Károly Kárpáti (also Károly Kellner, born July 2, 1906 in
Eger
Eger ( , ; ; also known by other alternative names) is the county seat of Heves County, and the second largest city in Northern Hungary (after Miskolc). A city with county rights. Eger is best known for its castle, thermal baths, baroque build ...
– September 23, 1996 in
Budapest
Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
) was a Hungarian Olympic
wrestling
Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...
champion of
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
heritage.
Career
Károly Kárpáti was born on July 2, 1906 in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He won a gold medal in 1936 in the Lightweight Freestyle class. The Jewish wrestler's victory in the Berlin 1936
Nazi Olympics provided special significance, because it came at the expense of Germany's vaunted titleholder,
Wolfgang Ehrl. He was one of a number of Jewish athletes who won medals at the Nazi Olympics in Berlin in 1936.
Kárpáti won a silver medal in the Lightweight Freestyle class at the
1932 Summer Olympics
The 1932 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the X Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1932) were an international multi-sport event held from July 30 to August 14, 1932 in Los Angeles, California, United States. The Games were held duri ...
in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
. In 1928 at the
Amsterdam Games, he finished fourth in the same weight class.
Kárpáti was Hungary's first "freestyle" wrestler, winning his first Hungarian National Junior title in 1925. He went on to win ten Hungarian National Championships, as well as European Lightweight wrestling crowns in 1927, 1929, 1930, and 1935. He also won one silver and two bronze medals in European Championships competitions during the years in between.
Kárpáti was a Hungarian wrestling master trainer-coach and Olympics coach for many years. He authored six books on the sport of wrestling.
The Hungarian champion listed among his hobbies
Einstein
Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory ...
's Theory of Relativity. In 1982,
International Olympic Committee
The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...
President
Juan Antonio Samaranch
Juan Antonio Samaranch y Torelló, 1st Marquess of Samaranch (Catalan: ''Joan Antoni Samaranch i Torelló'', ; 17 July 1920 – 21 April 2010) was a Spanish sports administrator under the Franco regime (1973–1977) who served as the seventh Pre ...
presented the bronze medal of the
Olympic Order
The Olympic Order, established in 1975, is the highest award of the Olympic Movement. It is awarded for particularly distinguished contributions to the Olympic Movement, i.e. recognition of efforts worthy of merit in the cause of sport. Traditi ...
to Kárpáti for his lifelong work with youth in sports education.
The Holocaust
During the years of the Second World War and worsening of the
antisemitic
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
policy in Hungary, and the
Holocaust, as an Olympic Champion Kárpáti was initially exempt from
forced labor camp service or concentration camps to which Jews were sent. Ultimately, however, he was arrested and sent to work on a labor crew in
Nadvirna
Nadvírna, also referred to as ''Nadwirna'' or ''Nadvorna'' ( uk, Надві́рна, pl, Nadwórna, yi, נאַדוואָרנאַ, ''Nadvorna'') is a city located in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast in western Ukraine. It is the administrative cent ...
, Poland and in Western Ukraine. He there saw the killing of a fellow inmate, Olympic champion fencer
Attila Petschauer, and later recalled: “The guards shouted: ‘You, Olympic fencing medal winner . . . let’s see how you can climb trees.’ It was midwinter and bitter cold, but they ordered him to undress, then climb a tree. The amused guards ordered him to crow like a rooster, and sprayed him with water. Frozen from the water, he died shortly after.”
[''In the Darkroom'' – Susan Faludi]
/ref>[''Who Betrayed the Jews?: The Realities of Nazi Persecution in the Holocaust'' – Agnes Grunwald-Spier]
/ref>
For the rest of the war he succeeded in hiding in the Banki woods and in Pest with family and friends. Kárpáti died in 1996 at age 90.[about Karpati in the Hungarian sport journal Nemzetisport]
See also
* List of select Jewish wrestlers
Sources and external links
on site of Hungarian wrestling with pictures of the sportsman
a site about Jewish sportsmen
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Karpati, Karoly
1906 births
1996 deaths
Sportspeople from Eger
Hungarian Jews
Hungarian wrestlers
Olympic wrestlers of Hungary
Wrestlers at the 1928 Summer Olympics
Wrestlers at the 1932 Summer Olympics
Wrestlers at the 1936 Summer Olympics
Hungarian male sport wrestlers
Olympic gold medalists for Hungary
Olympic silver medalists for Hungary
Recipients of the Olympic Order
Hungarian World War II forced labourers
Olympic medalists in wrestling
Jewish wrestlers
Medalists at the 1936 Summer Olympics
Medalists at the 1932 Summer Olympics