Ruth Langer
Ruth Langer (* 1921 in Vienna ; † May 2, 1999 in London ) was an Austrian swimmer.
Life
Ruth Langer began her swimming career at the age of 11 in the Jewish sports club Hakoah Vienna . She was already considered a swimming miracle at the age of 14 when she broke the Austrian records in the 100 m and 400 m freestyle in 1936 and was nominated for the Austrian Olympic team in 1936 despite her youth. As a sign of protest against Nazi politics and the mistreatment of Jews in Germany, she boycotted the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin together with the other Hakoah Vienna swimmers Judith Deutsch and Lucie Goldner and a number of other Jewish athletes .
Although their refusal to compete in the Olympic Games was permissible under both the IOC and ÖOC regulations, the swimmers Deutsch, Goldner and Langer were accused of “gross disregard for the Olympic spirit” and because they “seriously harmed Austrian sport” would have been banned for life by the Austrian Swimming Association and deprived them of all titles. Only after massive international protests was the ban reduced to two years. The eradication of their records was not canceled until 1995.
After Austria's annexation in 1938, Langer managed to flee to Italy with a forged baptismal certificate. She was eventually granted asylum in the United Kingdom , where she set a new British record as early as 1939 by traveling the Thames from Kew Bridge to Putney Bridge (about 5 miles or 8 km) in 74 minutes and 4 seconds. After the outbreak of World War II , she was interned in Bath as an "enemy alien" , but was soon allowed to return to London. She married John Lawrence and lived in London until the end of her life.
When asked if she regretted her boycott decision shortly before the 1996 Olympics , she told Reuters : “My heart aches every time the Olympics take place. It's something that will last a lifetime. Taking part in the Olympics was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but as a Jew it was simply unthinkable for me to take part in the competitions in Nazi Germany, where members of my people were persecuted. "
literature
- Matthias Marschick: “We're not boycotting the Olympics, we're boycotting Berlin.” Three Jewish swimmers write history , in: Diethelm Blecking , Lorenz Peiffer (ed.) Athletes in the “Century of Camps”. Profiteers, resistors and victims. Göttingen: Die Werkstatt, 2012, pp. 188–193
- Joseph Siegman: Jewish Sports Legends: The International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. Washington DC 2000
- Bernard Postal: Jesse Silver, Roy Silver: Encyclopedia of Jews in Sports. New York 1965
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Langer, Ruth |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Lawrence, Ruth |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Austrian swimmer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1921 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Vienna , Austria |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 2, 1999 |
| Place of death | London , UK |