Otto Herschmann

{{Infobox sportsperson

|headercolor =

|name = Otto Herschmann

|image = Otto Herschmann.jpg

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|citizenship = Austrian

|birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1877|1|4}}

|birth_place = Vienna, Austria-Hungary

|death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1942|6|17|1877|1|4}}

|death_place = General Government, German Occupied Poland

|monuments =

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|occupation = Swimmer, fencer, lawyer, and sport official

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|country = Austria

|sport = Swimming and fencing

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|club = 1.W.A.S.C., Vienna (Austria) / Wiener AC, Vienna (Austria)

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|worlds =

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|olympics = 1896, 1912

|highestranking =

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{{MedalCountry | {{flag|Austria-Hungary}} }}

}}

Dr. Otto Herschmann (4 January 1877 – 17 June 1942) was an Austrian Jewish swimmer, 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 in 1912. He also worked as a lawyer, and served as president of the Austrian Olympic Committee and the Austrian Swimming Federation. Herschmann was murdered by the Nazis in 1942 during The Holocaust.{{cite web|url=https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/21169 |title=Otto Herschmann |work=Olympedia |access-date=21 December 2020}}

Biography

Herschmann was Jewish, and was born in Vienna, Austria.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qpiphgls99IC&q=otto+herschmann&pg=PA151 |title=The International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame |author=Joseph M. Siegman|publisher=SP Books |year=1992 |isbn=9781561710287 |access-date=25 March 2013}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5-b04ZmFQkkC&q=otto+herschmann&pg=PT88 |title=Igniting the Flame: America's First Olympic Team |author= Jim Reisler |publisher=Globe Pequot|year=2012 |isbn=9780762786596 |access-date=25 March 2013}}{{cite web |url=http://www.jewishsports.net/BioPages/OttoHerschmann.htm |title=Otto Herschmann |publisher=Jewishsports.net |access-date=26 March 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130512111132/http://www.jewishsports.net/biopages/OttoHerschmann.htm |archive-date=12 May 2013 |url-status=dead }}{{cite web|url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/he/otto-herschmann-1.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417165056/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/he/otto-herschmann-1.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=17 April 2020 |title=Otto Herschmann Bio, Stats, and Results | Olympics at |publisher=Sports-reference.com |access-date=26 March 2013}} He was affiliated with the 1.W.A.S.C. in Vienna, and the Wiener AC in Vienna.

=Olympic swimming career=

Herschmann first competed at the initial modern Olympic Games, the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, at the age of 19 in the men's 100 metres freestyle swimming event.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IkLYDgTnMxEC&q=otto+herschmann&pg=RA3-PA172 |author= John Nauright, Charles Parrish|title=Sports Around the World: History, Culture, and Practice |publisher= ABC-CLIO|year=2012 |isbn= 9781598843002|access-date=25 March 2013}} On 30 March, he and the other swimmers were taken by boat into the Bay of Piraeus 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, with a time of 1:22.8, 0.6 seconds and half a metre behind the winner, Alfréd Hajós, as the other swimmers trailed far behind.{{cite web |url=http://kurier.at/sport/olympia-2012/nach-116-jahren-silber-fuer-otto-herschmann/805.357 |title=Nach 116 Jahren: Silber für Otto Herschmann |publisher=Kurier.At |date=24 July 2012 |access-date=30 March 2013 }}{{Dead link|date=January 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}{{cite web|url=https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=de&u=http://www.krone.at/Sport/Olympia-Silber_fuer_Oesterreich_mit_116_Jahren_Verspaetung-Posse_um_Schwimmer-Story-327615&prev=/search%3Fq%3D%2522otto%2Bherschmann%2522%2B-%2522daimler-benz%2522%2B-%2522patent%2522%26start%3D70%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26biw%3D1024%26bih%3D543 |author= Olaf Brockmann |title=Olympic Silver for Austria 116 years late |publisher=Kronen Zeitung |language=de|date=12 July 2012 |access-date=26 March 2013}}{{cite web |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/he/otto-herschmann-1.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417165056/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/he/otto-herschmann-1.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=17 April 2020 |title=Otto Herschmann Olympic Results |access-date=7 April 2010 |work=sports-reference.com}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xcfef_d2es4C&q=otto+herschmann&pg=PA183 |title=The Big Book of Jewish Sports Heroes: An Illustrated Compendium of Sports History & the 150 Greatest Jewish Sports Stars |author=Peter S. Horvitz |publisher= SP Books|year= 2007 |isbn=9781561719075 |access-date=25 March 2013}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tGcPDXOjxMoC&q=otto+herschmann&pg=PA125 |title=Jews and the Olympic Games: The Clash Between Sport and Politics – With a Complete Review of Jewish Olympic Medalists|author=Paul Taylor |publisher=Sussex Academic Press |year= 2004|isbn=9781903900871|access-date=25 March 2013}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aOTWUl-9LQoC&q=otto+herschmann&pg=PA4 |title=Day by Day in Jewish Sports History |author=Bob Wechsler |publisher=KTAV Publishing House |year=2008 |isbn=9781602800137 |access-date=25 March 2013}}

