[djone101]

There's a statue of him outside the info/shop building at the Red Bull Ring in Austria (saw it last weekend) so they appear to be laying claim to him....

[Eric Mc]

He was born in Germany but always raced as an Austrian. In the F1 records and statistics you will always see Michael Schumacher as the first German world champion.

He was born in 1942 which means that he was born at a time when Germany and Austria were considered as one country due to the Anchsluss of 1938..

[Bill Carr]

williamp said:

So he's (sort of) the same as the Austrian Red Bull team, based entirley in the UK close to Milton Keynes,

O/T but they are based in Milton Keynes. So very, very close indeed

[Rollcage]

Eric Mc said:

He was born in Germany but always raced as an Austrian. In the F1 records and statistics you will always see Michael Schumacher as the first German world champion.

He was born in 1942 which means that he was born at a time when Germany and Austria were considered as one country due to the Anchsluss of 1938..

And that single country was .... Germany.

[oyster]

I suspect the technically correct answer is that he was dual nationality.

The pub quiz answer is that he was Austrian.

[Eric Mc]

oyster said:

I suspect the technically correct answer is that he was dual nationality.

The pub quiz answer is that he was Austrian.

All the F1 stats quote him as being Austrian.

I would expect that many people, in the aftermath of WW2, might want to have distanced themselves a bit from Germany if they were in a position to do so.