Otto Herschmann

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Austrian sportsman

title: "Otto Herschmann" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1877-births", "1942-deaths", "austrian-male-freestyle-swimmers", "austrian-male-sabre-fencers", "austrian-male-foil-fencers", "jewish-austrian-sportspeople", "olympic-swimmers-for-austria", "olympic-fencers-for-austria", "olympic-silver-medalists-for-austria", "olympic-medalists-in-fencing", "swimmers-at-the-1896-summer-olympics", "19th-century-sportsmen", "fencers-at-the-1906-intercalated-games", "fencers-at-the-1912-summer-olympics", "swimmers-from-vienna", "jews-from-austria-hungary", "jewish-sabre-fencers", "jewish-swimmers", "austrian-civilians-killed-in-world-war-ii", "austrian-people-who-died-in-sobibor-extermination-camp", "izbica-ghetto", "austrian-male-writers", "medalists-at-the-1896-summer-olympics", "medalists-at-the-1912-summer-olympics", "austrian-people-executed-in-nazi-concentration-camps", "olympic-silver-medalists-in-swimming", "austrian-jews-who-died-in-the-holocaust", "jewish-austrian-writers", "jewish-foil-fencers", "game-players-from-vienna"] description: "Austrian sportsman" topic_path: "history" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Herschmann" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Austrian sportsman ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox sportsperson"]

FieldValue
nameOtto Herschmann
imageOtto Herschmann.jpg
image_size
citizenshipAustrian
birth_date
birth_placeVienna, Austria-Hungary
death_date
death_placeGeneral Government, German Occupied Poland
occupationSwimmer, fencer, lawyer, and sport official
website
countryAustria
sportSwimming and fencing
height
weight
club1.W.A.S.C., Vienna (Austria) / Wiener AC, Vienna (Austria)
olympics1896, 1912
::

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Dr. Otto Herschmann (4 January 1877 – 17 June 1942) was an Austrian Jewish swimmer, fencer, lawyer, and sports official. He is one of only a few athletes who have won Olympic medals in multiple sports, having received a silver medal in swimming in 1896 and a silver medal in fencing in 1912. He also worked as a lawyer, and served as president of the Austrian Olympic Committee and the Austrian Swimming Federation. Herschmann was murdered by the Nazis in 1942 during The Holocaust.

Biography

Herschmann was Jewish, and was born in Vienna, Austria. He was affiliated with the 1.W.A.S.C. in Vienna, and the Wiener AC in Vienna.

Olympic swimming career

Herschmann first competed at the initial modern Olympic Games, the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, at the age of 19 in the men's 100 metres freestyle swimming event. On 30 March, he and the other swimmers were taken by boat into the Bay of Piraeus to compete in the open sea. The competitors swam from a starting line between two buoys, through a course marked by a number of floating hollow pumpkins, to a red flag finish line at the shore.

Herschmann placed second and won a silver medal, with a time of 1:22.8, 0.6 seconds and half a metre behind the winner, Alfréd Hajós, as the other swimmers trailed far behind.

AinsworthSports.com ranked Herschmann as tied for the second-best swimmer of the 1890s, behind Alfréd Hajós. In 1904, he wrote Wiener Sport, which was published by H. Seemann.

Olympic fencing career

In the 1906 Summer Olympics, Herschmann competed in Athens in individual sabre, but did not medal. He returned to Olympic competition at the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden, competing as a member of Austria's sabre fencing team at the age of 35, 16 years after he first won a medal. On 15 July he won a silver medal in the team competition. In so doing, he became one of only a few athletes to win Olympic medals in more than one sport.

Other Jewish fencers who participated in the 1912 Olympics included Hungarian gold medal-winning sabre fencers Dr. Jenő Fuchs, Dr. Dezső Földes, Lajos Werkner, and Dr. Oszkár Gerde, and Austrian silver medal-winning sabre fencer Albert Bogen.

Athletic administrative posts

At the time he won his fencing medal, Herschmann was serving as President of the Austrian Olympic Committee, a position that he held from 1912 to 1914.

Herschmann was one of Europe's top authorities in sports. In November 1913, he traveled to various cities in the United States, including Boston, New York, Cleveland, Philadelphia, and Chicago, to study US sports organizations and recruit trainers to work with Austrian athletes training for the Olympics. That month, when he was visiting the U.S. as the Austrian athletic envoy, the Boston Athletic Association gave him a banquet, and in December 1913 the Board of Governors of the New York Athletic Club held a banquet honoring him. He lauded the United States system for the quality of physical and mental training provided. He noted in contrast to the European system, high-quality training was provided to all athletes, not only those who lacked natural talent.