AinsworthSports.com ranked Herschmann as tied for the second-best swimmer of the 1890s, behind Alfréd Hajós.{{cite web |url=http://ainsworthsports.com/swimming_all_time_greats_top_swimmers_of_the_1890s.htm |title=Swimming All Time Greats Top Swimmers of the 1890s |publisher=Ainsworthsports.com |access-date=30 March 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130813045459/http://ainsworthsports.com/swimming_all_time_greats_top_swimmers_of_the_1890s.htm |archive-date=13 August 2013 }} In 1904, he wrote Wiener Sport, which was published by H. Seemann.{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/wienersport00hersgoog |author=Otto Herschmann |title=Wiener Sport |publisher= H. Seemann|year=1904 |access-date=30 March 2013}}

=Olympic fencing career=

In the 1906 Summer Olympics, Herschmann competed in Athens in individual sabre, but did not medal. He returned to Olympic competition at the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden, competing as a member of Austria's sabre 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.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UlHBGC2-FS0C&q=otto+herschmann&pg=PA104 |author= Leonard Greenspoon |title=Jews in the Gym: Judaism, Sports, and Athletics |publisher=Purdue University Press |year=2012 |isbn= 9781557536297 |access-date=25 March 2013}} In so doing, he became one of only a few athletes to win Olympic medals in more than one sport.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1-8rAQAAIAAJ&q=%22Otto+Herschmann%22+first+medals |author=Jewish Book World|title=Jewish Book World, Volumes 24–25|publisher= JWB Jewish Book Council |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-58023-248-7 |access-date=8 April 2013}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=021YAAAAYAAJ&q=otto+herschmann |title=Physical education and sports in the Jewish history and culture: proceedings of an international seminar at Wingate Institute |author=Uriel Simri |publisher=Wingate Institute for Physical Education and Sport |date= July 1973|access-date=26 March 2013}}{{cite web|url=http://www.jewishsports.net/historical_view.htm |author= Dr. Uriel Simri |title=A historical view of Jewish men and women in sports and their participation |publisher=International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame|access-date=8 April 2013}}

Other Jewish fencers who participated in the 1912 Olympics included Hungarian gold medal-winning sabre fencers Dr. Jenő Fuchs, Dr. Dezső Földes, Lajos Werkner, 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 Olympic Committee, 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.{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/nowyouknowbigboo0000lenn_j6r9 |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/nowyouknowbigboo0000lenn_j6r9/page/255 255] |quote=otto herschmann. |title=Now You Know Big Book of Sports |author=Doug Lennox |publisher=Dundurn |year= 2009|isbn=9781554884544 |access-date=25 March 2013}}

