Dr. Otto Herschmann (4 January 1877 – 17 June 1942) was an

Austrian Jewish The history of the Jews in Austria probably begins with the exodus of Jews from Judea under Roman occupation. Over the course of many centuries, the political status of the community rose and fell many times: during certain periods, the Jewis ...

swimmer Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...

, fencer, lawyer, and sports official. He is one of only a few athletes who have won Olympic medals in multiple sports, having received a silver medal in swimming in 1896 and a silver medal in

fencing Fencing is a group of three related combat sports. The three disciplines in modern fencing are the foil, the épée, and the sabre (also ''saber''); winning points are made through the weapon's contact with an opponent. A fourth discipline, s ...

in 1912. He also worked as a lawyer, and served as president of the Austrian

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 ...

and the Austrian Swimming Federation. Herschmann was murdered by the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

in 1942 during

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 ...

Biography

Herschmann was

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 ...

, and was born in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, Austria. He was affiliated with the 1.W.A.S.C. in Vienna, and the

Wiener AC Wiener Athletiksport Club, also known as Wiener AC or WAC, is an Austrian sports club in Vienna. It is particularly noted for its hockey team, which was established in 1900. Its football team won the Austrian Championships and was Runner-up in ...

in Vienna.

Olympic swimming career

Herschmann first competed at the initial modern Olympic Games, the

1896 Summer Olympics The 1896 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 1896, Therinoí Olympiakoí Agónes 1896), officially known as the Games of the I Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 1ης Ολυμπιάδας, Agónes tis 1is Ol ...

Athens, Greece Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, at the age of 19 in the men's 100 metres

freestyle swimming Freestyle is a category of swimming competition, defined by the rules of the International Swimming Federation (FINA), in which competitors are subject to a few limited restrictions on their swimming stroke. Freestyle races are the most commo ...

event. On 30 March, he and the other swimmers were taken by boat into the Bay of

Piraeus Piraeus ( ; el, Πειραιάς ; grc, Πειραιεύς ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens' city centre, along the east coast of the Saronic ...

to compete in the open sea. The competitors swam from a starting line between two buoys, through a course marked by a number of floating hollow pumpkins, to a red flag finish line at the shore. Herschmann placed second and won a

silver medal A silver medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc ...

, with a time of 1:22.8, 0.6 seconds and half a metre behind the winner,

Alfréd Hajós Alfréd Hajós (1 February 1878 – 12 November 1955) was a Hungarian swimmer, football player and manager, and architect. He was the first modern Olympic swimming champion and the first Olympic champion of Hungary. No other swimmer ever won s ...

, as the other swimmers trailed far behind. AinsworthSports.com ranked Herschmann as tied for the second-best swimmer of the 1890s, behind Alfréd Hajós. In 1904, he wrote ''Wiener Sport'', which was published by H. Seemann.

Olympic fencing career

In the

1906 Summer Olympics The 1906 Intercalated Games or 1906 Olympic Games was an international multi-sport event that was celebrated in Athens, Greece. They were at the time considered to be Olympic Games and were referred to as the "Second International Olympic Games i ...

, Herschmann competed in Athens in individual

sabre A sabre ( French: �sabʁ or saber in American English) is a type of backsword with a curved blade associated with the light cavalry of the early modern and Napoleonic periods. Originally associated with Central European cavalry such as th ...

, but did not medal. He returned to Olympic competition at the

1912 Summer Olympics The 1912 Summer Olympics ( sv, Olympiska sommarspelen 1912), officially known as the Games of the V Olympiad ( sv, Den V olympiadens spel) and commonly known as Stockholm 1912, were an international multi-sport event held in Stockholm, Sweden, be ...

in Stockholm, Sweden, competing as a member of Austria's

fencing team at the age of 35, 16 years after he first won a medal. On 15 July he won a silver medal in the team competition. In so doing, he became one of only a few athletes to win Olympic medals in more than one sport. Other Jewish fencers who participated in the 1912 Olympics included Hungarian gold medal-winning sabre fencers Dr.

Jenő Fuchs Jenő Fuchs (29 October 1882 – 14 March 1955) was a Hungarian sabre fencer. He competed at the 1908 and 1912 Olympics and won both the individual and team events at both Games. He missed the 1920 Olympics, where Hungary was not allowed to c ...

