Karl Schäfer (17 May 1909 – 23 April 1976) was an Austrian

figure skater Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, with its introduction occurring at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic d ...

and swimmer. In figure skating, he became a two-time Olympic champion at the

1932 Winter Olympics The 1932 Winter Olympics, officially known as the III Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Lake Placid 1932, were a winter multi-sport event in the United States, held in Lake Placid, New York, United States. The games opened on February 4 ...

and the

1936 Winter Olympics The 1936 Winter Olympics, officially known as the IV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Garmisch-Partenkirchen 1936, were a winter multi-sport event held from 6 to 16 February 1936 in the market town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Nazi Ger ...

. He was also a seven-time

World champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

(1930–1936) and eight-time

European champion A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers to a ...

(1929–1936). As a swimmer, he competed at the

1928 Summer Olympics The 1928 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the IX Olympiad (), was an international multi-sport event that was celebrated from 28 July to 12 August 1928 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The city of Amsterdam had previously bid for ...

in the 200 metre breaststroke.

Early life and skating career

Karl Schäfer, at times also called "Karli", was born not far from the artificial ice rink of Eduard Engelmann Jr. in Vienna-

Hernals Hernals (; ) is the 17th district of Vienna, Austria (). Hernals is in northwest Vienna.Statistik Austria, 2007, webpagestatistik.at-23450. Wien.gv.at webpage (see below: References). It was annexed in 1892 out of the townships of Hernals, Dorn ...

. Figure skating coach Rudolf Kutzer first recognized Schäfer's talent when he was 11 years old. Schäfer won ten consecutive medals at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

and

European Championships A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

, including seven and eight consecutive gold medals respectively, an all-time high for consecutive titles in both competitions (Sweden's

Ulrich Salchow Karl Emil Julius Ulrich Salchow (7 August 1877 – 19 April 1949) was a Danish-born Swedish figure skater, who dominated the sport in the first decade of the 20th century. Salchow won the World Figure Skating Championships ten times, fr ...

holds the record for all-time non-consecutive titles, ten World and nine European titles). He competed at the

1928 Winter Olympics The 1928 Winter Olympics, officially known as the II Olympic Winter Games (; ; ; ) and commonly known as St. Moritz 1928 (; ), were an international winter multi-sport event that was celebrated from 11 to 19 February 1928 in St. Moritz, Swit ...

and placed 4th, and he won his first European title at the 1929 European Championships. Starting in 1930, Schäfer entered and won every major competition until his retirement after the 1936 season, including back-to-back Olympic titles in men's singles at the

and the

. Schäfer retired from competitive skating in 1936. He moved for a couple of years to the United States, where he worked as a coach. He also performed in ice shows and published a book on

compulsory figures Compulsory figures or school figures were formerly a segment of figure skating, and gave the sport its name. They are the "circular patterns which skaters trace on the ice to demonstrate skill in placing clean turns evenly on round circles". For ...

that included small

flip book A flip book, flipbook, flicker book, or kineograph is a booklet with a series of images that very gradually change from one page to the next, so that when the pages are viewed in quick succession, the images appear to animate by simulating moti ...

s of photos taken from film of Schäfer performing figures. In 1938, he opened a sport store in Vienna. In 1940, he and Herta Wächter (also a figure skating coach) founded the "Karl-Schäfer-Eisrevue" (Karl Schäfer Ice Revue). In 1943, Schäfer became an actor and was the star of the movie ''

The White Dream ''The White Dream'' (German: ''Der weiße Traum'') is a 1943 musical comedy film directed by Géza von Cziffra and starring Olly Holzmann, Elfriede Datzig and Wolf Albach-Retty. The film was made by Wien-Film, a Vienna-based company set up afte ...