Herschmann was one of Europe's top authorities in sports.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s_UwAQAAMAAJ&q=otto+herschmann&pg=RA2-PA31 |title=American Athletes the Best Trained |publisher=The Reformatory Press – Iowa. Reformatory at Anamosa |year=1913 |access-date=26 March 2013}}{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ifRBAAAAIBAJ&pg=917,5094696 |title=U.S. Athletics Best Trained |work=The Clinton County Times|date =19 December 1913|access-date=26 March 2013}} 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.{{cite web|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/csmonitor_historic/access/208003112.html?dids=208003112:208003112&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&date=Dec+03%2C+1913&author=&pub=Christian+Science+Monitor&desc=DR.+HERSCHMANN+SAILS&pqatl=google |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130411161144/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/csmonitor_historic/access/208003112.html?dids=208003112:208003112&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&date=Dec+03,+1913&author=&pub=Christian+Science+Monitor&desc=DR.+HERSCHMANN+SAILS&pqatl=google |url-status=dead |archive-date=11 April 2013 |title=Dr. Herschmann Sails |publisher=The Christian Science Monitor |date=3 December 1913 |access-date=26 March 2013}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vo9IAAAAYAAJ&q=otto+herschmann&pg=PA541 |title=American Physical Education Review; Physical Culture in America |publisher= American Physical Education Association|year= 1914|access-date=26 March 2013}}{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=EiYnAAAAIBAJ&pg=5746,143573 |title=Praise for our Athletics; Dr. Otto Herschmann, Austrian Envoy, has Gathered Valuable Material During Tour |publisher=Boston Evening Transcript |date= 1 December 1913|access-date=26 March 2013}}{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=NMFXAAAAIBAJ&pg=3980,5671132 |title=Austria Sends Athletic Envoy |publisher=Spokane Daily Chronicle |date= 10 November 1913|access-date=26 March 2013}} That month, when he was visiting the U.S. as the Austrian athletic envoy, the Boston Athletic Association gave him a banquet, and in December 1913 the Board of Governors of the New York Athletic Club held a banquet honoring him.{{cite web |url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/boston/access/710615182.html?dids=710615182:710615182&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&date=Nov+26%2C+1913&author=&pub=Boston+Daily+Globe&desc=DR+HERSCHMANN+GUEST+AT+B.+A.+A.&pqatl=google |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130411160658/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/boston/access/710615182.html?dids=710615182:710615182&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&date=Nov+26,+1913&author=&pub=Boston+Daily+Globe&desc=DR+HERSCHMANN+GUEST+AT+B.+A.+A.&pqatl=google |url-status=dead |archive-date=11 April 2013 |title=Dr Herschmann Guest at B. A. A.; Deeply Impressed by Harvard Equipment. Austrian Olympic Commissioner Returns to New York Today. Examines Gymnasiums and Baths of the City. |publisher=Boston Daily Globe |date=26 November 1913 |access-date=26 March 2013 }}{{cite web|url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0A1EFF3C5913738DDDA80894DA415B838DF1D3 |title=TO DINE DR. HERSCHMANN. – Austrian Athletic Envoy to be Honored by New York A.C. To-night. |work=The New York Times |date= December 1913|access-date=26 March 2013}} He lauded the United States system for the quality of physical and mental training provided.{{cite news|url=http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn83025138/1913-12-06/ed-1/seq-6.pdf |title=Sports News Pot Pourri |publisher=The Morning Oregonian |date=6 December 1913 |access-date=26 March 2013}} 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 Nazis because he was Jewish.{{cite web |url=http://www.wien.gv.at/rk/msg/2001/1106/008.html |title=Archivmeldung: Simmering: Namensgebung für die Otto-Herschmann-Gasse |language=de |publisher=Wien.gv.at |date=11 June 2001 |access-date=26 March 2013 |archive-date=12 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161012092227/https://www.wien.gv.at/rk/msg/2001/1106/008.html |url-status=dead }} On 14 January 1942, Herschmann was deported from Vienna to the General Government region of German-occupied Poland, where he died shortly after. Some sources report that he died in Izbica transit camp,{{cite book|last1=Schaffer|first1=Kay |last2=Smith|first2=Sidonie |title=The Olympics at the Millennium: Power, Politics, and the Games|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nMzYdZpk8qMC&q=holocaust+%22After+the+games%22&pg=PA61|year=2000|publisher=Rutgers University Press|isbn=978-0-8135-2820-5|pages=60–62}} while others suggest that he was gassed in Sobibor extermination camp.

Honors

File:GuentherZ 2009-02-28 0015 Wien11 Otto-Herschmann-Gasse.jpg

Herschmann was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1989. On 7 November 2001 his hometown Vienna named a lane "Otto-Herschmann-Gasse" (Otto Herschmann Alley) in his honor in Simmering, the 11th District of Vienna.

References

External links

[https://web.archive.org/web/20200417165056/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/he/otto-herschmann-1.html Sports-reference bio]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20070222054032/http://www.databaseolympics.com/players/playerpage.htm?ilkid=HERSCOTT01 Olympic results]
[http://www.jewsinsports.org/ Jews in Sports]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20130512111132/http://www.jewishsports.net/biopages/OttoHerschmann.htm Jewish Sports bio]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20030818200655/http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/online/olympics/zcd078.htm Holocaust Museum bio]
{{webarchive |date=2013-04-16 |url=https://archive.today/20130416004949/http://www.ujc.org/content_display.html?ArticleID=122636 |title="The Olympics and the Holocaust"}}
[https://archive.org/details/wienersport00hersgoog Wiener Sport] (in German), by Otto Herschmann, published by H. Seemann (1904)