Hans von Tschammer und Osten

Hans von Tschammer und Osten
Reich Sports Leader
In office
19 July 1933 – 25 March 1943
LeaderAdolf Hitler
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byArno Breitmeyer
Personal details
Born(1887-10-25)25 October 1887
Dresden, Kingdom of Saxony, Germany
Died25 March 1943(1943-03-25) (aged 55)
Berlin, Germany
Cause of deathPneumonia
Political partyNazi Party
SpouseSophie Margarethe von Zimmermann
Military service
Allegiance German Empire
 Weimar Republic
Branch/serviceRoyal Saxon Army
Reichswehr
Years of service1914–1920
RankHauptmann
Unit6th Royal Saxon Infantry Regiment
Battles/warsWorld War I
AwardsIron Cross, 1st and 2nd class

Hans von Tschammer und Osten (25 October 1887 – 25 March 1943) was a German sport official, SA leader and a member of the Reichstag for the Nazi Party of Nazi Germany. He was married to Sophie Margarethe von Carlowitz.

Hans von Tschammer und Osten led the German Sports Office Deutscher Reichsausschuss für Leibesübungen (DRA) "German Reich Commission for Physical Exercise" after the Nazi seizure of power in 1933. In July the same year Hans von Tschammer was granted the title of Reichssportführer, "Reich Sports Leader", and the whole sports sphere in Germany was placed under his control. He re-established the organization he led, transforming it into the Sports governing body of the Third Reich, Deutscher Reichsbund für Leibesübungen (DRL) "Sports League of the German Reich". In December 1938 it was renamed Nationalsozialistischer Reichsbund für Leibesübungen "National-Socialist Sports League of the German Reich". Von Tschammer held the high-profile post of Reichssportführer until his death in 1943.

The name of today's DFB-Pokal, Deutscher Fußball-Bund-Pokal "German Football-Federation Cup", first contested in the 1934-35 season during von Tschammer's tenure as Reichssportführer, was known as Hans von Tschammer und Osten-Pokal ("Tschammerpokal") until it was last played in Nazi Germany in 1943. Many other innovative improvements regarding the organization of sports events that von Tschammer's formidable Reich Sports Organ introduced, like the Olympic torch relay, are still in use today.