Sport and sportspeople in Auschwitz

The transcript of the podcast

The term ‘sport’ in Auschwitz was distorted by using it to refer to the exhausting exercises combined with the drill and singing applied on a mass scale. This form of sport referred to after the war as pseudo sport was usually a way of enforcing discipline and punishing prisoners. However, among people deported by the Germans to Auschwitz were pre-war sportsmen and sportswomen, Olympians and national champions. Some prisoners had the opportunity to practice sports in the camp. These included boxing and wrestling, as well as games such as soccer, volleyball and basketball. Mental sports were also popular among prisoners, particularly chess but also card games. Renata Koszyk, an educator at the Auschwitz Memorial and curator of the exhibition dedicated to this topic talks about sport and sportspeople in Auschwitz.

It is evident that there were sportsmen and sportswomen among the 1,300,000 people deported by the Germans to Auschwitz and the more than 400,000 people, women and men, registered as prisoners at the camp. The arrange from amateur to professional athletes, Olympians, champions. What do we know about sportsperson sent to Auschwitz?

The first thing we need to consider is what we mean by the word ‘athlete’. Do we understand it conventionally? That is a person who is devoted to a specific sport, trains, learns the rules and techniques and represents a club as an active member, either locally, nationally or internationally. Indeed, there were many such athletes among those deported to Auschwitz. However, amateurs who did not belong to any sports clubs were also deported to Auschwitz and one can imagine that someone who played football around the house ended up in Auschwitz as a prisoner and started to participate in sports competitions. There were also people deported to Auschwitz who never had anything to do with sport and here they got involved in sport, took part in matches, competitions and duals. We have another group of people, children and adolescence, that were also deported to Auschwitz. As a matter of fact, nearly all pre-war Europe, physical education, gymnastics, known as body exercises in pre-war Poland, were some of the elements of the education. Children were too young to belong to sports clubs formally, yet they were incorporated into sports life after arriving in Auschwitz. Consequently, we perhaps need to bear in mind that it is tough to identify a single compact and limited group of people we would call sportspeople when considering the subject of sport and sportspeople in Auschwitz. Someone can be an athlete before the war, someone can only be an athlete in Auschwitz, but there were sportspeople in Auschwitz, they died here just like others.

Are we familiar with this stories of people who were imprisoned in Auschwitz because they were athletes?

Not quite, if we’re referring to Jewish victims, the largest group of Auschwitz. It is a well-known story that the Jewish community was deported to extermination camps, and that of course includes sportspersons. However, they had to go through selection process and only some of them were placed in a camp as prisoners. Most of them, however, died in extermination camps. The situation was slightly different in pre-war Poland. Sports clubs were very active in pre-war Poland, but with the unset of the occupation, the occupying forces started to see them as a hotbed of patriotism.
Consequently, Polish athletes seen as a dangerous element were imprisoned and sent to concentration camps. A significant number of Polish athletes participated in the resistance movement and conspiracy. On the other hand, we know of situations where many representatives of sports clubs, such as Skra, Legia, Wisla or Garbarnia were sent to Auschwitz as athletes for this very reason.

What sources do we have that permit us to outline the history of both sports and sportspersons in Auschwitz?

It is quite a complex subject because sport existed informal in the camp with permission. Sometimes only with the approval of the camp authorities. Therefore, our knowledge comes primarily from written sources, I… The testimonies of informal prisoners found under the archives of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and very rarely in the archives of other institutions. We can also acquire some knowledge from historical studies and book publications of former prisoners, but sport is usually treated marginally in these publications. However, another fact is also worth of considering. In recent times fiction publications on sport and feature films based on these publications have been showing up in the public space. Unfortunately, these publications are so far a move from historical truth that it is sometimes difficult to work out where and what period of the plot these films and novels asset, and above all, the memories and accounts of former prisoners.

Sportspeople were deported to Auschwitz and sport was practiced in Auschwitz. What do we mean by this expression? How can we define sport in a concentration camp?

