Jewish sports festival in Fürth 1936: Brave athletes in the shadow of the Olympics

Jewish sports festival in Fürth 1936: Brave athletes in the shadow of the Olympics

In the summer of 1936, around 100 Jewish athletes gathered to a remarkable sports festival in Fürth, which was an answer to the discrimination and exclusion of Jewish athletes in Germany.

The event in the shadow of Olympia

on August 23, 1936, at a time when the Olympic Games took place in Berlin, the Jewish sports festival was organized in Fürth. This event was a symbol of resistance to discrimination that the National Socialist regime operated in the country. While the games took place in Berlin, many Jewish athletes did not even take part in a regular Olympics, even though they would have been theoretically qualified.

significant participants and services

Among the 100 active people were some remarkable athletes such as Gretel Bergmann, Erich Klaber and Julius Bendorf. These athletes not only achieved success in their disciplines, but were also the faces of the fight against discrimination. Bergmann was particularly famous for her recordings in the high jump, which she never led to participation in the Olympic Games.

a sports festival with history

The event took place on the back yard of a freight forwarder, since public sports facilities for Jewish athletes were inaccessible. Despite the adverse circumstances, the event was a great success, and around 1,000 spectators gathered to follow the competitions. Athletes prevailed in various disciplines who had previously qualified to take part in the Olympic Games. Klaber won in several disciplines, including high jump and shot put, while Bergmann dominated disciplines in the sprint snaps.

The meaning for the Jewish community

This sports festival was one of the few great Jewish sporting events in Germany at that time and underlined the vitality and cohesion of the Jewish community, which continued to exist despite the repression of the regime. The positive response of the audience and the reporting in the Jewish press testify that the sport was a source of pride and resistance.

after -effects and fates of the athletes

During this event it was uncertain that this would be one of the last great Jewish sports events in the country. Some of the athletes, including Klaber and Bergmann, managed to flee the United States, while other cruel survival conditions met in forced labor camps and concentration camps. Their stories show both the courage and the tragedy that many Jewish athletes learned while trying to live their passion in the face of oppression.

In retrospect, it can be seen that the Jewish sports festival in Fürth was not only a purely sporting event, but also a powerful sign of civil protection and the cultural identity of the Jewish community at a time of persecution. Your achievements and your resistance remain an important chapter in sports history and the history of Jewish people in Germany to date.

- Nag