Jewish Olympic Athletes and the Holocaust

Yesterday, I was thinking a lot about Israel.  I was one of the five thousand who booked a “mistake” fare to Tel Aviv.  Whether El Al will honor those tickets or not is unclear at this moment.

After I booked the flight, I started researching where to go and what to see in Israel. Although my entire family went to Israel many years ago, I stayed home because I was in Law School.  I never thought I wanted to go, but suddenly I was aflutter with excitement.  Questions flooded my head such as “should I go to Jerusalem? “should I go to Tel Aviv?” “did I have time to visit both?”  Of course, people offered suggestions – way too many suggestions for a four day trip.  My sister said “You have to visit Yad Vashem.”  I looked at the website, which briefly describes its mission as follows:

As the Jewish people’s living memorial to the Holocaust, Yad Vashem safeguards the memory of the past and imparts its meaning for future generations. Established in 1953, as the world center for documentation, research, education and commemoration of the Holocaust, Yad Vashem is today a dynamic and vital place of intergenerational and international encounter.

I thought then of the Olympics, and wondered if there was any real sport allowed or pursued at the Concentration Camps.  The answer was largely no: concentration camps were the antithesis of fitness.

I kept researching.  I found some very interesting, albeit solemn, information.

The United States Holocaust Museum has an extensive online exhibit The Nazi Olympics, Berlin 1936. 

A portion of this exhibit is entitled The Holocaust – Persecution of Athletes.  This is a presentation of many Jewish Athletes who participated in Olympics, but who were killed in the Holocaust.  The photos are captivating. I was drawn.  I was mesmerized.

As a runner, I was drawn to this photo from Warsaw, Poland:


Janusz Kusocin’ski (1907-1940) set a world record in the 10,000 meters at the 1932 Los Angeles Games, breaking the Finns’ traditional domination of the event. An injury prevented his participation at the Berlin Games. After Germany occupied Poland, the national hero, aged 33, was executed in the Palmiry Forest on June 21, 1940. Kusocin’ski was one of thousands of prominent Poles killed as part of a German plan to destroy Poland and enslave the Polish people.

I wonder what Kusocin’ski’s world record breaking time actually was.  I looked further.  This athlete was from Hungary:

Attila Petschauer (1904-1943): At the 1928 Amsterdam Games, Attila Petschauer, a Hungarian Jewish fencer, won a silver medal in the individual saber and gold medal in the team saber. Four years later, he led the Hungarian team that won the gold medal in team saber at the Los Angeles Games. He was tortured to death by antisemitic Hungarian army officers in a forced-labor camp during the war.

This was a Dutch gymnastic team:

In the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam, the Dutch women gymanasts won the gold medal in team combined exercises. Four of the ten team members were Jewish. Helena Nordheim (second from left, front row), her husband, and 10-year old daughter were killed by poison gas at Sobibor in Poland on July 2,1943. Anna Polak (third from left, front row) and her 6-year old daughter died July 23, 1943, also at Sobibor; Estella Agsterribe (fourth from left, front row), her 6-year old daughter and 2-year old son were murdered at Auschwitz on September 17,1943. Alternate Judikeje Simons (far right, front row), her son, and daughter, were also killed at Sobibor. Elka de Levi (far right, back row) was the only Jew on the women’s team who survived. Two members of the 1928 Dutch men’s team — Jewish gymnast Mozes Jacobs and Jewish gymnastics trainer Gerrit Kleerekoper — also perished at Sobibor in July 1943.

So sad.  Such good athletes.  Such beautiful lives. Stolen. And this athlete, from Austria:

Dr. Otto Herschmann (1877-194?), an Austrian Jewish swimmer, placed second in the 100-meter freestyle in the 1896 Athens Games. He died in the Izbica transit camp in German-occupied Poland.

There are plenty more. Please look at the website.  I remember when I visited the concentration camp at Dachau, near Munich, in Germany, all I could do was shake my head in disbelief and cry.  All I can say here, is that there were some very strong, dynamic and talented athletes who participated in Olympic games in years passed.  I am proud of them, and of course, saddened by their tragic ends. Never forget.

In addition to the above,  I came across a pictorial online exhibit at the Yad Vashem website entitled Jews and Sport Before the Holocaust:

This exhibition gives visual expression to one facet of what was a very diverse Jewish culture- Jews who engaged in sports. From all over Europe, Jews took part in and competed in many different types of sports activities. Many of the individuals in these photos perished during the Holocaust.

This, for example is a photo taken in Berlin, Germany, 1937.  It is a football match at the “Bar-Kochba” international sports games with the participation of “Hakoach Vienna”:

It is a beautiful exhibit of sport photographs.

On another note, and back current Olympic events, the IOC refused to permit a minute of silence for the Munich Terror Attack 40 years ago.  To protest this, a French swimmer, Fabien Gilot, part of the gold medal-winning 4 x 100 team tattooed his arm.  It reads in Hebrew  אני כלום בלעדיהם – in English: I am nothing without them.  Merci beaucoup, Fabien. 

I do not know how to end this post.  Instead, with much reflection and an ever increasing appreciation of the sport and the athletes.  It also reminds me of how trivial my problems are – and how wonderful my life, and the freedoms I enjoy,  are.  I am blessed.  Thank you. 

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