Elka de Levie (21 November 1905 – 29 December 1979) was an Amsterdam-born

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

gymnast Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, sh ...

who won the gold medal as member of the Dutch gymnastics team at the

1928 Summer Olympics The 1928 Summer Olympics ( nl, Olympische Zomerspelen 1928), officially known as the Games of the IX Olympiad ( nl, Spelen van de IXe Olympiade) and commonly known as Amsterdam 1928, was an international multi-sport event that was celebrated from ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

. She was the only Jewish team member to survive

the Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

; her teammates

Anna Dresden-Polak Anna "Ans" Dresden-Polak (née Anna Polak) (24 November 1906 – 23 July 1943) was a Jewish Dutch gymnast. She won the gold medal as a member of the Dutch gymnastics team at the 1928 Summer Olympics, in her native Amsterdam. She was one of ...

Jud Simons Judikje "Jud" Simons (20 August 1904 – 20 March 1943) was a Dutch gymnast who competed in the 1928 Summer Olympics. In 1928 she won the gold medal as member of the Dutch gymnastics team. The team was inducted into the International Jewish ...

and

Helena Nordheim Helena "Lea" Nordheim (1 August 1903 – 2 July 1943) was a Dutch gymnast. She won the gold medal as a member of the Dutch gymnastics team at the 1928 Summer Olympics in her native Amsterdam. With her team, she was inducted into the International ...

and coach

Gerrit Kleerekoper Gerrit Kleerekoper (15 February 1897 – 2 July 1943) was a Jewish-Dutch gymnastics coach. He was married with two children and worked as a diamond cutter. He led the Dutch women gymnastics team to win the gold medal at the 1928 Olympic Games in ...

were gassed in

Sobibor Sobibor (, Polish: ) was an extermination camp built and operated by Nazi Germany as part of Operation Reinhard. It was located in the forest near the village of Żłobek Duży in the General Government region of German-occupied Poland. As an ...

, while

Estella Agsteribbe Estella "Stella" Agsteribbe (6 April 1909 – 17 September 1943) was a Dutch gymnast. She won the gold medal as member of the Dutch gymnastics team at the 1928 Summer Olympics in her native Amsterdam. The team was inducted into the International ...

was gassed in

Auschwitz Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...

. The entire team was elected to the

International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame The International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame ( he, יד לאיש הספורט היהודי, translit=Yad Le'ish HaSport HaYehudi) was opened July 7, 1981 in Netanya, Israel. It honors Jewish athletes and their accomplishments from anywhere around ...

in 1997. On 31 October 1929 she married Andries Abraham Boas, with whom she had two daughters, but the couple were divorced on 20 April 1943. She and both her daughters survived the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

by going into hiding. Elka de Levie died in anonymity in Amsterdam on 29 December 1979.Uzi Dann, ''Olympic gold could not save them from the gas chambers'' in Haaretz, April 8, 2013

References

External links

Database Olympics profile

Elka de Levie
commemoration,

Yad Vashem Yad Vashem ( he, יָד וַשֵׁם; literally, "a memorial and a name") is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; honoring Jews who fought against th ...

website 1905 births 1979 deaths Dutch female artistic gymnasts Dutch Jews Jewish gymnasts Jewish Dutch sportspeople Gymnasts at the 1928 Summer Olympics Olympic gymnasts of the Netherlands Olympic gold medalists for the Netherlands Gymnasts from Amsterdam Dutch Holocaust survivors Olympic medalists in gymnastics International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame inductees Medalists at the 1928 Summer Olympics {{Netherlands-Olympic-medalist-stub

See also

References

Further reading

External links