DEUTSCHE BUNDESPOST on 6 June 1968 issued a First Day Cover of sports personalities, including Rudolf Waldemar Harbig (1913 – 1944). These stamps -- five in total -- were semi-postals with postage values and surcharges added for cultural donation, or in this case the surtax (20pf+10pf) was used for the Foundation to Promote the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich.
Rudolf Harbig was a German middle distance runner best known for the 800 metre world record of 1:46.6 min that he set in Milan in 1939. Belgian runner Roger Moens eventually would break Harbig's record in 1955 and set a new world record of 1:45.7. Also, in 1939 Harbig set a world record over 400 m on a 500 m-track in Frankfurt in 46.0 sec. In Dresden in 1941 he set a world record over 1000 m in 2:21.5. These records would stand until 1955 as well.
A member of the Nazi party and professional soldier, holding the rank of Sargent, Harbig was sent to the Eastern Front in 1941 and fought in the Battle of Moscow. During the Soviet Dnieper–Carpathian Offensive against the Wehrmacht Army Group South, he was killed fighting with the 2nd Parachute Division at the Voronezh Front near Kirovohrad, Ukraine in 1944.
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