Leone Efrati
Leone Efrati ( May 16, 1916 in Rome - April 16, 1944 in the Auschwitz concentration camp ), also known as Lelletto , was an Italian boxer in the featherweight class and a victim of the Holocaust .
Life
Efrati made his hometown debut at the age of 19 and played ten fights in the first seven months of his career, winning six and losing two. He boxed in Italy until December 1937, then in France. On September 30, 1938, he played his first fight in the United States , against Gene Spencer , which ended in a draw. After four wins in Chicago and Peoria , he faced the veteran Frankie Covelli twice . The first fight ended in a draw, the second Efrati won after a brilliant performance. At the height of his career, Efrati was 10th in the world rankings. After that, however, his lucky streak ended and he lost three times, including a third match against Covelli. Against the American world champion Leo Rodak , he went over ten rounds - and lost. Efrati then returned to his homeland.
After the armistice of Cassibile and the power of the Nazis in many parts of Italy, by the operation case axis , Leone Efrati and his brother were arrested because of their Jewish origins and to the Auschwitz concentration camp deported . There he had to take part in the Sunday exhibition fights in front of the SS team, including against opponents of higher weight classes. When he learned that his brother had been bloodied by a kapo , he reacted violently and was murdered on April 16, 1944.
In 2000 he was posthumously inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame .
literature
Book publications
- Roberto Riccardi: Sono stato un numero. Alberto Sed racconta . La Giuntina, Florence, 2009, ISBN 978-88-8057-327-2 (Italian)
- Joseph Siegman: Jewish sports legends: the International Jewish Hall of Fame . In: Jewish Sports Legends, Potomac Books 1979, ISBN 978-1-57488-951-2
newspapers and magazines
- Sergio Giuntini: Leone Efrati, un pugile ad Auschwitz . Patria Indipendente, January 30, 2005
- Martin Krauss: Fighting for survival . Jungle World , November 15, 2012
- Valerio Piccioni: Il campione morto ad Auschwitz. Anche lo sport fu complice dell'inferno . La Gazzetta dello Sport , January 25, 2004
- Massimo Raffaeli: Lelletto, il pugile caduto a Auschwitz . Il manifesto , July 5, 2007
- Conference Storie di sport al tempo delle leggi razziali e del nazismo , Florence , January 22, 2010
Web links
- BoxRec , entry Leone Efrati
Individual evidence
- ↑ His year of birth is sometimes given as 1915, for example in the book Stars in the Ring: Jewish Champions in the Golden Age of Boxing by Mike Silver.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Efrati, Leone |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Lelletto |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Italian boxer and victim of the Holocaust |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 16, 1916 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Rome |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 16, 1944 |
| Place of death | Auschwitz concentration camp |