Aloizy Really

Aloizy "Alex" Ehrlich (* 1914 in Komańcza , Austria-Hungary , † December 7, 1992 in Saint-Denis ) was a French table tennis player of Polish descent. He was three times vice world champion in individual.

Active time in Poland and France

Alex Ehrlich grew up in Lviv , where he probably started playing table tennis in the mid-1920s. At the beginning of the 1930s he moved to France. He represented Poland eight times at world championships between 1934 and 1949 . He won the silver medal three times in the individual: He was defeated in the finals in 1936 to the Czech Stanislav Kolář and in 1937 and 1939 each to the Austrian Richard Bergmann . With the Polish team he won bronze in 1935 and 1936 .

In 1934 he was voted 8th in the election of the ten best Polish athletes. In 1939 Ehrlich trained the Egyptian national team in preparation for the World Cup.

Ehrlich was deported as a Jew by the National Socialists to Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1943, where he was recognized as a professional player and therefore saved from death in the gas chamber. Between 1945 and 1949 he emigrated again to France and settled in Paris . After the Second World War , because he lived abroad, he was declared a persona non grata by the Polish national team . From 1952 to 1963 he finally played for the French national table tennis team, where he was nominated six times for world championships. In 1957 he reached the quarter-finals in singles.

More Achievements

In 1934/35 Alex Ehrlich became Polish champion. He also won several international championships:

1935/36 International English Champion
1937/38 French international champion
1938/39 French international champion
1949/50 Irish international champion
1950/51 Irish international champion
1950/51 International English Champion
1950/51 International Dutch Champion
1950/51 International Swiss Champion in doubles
1955/56 International German Champion
1956/57 International Dutch Champion

Legendary rally

Ehrlich's match in 1936 against the Romanian Farkas Paneth was legendary because it lasted more than two hours. This led - along with other long matches - to the introduction of the time rule in 1937 , which is intended to limit the duration of a game.

At the World Table Tennis Championships in Prague in 1936 , the teams from Poland and Romania competed against each other. Here Ehrlich had to deal with the defender Farkas Paneth. Paneth expected Ehrlich to attack. Instead, he just pushed the ball onto Paneth's backhand side. Paneth, for his part, kept returning on Ehrlich's backhand. This rally lasted two hours and twelve minutes. According to various statements, the ball went over the net 9,000 to 12,000 times. The rally ended when Ehrlich accidentally hit the ball on Paneth's forehand side; Paneth passed that ball.

The players presented the situation that led to the first point after 132 minutes differently. Ehrlich claimed that the ball flew off his finger uncontrollably onto Paneth's forehand. Paneth, on the other hand, blamed a banana peel that fell from the gallery onto a table next to it for its failure.

According to reports at the time, ten referees were replaced during this longest rally. Ehrlich ate a few sausages with rolls and mustard without interrupting the game. He is also said to have played a game of chess on the side.

There are different representations about the further progress of this game. Some sources state that Ehrlich won the rest of the first set by 21: 6 in a relatively short time, as well as the second set by 21: 8. Other sources say the second rally lasted an additional 20 minutes. Paneth threw his bat at Alex Ehrlich and left the hall, exasperated. The match was canceled when the score was 2-0 in the first set.

After the active career

After the end of his active career, Alex Ehrlich worked as a coach in many countries. He also coached some German clubs, including the best Bayern players in 1952.

He developed a table tennis robot, which he presented in Malmö in 1964 . In France he ran a holiday center with table tennis training courses.

In December 1992, Alex Ehrlich died in the Saint-Denis hospital.

