Please wait...
by Ilana Kramer
Swimming with—and against—the Tide
The year is 1909 in Vienna. Austrian sports clubs have just outlawed Jewish athletes. In response, the Jewish community creates a Jewish sports club of its own: Hakoah (strength, in Hebrew). Its women swim team thrives; by the 1930s Jewish women are competing for spots in the Olympics. But in 1938 the Nazis shut down the club, thus ending the Olympic hopes for the Jewish Austrian athletes.