Lilli Henoch
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Lilli Henoch (26 October 1899 – 8 September 1943) was a German
track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...
athlete who set four world records and won 10 German national championships, in four different disciplines. Henoch set world records in the discus (twice), the
shot put The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. The shot put competition for men has been a part of the modern Olympics since their revival in 1896, and women's ...
, and the 4 × 100 meters relay events. She also won German national championships in the shot put four times, the 4 × 100 meters relay three times, the discus twice, and the
long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...
. She 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 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 ...
she and her mother were deported and shot by the Nazis in the Riga Ghetto in September 1943.


Early life

Henoch was Jewish, and was born in
Königsberg Königsberg (, ) was the historic Prussian city that is now Kaliningrad, Russia. Königsberg was founded in 1255 on the site of the ancient Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teutonic Knights during the Northern Crusades, and was named ...
,
East Prussia East Prussia ; german: Ostpreißen, label=Low Prussian; pl, Prusy Wschodnie; lt, Rytų Prūsija was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 187 ...
(Germany). Her father, a businessman, died in 1912. She and her family moved to Berlin, and her mother subsequently remarried.


Track and field career

Henoch set world records in the discus,
shot put The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. The shot put competition for men has been a part of the modern Olympics since their revival in 1896, and women's ...
, and—with her teammates— 4 × 100 meters relay events. Between 1922 and 1926, she won 10 German national championships: in shot put, 1922–25; discus, 1923 and 1924; long jump, 1924; and 4 × 100 meters relay, 1924–26. After World War I, Henoch joined the Berlin Sports Club (BSC), which was approximately one quarter Jewish. She missed a chance to compete in the
1924 Summer Olympics The 1924 Summer Olympics (french: Jeux olympiques d'été de 1924), officially the Games of the VIII Olympiad (french: Jeux de la VIIIe olympiade) and also known as Paris 1924, were an international multi-sport event held in Paris, France. The op ...
, because Germany was not allowed to participate in the Games after World War I. In 1924, she trained the women's section in
Bar Kochba Berlin TuS Makkabi Berlin is a German sports club based in Berlin. Established in 1970, the club lays claim to the traditions of predecessor ''Bar-Kochba Berlin''. History Created in 1898, predecessor club ''Bar Kochba Berlin'' was one of the large ...
. She was a member of the BSC hockey team, which won the Berlin Hockey Championship in 1925.


Discus

She set a world record in discus on 1 October 1922, with a distance of 24.90 meters. She bettered this on 8 July 1923, with a throw of 26.62 meters. She won the German national championship in discus in 1923 and 1924, and won the silver medal in 1925.


Long jump

In 1924, Henoch won the German Long Jump Championship, having won the bronze medal in the event the prior year.


Shot put

On 16 August 1925 Henoch set a world shot put record with a throw of 11.57 meters. She won the German national championship in shot put in 1922–25, and won the silver medal in 1921 and 1926.


4 × 100 meters relay

In 1926, she ran the first leg on a 4 × 100 meters relay world record—50.40 seconds—in
Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...
, breaking the prior record that had stood for 1,421 days by a full second. She won the German national championship in the 4 × 100 meters relay in 1924–26.


100 meter dash

In 1924, she won the silver medal at
100 meters The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been contest ...
in the German national championships.


Post-Nazi-rise disruption of career

After
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
came to power in 1933, Henoch and all other Jews were forced to leave the membership of the BSC, by the Nazi's new race laws. She then joined the Jüdischer Turn-und Sportclub 1905 (Jewish Gymnastics and Sports Club 1905), which was limited to Jews, for which she played
team handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...
and was a trainer. She also became a gymnastics teacher at a Jewish elementary school. Because she was Jewish, the German government did not allow her to participate in the
1936 Summer Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (German: ''Olympische Sommerspiele 1936''), officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad (German: ''Spiele der XI. Olympiade'') and commonly known as Berlin 1936 or the Nazi Olympics, were an international multi-sp ...
.


Killing

The Nazi German government deported Henoch, her 66-year-old mother, and her brother to the Riga Ghetto in Nazi Germany-occupied
Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...
on 5 September 1942, during World War II. She and her mother were taken from the ghetto and shot by an ''
Einsatzgruppen (, ; also ' task forces') were (SS) paramilitary death squads of Nazi Germany that were responsible for mass murder, primarily by shooting, during World War II (1939–1945) in German-occupied Europe. The had an integral role in the im ...
'' mobile killing unit in September 1942, along with a large number of other Jews taken from the ghetto. They were all buried in a
mass grave A mass grave is a grave containing multiple human corpses, which may or may not be identified prior to burial. The United Nations has defined a criminal mass grave as a burial site containing three or more victims of execution, although an exact ...
near
Riga, Latvia Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava (river), Daugava river where ...
. Her brother disappeared, without a trace.


Hall of Fame and commemoration

Henoch 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 1990. In 2008, a ''
Stolperstein A (; plural ; literally 'stumbling stone', metaphorically a 'stumbling block') is a sett-size, concrete cube bearing a brass plate inscribed with the name and life dates of victims of Nazi extermination or persecution. The project, initiat ...
'' was installed in her honor in front of her former residence in Berlin.


See also

* List of select Jewish track and field athletes


References


Further reading

*"Lilli Henoch. Fragmente aus dem Leben einer jüdischen Sportlerin und Turnlehrerin", Ehlert, Martin-Heinz, ''Sozial- und Zeitgeschichte des Sports'', Volume 3, Issue 2, pages 34–48, 1989


External links


"Lilli Henoch and Martha Jacob – Two Jewish Athletes in Germany Before and After 1933"
by Berno Bahroa, ''Sport in History'', Volume 30, Issue 2, pages 267–87, 2010 {{DEFAULTSORT:Henoch, Lilli 1899 births Sportspeople from Königsberg People from East Prussia German female shot putters German national athletics champions 1943 deaths German female discus throwers German female long jumpers German female sprinters Athletes from Berlin German female handball players People who died in the Riga Ghetto German civilians killed in World War II German Jews who died in the Holocaust Jewish German sportspeople Violence against women in Germany People executed by Nazi Germany by firing squad 20th-century German women