Forwarded with Flash permission
Tom Rawson
Oakland, CA
<lpernice@juno.com>; "Tom Rawson" <twrawson@comcast.net> Sent: Sunday, February 27, 2005 10:14 PM Subject: Re: Alf Hetchins origins.
> Y'all,
>
> Alf was born on 24 Sept 1923, in 780 Seven Sisters Road, Tottenham.
> Alf's parents, Hyman and his wife, fled Russia in 1917.
>
> There is a rather disturbing foto of World's Champion Toni Merkens
> riding a track iron and wearing a jersey with a swastika on it; Len has
> a fotocopy of of it. Merkens was not German, but rode for German teams.
> He was later sent to the Russian front and never heard from again. There
> is no small irony in his having won World's and Olympic Championships
> riding on a London Jew's bikes.
>
> The SuperSpecial model was introduced before anyone ever heard of the
> SS.
>
> Flash