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Biography
Josef Carl Peter Neckermann (5 June 1912 – 13 January 1992) was a German equestrian and Olympic champion. He won Olympic medals at four different Olympics, in 1960, 1964, 1968 and 1972. Later Neckermann became a member of the West German National Olympic Committee.
He was also the founder and owner of the German mail order company Neckermann AG in 1938.
He benefited greatly from the Nazi forced hostile takeover of Jewish merchants including the 1938 acquisition of Karl Amson Joel's retail business in Berlin. Joel, grandfather of American singer-songwriter Billy Joel and conductor Alexander Joel, founded a Nuremberg-based mail order textile and clothing company in 1928. The following year he also started manufacturing. Joel's company soon became one of the leading mail order sellers in Germany (along with Quelle or Schöpflin). As discrimination further increased (e.g. deliveries had to be marked with a "J" for Juden, or Jew), and Jewish firms became "Aryanized," Joel was forced to sell his company to Neckermann for an unrealistic purchase price in 1938. The original agreement of 2.3 million marks was further reduced by Neckermann to 1.1 million marks. In 1957 Joel got a compensation of 2 million German marks for his former company from Neckermann who ran the most successful German mail order selling company at the time.
Neckermann's daughter Eva-Maria Pracht and granddaughter Martina Pracht were also Olympic equestrians.