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How does an elite athlete, one ahead of her time, a pioneer of national sport, become one of the most wanted internationally for aiding the Nazi cause without even committing war crimes?
This is the story of Clara, Clarita, Stauffer. A life full of edges, of chiaroscuros, that today, almost a century later, is still very present.
From pioneer of Spanish sport...
Clara Stauffer Loewe's childhood was always placid. Born in Madrid in 1904, she was the daughter of Konrad Stauffer, a German chemical engineer who had arrived in Spain in 1889 to promote the founding of the Mahou brewery, which he would eventually manage, and Clara Sofía, granddaughter of the founder of the well-known luxury fashion house Loewe.
Almost without realizing it, he became part of the high spheres of Madrid. And in them she moves like a fish in water. From a very young age he became a regular figure in all kinds of festivities and important celebrations in the capital. She likes to attend all parties, especially those of high standing. And she especially likes to be seen. She always makes herself noticed.
A hobby that she combines with her love for sports. Skiing, swimming, chess... she enjoys any competition, whether it requires more physical or mental capacity.
She is a pioneer. We are talking about the 30's. A time when a woman practicing sports was something unusual. Clara was undoubtedly helped by her continuous trips to Germany. There she got to know sports and sportswomen, and "every time I returned to Spain, I gave myself with more enthusiasm to the favorite sports in the societies organized here. I do not believe that the Spanish girls are worse or better sportswomen than those of other countries. On the contrary, perhaps by temperament there is here more enthusiasm, more decision, more fearlessness. But their impulses stumble a little against social prejudices, which little by little are giving ground", he commented in an interview for El Gráfico in 1931.
An interview that takes place just after her first great result: the victory in the popular Laguna de Peñalara swimming race. Clara completed the 80 meters of icy waters in one minute and thirty-nine seconds.
But it...