, Dr.

Dezső Földes Dezső Földes (30 December 1880 in Miskolc, Kingdom of Hungary – 27 March 1950 in Cleveland, United States) was a Hungarian saber fencer. Olympics Földes won gold medals in team saber at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London and at the 19 ...

Lajos Werkner Lajos Werkner (23 October 1883 – 12 November 1943) was a Hungarian Olympic champion sabre fencer. Early and personal life Werkner was born in Budapest, Hungary, and was Jewish. Werkner was educated as a mechanical engineer. Fencing career ...

, and Dr. Oszkár Gerde, and Austrian silver medal-winning sabre fencer Albert Bogen.

Athletic administrative posts

At the time he won his fencing medal, Herschmann was serving as President of the Austrian

, a position that he held from 1912 to 1914. He is the only person to win an Olympic medal while serving as president of a National Olympic Committee. Herschmann was one of Europe's top authorities in sports. In November 1913, he traveled to various cities in the United States, including Boston, New York, Cleveland, Philadelphia, and Chicago, to study US sports organizations and recruit trainers to work with Austrian athletes training for the Olympics. That month, when he was visiting the U.S. as the Austrian athletic envoy, the

Boston Athletic Association The Boston Athletic Association (B.A.A.) is a non-profit, running-focused, organized sports association for the Greater Boston area. The B.A.A. hosts such events as the Boston Marathon, the B.A.A. 5K, the B.A.A. 10K, the B.A.A. Half Marathon, the ...

gave him a banquet, and in December 1913 the Board of Governors of the

New York Athletic Club The New York Athletic Club is a private social club and athletic club in New York state. Founded in 1868, the club has approximately 8,600 members and two facilities: the City House, located at 180 Central Park South in Manhattan, and Travers ...

held a banquet honoring him. He lauded the United States system for the quality of physical and mental training provided. He noted in contrast to the European system, high-quality training was provided to all athletes, not only those who lacked natural talent. Herschmann served as President of the Austrian Swimming Federation from 1914 to 1932.

Holocaust and death

Herschmann was in private practice as a lawyer in the 1940s. He was persecuted during the era of the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

s because he was Jewish. On 14 January 1942, Herschmann was deported from Vienna to the

General Government The General Government (german: Generalgouvernement, pl, Generalne Gubernatorstwo, uk, Генеральна губернія), also referred to as the General Governorate for the Occupied Polish Region (german: Generalgouvernement für die be ...

region of German-occupied Poland, where he died shortly after. Some sources report that he died in Izbica transit camp, while others suggest that he was gassed in

Sobibor extermination camp 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 ...

Honors

GuentherZ 2009-02-28 0015 Wien11 Otto-Herschmann-Gasse

Herschmann was inducted into 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 1989. On 7 November 2001 his hometown Vienna named a lane "Otto-Herschmann-Gasse" (Otto Herschmann Alley) in his honor in

Simmering Simmering is a food preparation technique by which foods are cooked in hot liquids kept just below the boiling point of water (lower than ) and above poaching temperature (higher than ). To create a steady simmer, a liquid is brought to a boil, ...

, the 11th District of Vienna.

References

External links

Sports-reference bioJews in Sports
*
''Wiener Sport''
(in German), by Otto Herschmann, published by H. Seemann (1904) {{DEFAULTSORT:Herschmann, Otto 1877 births 1942 deaths Austrian male freestyle swimmers Austrian male sabre fencers Austrian male foil fencers Jewish Austrian sportspeople Olympic swimmers of Austria Olympic fencers of Austria Olympic silver medalists for Austria Olympic medalists in fencing Swimmers at the 1896 Summer Olympics 19th-century sportsmen Fencers at the 1906 Intercalated Games Fencers at the 1912 Summer Olympics Swimmers from Vienna Austro-Hungarian Jews Jewish male sabre fencers Jewish swimmers Austrian civilians killed in World War II Austrian people who died in Sobibor extermination camp Izbica Ghetto Austrian male writers Medalists at the 1896 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1912 Summer Olympics Austrian people executed in Nazi concentration camps Olympic silver medalists in swimming Austrian Jews who died in the Holocaust Jewish Austrian writers Jewish male foil fencers Game players from Vienna