Herschmann served as President of the Austrian Swimming Federation from 1914 to 1932.

Holocaust and death

Herschmann was in private practice as a lawyer in the 1940s. He was persecuted during the era of the Nazis because he was Jewish. On 14 January 1942, Herschmann was deported from Vienna to the General Government region of German-occupied Poland, where he died shortly after. Some sources report that he died in Izbica transit camp, while others suggest that he was gassed in Sobibor extermination camp.

Honors

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f0/GuentherZ_2009-02-28_0015_Wien11_Otto-Herschmann-Gasse.jpg" caption="Otto-Herschmann-Gasse in Vienna, Austria"] ::

Herschmann was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1989. On 7 November 2001 his hometown Vienna named a lane "Otto-Herschmann-Gasse" (Otto Herschmann Alley) in his honor in Simmering, the 11th District of Vienna.

References

References

  1. "Otto Herschmann". Olympedia.
  2. Joseph M. Siegman. (1992). "The International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame". SP Books.
  3. Jim Reisler. (2012). "Igniting the Flame: America's First Olympic Team". Globe Pequot.
  4. "Otto Herschmann". Jewishsports.net.
  5. "Otto Herschmann Bio, Stats, and Results | Olympics at". Sports-reference.com.
  6. John Nauright, Charles Parrish. (2012). "Sports Around the World: History, Culture, and Practice". ABC-CLIO.
  7. (24 July 2012). "Nach 116 Jahren: Silber für Otto Herschmann". Kurier.At.
  8. Olaf Brockmann. (12 July 2012). "Olympic Silver for Austria 116 years late". Kronen Zeitung.
  9. "Otto Herschmann Olympic Results". sports-reference.com.
  10. Peter S. Horvitz. (2007). "The Big Book of Jewish Sports Heroes: An Illustrated Compendium of Sports History & the 150 Greatest Jewish Sports Stars". SP Books.
  11. Paul Taylor. (2004). "Jews and the Olympic Games: The Clash Between Sport and Politics – With a Complete Review of Jewish Olympic Medalists". Sussex Academic Press.
  12. Bob Wechsler. (2008). "Day by Day in Jewish Sports History". KTAV Publishing House.
  13. "Swimming All Time Greats Top Swimmers of the 1890s". Ainsworthsports.com.
  14. Otto Herschmann. (1904). "Wiener Sport". H. Seemann.
  15. Leonard Greenspoon. (2012). "Jews in the Gym: Judaism, Sports, and Athletics". Purdue University Press.
  16. Jewish Book World. (2006). "Jewish Book World, Volumes 24–25". JWB Jewish Book Council.
  17. Uriel Simri. (July 1973). "Physical education and sports in the Jewish history and culture: proceedings of an international seminar at Wingate Institute". Wingate Institute for Physical Education and Sport.
  18. Dr. Uriel Simri. "A historical view of Jewish men and women in sports and their participation". [[International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame]].
  19. Doug Lennox. (2009). "Now You Know Big Book of Sports". Dundurn.
  20. (1913). "American Athletes the Best Trained". The Reformatory Press – Iowa. Reformatory at Anamosa.
  21. "U.S. Athletics Best Trained". The Clinton County Times.
  22. (3 December 1913). "Dr. Herschmann Sails". The Christian Science Monitor.
  23. (1914). "American Physical Education Review; Physical Culture in America". American Physical Education Association.
  24. (1 December 1913). "Praise for our Athletics; Dr. Otto Herschmann, Austrian Envoy, has Gathered Valuable Material During Tour". Boston Evening Transcript.
  25. (10 November 1913). "Austria Sends Athletic Envoy". Spokane Daily Chronicle.
  26. (26 November 1913). "Dr Herschmann Guest at B. A. A.; Deeply Impressed by Harvard Equipment. Austrian Olympic Commissioner Returns to New York Today. Examines Gymnasiums and Baths of the City.". Boston Daily Globe.
  27. (December 1913). "TO DINE DR. HERSCHMANN. – Austrian Athletic Envoy to be Honored by New York A.C. To-night.". The New York Times.
  28. (6 December 1913). "Sports News Pot Pourri". The Morning Oregonian.
  29. (11 June 2001). "Archivmeldung: Simmering: Namensgebung für die Otto-Herschmann-Gasse". Wien.gv.at.
  30. (2000). "The Olympics at the Millennium: Power, Politics, and the Games". [[Rutgers University Press]].

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