Daniel Prenn

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Daniel Prenn (left) with Hans Moldenhauer

Daniel Prenn (born September 7, 1904 in Vilnius , Lithuania , † September 3, 1991 in Dorking , Surrey , United Kingdom ) was a German tennis and table tennis player . Until his emigration to England in April 1933, the Jewish Prenn was one of the most successful German tennis players.

Life

Prenn was born in 1904 in Vilnius, which was part of the Russian Empire at the time , and grew up in Saint Petersburg . After the February Revolution of 1917 the anti-Jewish sentiment increased and the family decided - like many other Jews - to move to the West. In 1920 the Prenns finally settled in Berlin . Daniel Prenn studied at the Technical University in Charlottenburg. He became a member of Rot-Weiß Berlin , where he also met the Russian writer Vladimir Nabokov and thus got into contact with aristocratic circles. He was active in various sports before choosing tennis. Despite the inflation in 1923/1924, he stayed in the German capital. He also played for SV Zehlendorfer Wespen. In 1928 he won the men's singles at the International Tennis Championships of Germany in Hamburg against Hans Moldenhauer . In 1929 he completed his engineering degree. From that point on until 1932 he was number 1 in the German ranking.

In 1929 Prenn reached the final of the Davis Cup with the German team in Berlin . In the game against the English team, to which Fred Perry belonged, he won after a big fight against the English top player Henry "Bunny" Austin in 5 sets. He played a major role in the victory of the German team, which became the winner in the European zone. In total, he played 31 games in the Davis Cup (22 singles and 9 doubles) from 1928 to 1932, of which he won 21 games. His victory over the American Frank Shields in 1932 was also noted, whereupon an American tennis magazine named him “Europe's number one man”. In the world rankings he was now in the top ten: 8th place in the list of Bill Tilden (1929), 7th place in the list of Arthur Wallis Myers (1932).

After the seizure of power by the Nazis closed the German Tennis Federation (DTB) pursuant to a declaration of the Reich Sports Leader of Jewish players gradually from the social life, for they received. B. no right to participate in international tournaments. Daniel Prenn's name was specifically mentioned as one of those not to be entered for the 1933 Davis Cup. Prenn, who was sixth in Myers' world rankings at the time, emigrated to England with his wife Charlotte in April 1933 and took British citizenship . Prenn's expulsion triggered some reactions abroad in the run-up to the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. Henry Austin and Fred Perry - members of the opposing British Davis Cup team last year - criticized this process in an open letter in The Times . The Swedish King Gustav V is said to have insisted on a tennis match with Prenn after a reception at Hindenburg and Hitler . The "tennis baron" Gottfried von Cramm also protested against Prenn's treatment and was later interrogated, charged and convicted on the basis of Section 175 .

Prenn won several tournaments in England in 1933, including against Hendrik Timmer , but could no longer achieve the previous level of play overall. The graduate engineer opened an office for communication technology and thus achieved great prosperity. In 1955, his eldest son Oliver (* 1938) won the junior title at the Wimbledon Championships . Daniel Prenn died in 1991 a few days before his 87th birthday as a wealthy man in England.

Table tennis

In 1926, Prenn took part with the German team in the 1st table tennis world championship in London, and they finished in 7th place. In 1928 he was ranked 2nd in the German ranking.

Results from the ITTF database

Association event year place country singles Double Mixed team
GER World Championship 1926 London CLOSELY last 32 Quarter finals no participants 7th

Web links

literature

  • Julia Deiss: The emigrant. In: Deutscher Tennis Bund (Ed.): Tennis in Germany. From the beginning to the present. Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2002. ISBN 3-428-10846-9 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Marshall Jon Fisher: A Terrible Splendor: Three Extraordinary Men, a World Poised for War, and the Greatest Tennis MatchEver Played , Crown / Archetype 2009, ISBN 978-0-307-45214-6 , page 56f.
  2. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from September 11, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.zehlendorfer-wespen.de
  3. ↑ Hans-Jürgen Kaufhold: From light into darkness. From: Tennis in Germany. From the beginning to the present. 2002, p. 136f.
  4. ^ Arnd Krüger : The Olympic Games 1936 and the world opinion. Its importance in foreign policy, with particular reference to the USA. Sports science work, Vol. 7 Berlin: Bartels & Wernitz 1972.
  5. ^ Daniel Prenn Results from the ITTF database on ittf.com (accessed on September 14, 2011)
personal data
SURNAME Prenn, Daniel
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German tennis and table tennis player
DATE OF BIRTH September 7, 1904
PLACE OF BIRTH Vilnius , Lithuania
DATE OF DEATH 3rd September 1991
Place of death Dorking (Surrey) , Surrey , United Kingdom