Results from the ITTF database

Association	event	year	place	country	singles	Double	Mixed	team
FRA	World Championship	1963	Prague	TCH	last 256	no participants	no participants
FRA	World Championship	1959	Dortmund	FRG	last 256	no participants	no participants
FRA	World Championship	1957	Stockholm	SWE	Quarter finals	Scratched	no participants
FRA	World Championship	1955	Utrecht	NED	last 128	last 16	last 64
FRA	World Championship	1954	Wembley	CLOSELY	last 128	last 32	no participants
FRA	World Championship	1952	Bombay	IND	last 64	last 16	no participants
POLE	World Championship	1949	Stockholm	SWE	last 16	last 16	no participants
POLE	World Championship	1947	Paris	FRA	Quarter finals	no participants	Scratched
POLE	World Championship	1939	Cairo	EGY	silver	Quarter finals	last 16
POLE	World Championship	1938	Wembley	CLOSELY	last 64	last 16	no participants	9
POLE	World Championship	1937	to bathe	AUT	silver	last 16	no participants	4th
POLE	World Championship	1936	Prague	TCH	silver	last 64	Quarter finals	3
POLE	World Championship	1935	Wembley	CLOSELY	Semifinals	last 16	last 32	3
POLE	World Championship	1934	Paris	FRA	Quarter finals	last 32	last 16	4th

literature

(Q1) o. V .: Alex Ehrlich lasts the longest , in: DTS magazine , 1974/17, p. 17.
(Q2) Manfred Schäfer: Alex Ehrlich is dead , in: DTS magazine , 1993/2, p. 24.

philately

The following postmark was used by the post office in Cluj-Napoca Romania: April 27, 1996 Special postmark depicting the table tennis players Farkas Paneth and Alex Ehrlich.

Individual evidence

↑ The birthday is probably in the first half of the year. Quote from (Q1) - the issue of July 8, 1974: Recently ... Alex Ehrlich celebrated his 60th birthday
↑ ^a ^b http://www.tenisstolowy.pl/archiw/artykuly/18_polskiemedale.pdf (Polish)
↑ Erich Bachmann in the table tennis magazine (TT-Verband Niedersachsen) 2004 issue 6 p. 12
↑ Erich Bachmann in the table tennis magazine (TT-Verband Niedersachsen) 2007 issue 1 p. 8
↑ In the sources, the times vary from 1 hour, 58 minutes to 2 hours 15 minutes. The Table Tennis Collector, issue 63, page 17 ( Memento from September 15, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF file; 3.48 MB)
↑ http://www.lipica.org/?lng=eng&vie=cnt&act=1&id=2006041013020983
↑ ^a ^b https://www.theguardian.com/observer/osm/story/0,,756899,00.html
↑ (Q1), (Q2)
↑ TOPSPIN magazine (Swiss TT Association) 2004/2005 issue 3 pp. 30–31
↑ Erich Bachmann in the table tennis magazine (TT Association Lower Saxony) 2005 issue 7–8 p. 16
↑ ITTF statistics ( memento from March 5, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) (accessed on September 5, 2011)

personal data
SURNAME	Honestly, Aloizy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Honestly, Alex
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	French table tennis player of Polish descent
DATE OF BIRTH	1914
PLACE OF BIRTH	Komańcza
DATE OF DEATH	7th December 1992
Place of death	Saint-Denis

[1] The birthday is probably in the first half of the year. Quote from (Q1) - the issue of July 8, 1974: Recently ... Alex Ehrlich celebrated his 60th birthday

[tenisstolowy-2] ttp://www.tenisstolowy.pl/archiw/artykuly/18_polskiemedale.pdf (Polish)

[3] Erich Bachmann in the table tennis magazine (TT-Verband Niedersachsen) 2004 issue 6 p. 12

[4] Erich Bachmann in the table tennis magazine (TT-Verband Niedersachsen) 2007 issue 1 p. 8

[5] In the sources, the times vary from 1 hour, 58 minutes to 2 hours 15 minutes. The Table Tennis Collector, issue 63, page 17 ( Memento from September 15, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF file; 3.48 MB)

[6] ttp://www.lipica.org/?lng=eng&vie=cnt&act=1&id=2006041013020983

[obs-7] ttps://www.theguardian.com/observer/osm/story/0,,756899,00.html

[8] (Q1), (Q2)

[9] TOPSPIN magazine (Swiss TT Association) 2004/2005 issue 3 pp. 30–31

[10] Erich Bachmann in the table tennis magazine (TT Association Lower Saxony) 2005 issue 7–8 p. 16

[11] ITTF statistics ( memento from March 5, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) (accessed on September 5, 2011)