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Otto HerschmannAustrian swimmer, fencer and lawyer of Jewish descent
Date of Birth: 04.01.1877
Country:  Austria |
Content:
Biography of Otto Herschmann
Otto Herschmann was an Austrian swimmer, fencer, and lawyer of Jewish origin. He was born on January 4, 1877, in Vienna, Austria. At the age of 19, Herschmann made his debut in the Olympics and immediately became one of the medalists. On March 30, 1896, Herschmann and other swimmers embarked on a boat to the Bay of Piraeus to compete in open water swimming. The Olympic 100-meter freestyle race ended on the shore, where a red flag signaled the end of the race. Herschmann finished second with a time of 1:22.8, 0.6 seconds behind the Hungarian champion Alfred Hajós.
Olympic Success and Persecution
Herschmann's Olympic journey continued as he won another silver medal at the 1912 Summer Olympics in the team fencing competition. This made him one of the few athletes to earn Olympic medals in different sports. Herschmann was hailed as the "second-best swimmer of the 1890s" by AinsworthSports.com, following Hajós. In 1904, Herschmann authored the book "Wiener Sport," published by H. Seemann. A digitized copy of the book from Princeton University Library is available for download through Google.
During the Nazi era, Herschmann faced persecution due to his Jewish heritage. He was deported to the Sobibor death camp near the village of Sobibór in Lublin Voivodeship, Poland. Herschmann, along with many others, fell victim to the gas chambers and died on June 14, 1942.
Legacy
In recognition of his achievements, Herschmann was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1989. Additionally, an alley in the Simmering district of Vienna was named "Otto-Herschmann-Gasse" in his honor on November 7, 2001.
