Was tree Hitler gift?

Georges Miez

An oak tree in the city of Winterthur is at the centre of attention for all the wrong reasons.

It’s rumoured the tree was a gift to the town from Hitler – and that’s the reason it’s become a meeting point for radical Islamists who used to worship at the now closed notorious An’Nur mosque. 

While it’s not sure that is the reason the former worshippers gather under the tree – there is a Hitler link. 4

The tree was a gift to the Swiss Olympian Georges Miez who won gold at the 1936 Berlin games for floor gymnastics. All gold medallists were given an oak sapling at the games. 

When he received his medal and the tree, Miez was told to make the Hitler salute. He refused, which is backed up with newsreel footage at the time. 

The tree was brought back to Switzerland and planted outside the Deutweg stadium, where it thrives to this day. 

Georges Miez died in 1999. 
 

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