have frequent run-ins with Adi's parents and Rudolf and his wife, all of whom lived in the same house. Years later, in a letter to Puma's American distributor, Rudolf explained the rift with his brother as solely to be blamed on Käthe, who he claimed "tried to interfere in business matters …"; he claimed that the brothers' relations were "ideal" until 1933. Käthe would give birth to their son Horst in March 1936, their first daughter Inge in June 1938 and their second daughter Karin in 1941. After the war, Brigit was born in May 1946 and Sigrid in 1953. Dassler saw the 1936 Berlin Olympics as the key springboard for international exposure. Although his relation with Waitzer ensured that most German athletes would wear Dassler footwear, Dassler had another athlete principally in mind—Jesse Owens, the American track-and-field star. Dassler found his way to meeting Owens and wordlessly offered his shoes to the American star. Owens accepted the gesture and wore the distinctive shoes (with two leather strips on the sides and dark spikes) when he defeated Luz Long in the long jump (shattering his own record in the process), in his two individual gold-winning performances in track and as a member of America's Gold medal upset of the German relay team. Dasslers' association with Owens proved crucial to the success of the firm. Not only did it immediately catapult the company into an international player in the sportswear field spiking sales overall, but it quite literally later saved the firm. When American troops discovered that the Dassler factory was where the shoes for Owens' Olympic victories were made, they decided to let the works remain standing, and, indeed, many of the troops became good customers. Large orders for basketball, baseball and hockey footwear gave the Dasslers "the first boost on the road to becoming a worldwide success story." Once war began the Dasslers' ability to profit from Nazi enthusiasm for sport ended as the Reich became a total war machine. The Dassler firm was permitted to operate, but its production was severely curtailed. Then on 7 August 1940 Adi received notice of his conscription into the Wehrmacht. Although he reported in December to begin training as a radio technician, he was relieved of duty on 28 February 1941 on the ground that his services were essential in Gebrüder Dassler. Rudolf, who had already served four years during the Great