'', which was produced on Engelmann's ice rink in Vienna-Hernals. Fellow Austrian skater Willy Petter played a key part in the revue and did much of the choreography; however, he was not credited and remained in background roles, as he was not considered completely

Aryan ''Aryan'' (), or ''Arya'' (borrowed from Sanskrit ''ārya''), Oxford English Dictionary Online 2024, s.v. ''Aryan'' (adj. & n.); ''Arya'' (n.)''.'' is a term originating from the ethno-cultural self-designation of the Indo-Iranians. It stood ...

by Nazi standards, a fact that Schäfer helped cover. After World War II, Schäfer participated in rebuilding the Engelmann's ice rink, and from 1946 on he coached young skaters there. In 1949, he ran into legal problems when he was accused of having been a member of the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...

since 1933 and a member of the

Sturmabteilung The (; SA; or 'Storm Troopers') was the original paramilitary organisation under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party of Germany. It played a significant role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power, Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and early 1930s. I ...

since 1938, despite having said in 1945 that he had joined the Nazi Party only in 1938 and been part of the Sturmabteilung for just three weeks. He presented witnesses who stated that he was part of the resistance movement from 1940 onward, which resulted in his expulsion from the Sturmabteilung, and also against accusations of having participated in

Aryanization Aryanization () was the Nazi term for the seizure of property from Jews and its transfer to non-Jews, and the forced expulsion of Jews from economic life in Nazi Germany, Axis powers, Axis-aligned states, and their occupied territories. It enta ...

. His reputation was damaged by the trial, and he was forced to resign as director of his ice revue, which dropped his name from its title. Schäfer stated in 1954 that he had never been politically active, but after the

Anschluss The (, or , ), also known as the (, ), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into Nazi Germany on 12 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a "German Question, Greater Germany") arose after t ...

in 1938, he was incorporated into the Sturmabteilung like other well-known athletes. He moved again to the U.S. in 1956 and worked there as a figure skating coach until 1962. In 1962, he returned as a coach to Vienna-Hernals and lived and worked there until he died. A street in Vienna is named for him. The

Karl Schäfer Memorial The Karl Schäfer Memorial (other titles: Asko Cup (1987), Vienna Cup (1994), or Vienna Trophy) was a senior-level international figure skating competition held in Vienna, Austria. Medals were awarded in four disciplines: single skating, men's si ...

was a figure skating competition named after him that was held in Vienna from 1974 to 2008.

Swimming career

Schäfer was the Austrian

breaststroke Breaststroke is a human swimming, swimming style in which the swimmer is on their chest and the torso does not rotate. It is the most popular recreational style due to the swimmer's head being out of the water a large portion of the time, and ...

champion several times. He competed in the

and was eliminated in the semi-finals of the 200 metre breaststroke event. Schäfer also attempted to compete at the

1936 Summer Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XI Olympiad () and officially branded as Berlin 1936, were an international multi-sport event held from 1 to 16 August 1936 in Berlin, then capital of Nazi Germany. Berlin won the bid to ...

, but he was not able to do so after suffering burns from handling the

Olympic flame The Olympic flame is a Olympic symbols, symbol used in the Olympic movement. It is also a symbol of continuity between ancient and modern games. The Olympic flame is lit at Olympia, Greece, several months before the Olympic Games. This ceremony s ...

Personal life

Schäfer played the violin very well. He married Christine Engelmann, the youngest daughter of Eduard Engelmann Jr., making him the brother-in-law of

Helene Engelmann Helene Engelmann (later Jaroschka, 9 February 1898 – 1 August 1985) was an Austrian pair skater. With Alfred Berger, she became the 1924 Olympic champion and a two-time world champion. She also won a world title with Karl Mejstrik. Life an ...

Results

Figure skating

References

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Schaefer, Karl 1909 births 1976 deaths Figure skaters from Vienna Austrian male single skaters Austrian male breaststroke swimmers Olympic figure skaters for Austria Olympic swimmers for Austria Swimmers at the 1928 Summer Olympics Figure skaters at the 1928 Winter Olympics Figure skaters at the 1932 Winter Olympics Figure skaters at the 1936 Winter Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Austria People from Hernals Olympic medalists in figure skating World Figure Skating Championships medalists European Figure Skating Championships medalists Medalists at the 1932 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1936 Winter Olympics 20th-century Austrian sportsmen