Július Balász

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Július Balász , after about 1945 also Július Baláž (born October 5, 1901 in Budapest , † October 29, 1970 in Prague ) was a Jewish athlete in Czechoslovakia . He took part in sporting events of the Jewish gymnastics and sports club Makabi in Czechoslovakia and was one of the most famous Jewish athletes in the country during the interwar period . During the war, Balász was held in concentration camps.

Life

Július Balász, whose parents moved back to Slovakia with him after 1918, attended a commercial academy in Brno from 1920, where he became a member of the Makkabi Brno club, later Bar Kochba Brno, and initiated his sporting career.

After the establishment of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia , he lived for a while in Brno and Prague (as an employee of the Zionist Association), was arrested and deported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp , then to Auschwitz and finally to Friedland (satellite camp of Groß-Rosen ) . After the end of the war he worked as a trainer and association official.

Athletic career

In Brno he devoted himself to the disciplines of swimming, water polo and especially water jumping, from 1925 in Prague in the Hagibor club. In the next few years he was able to record several significant successes:

  • In 1921 he won his first national championship in freestyle swimming 50 m and 100 m and in relay swimming 4 × 50 m
  • In 1922 he participated in the championship of his team in the relay swimming 4 × 200 m
  • 1924 Participation in the championship title 4 × 100 m freestyle as well as individual swimming, Czechoslovakian record 50 m freestyle
  • Participation in the Olympic Games in Paris 1924 (without medal)
  • 1926 victory in the first national diving championship, in which he was victorious; Participation in the European Championships in Budapest, bronze medal for Czechoslovakia
  • 1927, 1928 and 1929 water diving victory in the national championships; Participation in the Olympic Games in Amsterdam 1928
  • 1930 relay swimming victory 4 × 100 m at the WMU games in Antwerp
  • 1933 first place in 3 m diving at the WMU games in Prague
  • 1935 Participation in the 2nd Maccabiade in Tel Aviv with victories in 3 m diving and water polo.

After the end of his active sports career, Július Balász became involved in both the Czechoslovak and international macabi movement and its associations.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Peter Bučka: Židovští sportovci v předválečném Československu , publication by Židovská obec Brno ( Brno Jewish Community), online at: www.zob.cz/vzdelavani / ...
personal data
SURNAME Balász, Július
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Baláž, Július
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Czechoslovak swimmer of Jewish origin
DATE OF BIRTH October 5, 1901
PLACE OF BIRTH Budapest
DATE OF DEATH October 29, 1970
Place of death Prague