It is also a subject that should be addressed because the concept of sport in Auschwitz has been distorted by using the term ‘to denote exercise’ compulsory drills to enforce discipline and punishment of prisoners. These were usually simple exercises, but they were carried out over several hours and in all weather conditions. Consequently, they were often carried out in the rain, summer heat and snow. After the war, prisoners called such physical activity pseudo-sports or quasi-sport. The word ‘sport’ is sometimes placed in inverted commas in their accounts to highlight this particular term. Apart from the fact that they were grueling exercises, they were often accompanied by the whippings, chasings and cursing by those who conducted such exercises. And these were usually functionary prisoners, sometimes SS-men. At the beginning of the camp’s existence, such pseudo-sports were prescribed to all prisoners’ part of the so-called ‘quarantine’ and took up nearly the entire prisoner day. With the camp’s expansion and development of the camp premises, the time for pseudo-sports was significantly reduced and served more as a form of punishment than a daily routine. A horrible indeed considering that both men and women were punished accordingly. In several accounts, we also find descriptions of such torture that was order in minister the children. Pseudo-sport is a physical activity that prisoners had to perform not only in Auschwitz, but in almost all sections of the Auschwitz camp complex and it should be remembered that it was an activity that claimed the lives of any prisoners, especially those who did not have the opportunity to train physically before the war. The elderly and the intelligentsia.

Which exercises are we talking about?

All exercises were performed on orders given in German and a failure to understand these orders also posed a risk of death. The most popular exercises were marching, brisk marching or running, other popular exercises included bending over, squatting, falling, standing up, rolling about, and going around in circles. Though these were not really complicated exercises, we must remember that the prisoners were for the most part simply exhausted from their daily routine. They were hungry and thirsty. Therefore, pseudo-sport was a torture for them. Some functionary prisoners and SS-men took it upon themselves to develop their set of exercises. These were very difficult moments for many prisoners and it just precisely this connotation association with sports that are prevalent in the accounts of former prisoners, not to so called “skilled sports”, which was only available to a limited group of privileged well-nourished prisoners for whom the extra energy expenditure associated with sports was acceptable.

They tried to create their own set of exercises. What does it mean?

For example, we know of an SS-man in the women’s camp responsible for property plundered from the victims. The SS-man’s name was Effinger. The women subordinated to him were called Effinger Women and he took pleasure in ordering sport for the women’s actual or apparent misconduct. A favorite sport he developed involved climbing up the banks of the drainage ditches in Birkenau and falling back down several times. His favorite sport was to make women crawl through sewage pipes.

Pseudo-sport is what we ought to call it. Pseudo sport was torture. The inmate suffered, died, and sustained many injuries and traumas. Did it have any chance to camp to deal with this? Did they have a chance of recovery? Or did the injuries caused by these exhausting physical exercises led straight to death?

In the majority of cases, they led to death. As we know, Auschwitz is a place where the prisoners’ hospital was used for pseudo-medical experiments, not for the rehabilitation or treatment of the prisoners. However, we know that the nurses employed in the prisoner hospital tried to help their fellow prisoners as much as they could. There were no medicines or proper diet. On the other hand, sports rehabilitation exercises were possible. A prisoner at Auschwitz was supposed to fit for work. A prisoner fit enough to work had the right to live. If they were unfit, selections were carried out in the prisoners’ hospital and those with no chance of speedy recovery were murdered. They were killed in a gas chambers or by phenol injection. The sports rehabilitation exercises were carried out in the blocks and rooms of the prisoners’ hospital and the courtyard in-between these blocks allowed prisoners who had suffered from injuries to rehabilitate themselves partially and make a quicker recovery. They also prevented muscle atrophy associated with the prisoners having to lie down. Vladimir Hanak, a well-known Czech rehabilitation doctor was in the camp. He initiated rehabilitation in the prison blocks and trained his colleagues. We have many testimonies that these exercises helped to restore both physical and mental health. A prisoner who noticed an improvement in his condition strive for even more significant improvement. There were also cases where prisoners performed such exercises voluntarily after being released from the infirmary to the camp, but these were sporadic occurrences.

Let us now look at the other side of the coin. We’ve talked about pseudo-sport, but we also said that sportspersons in Auschwitz participated in sport activities. It is important to emphasize here that we are talking about a small group of people. Who could practice sports? What sports do we find in the accounts of survivors?

Most importantly we should remember that sport came into existence thanks to German functionary prisoners. They were well-fed, strong and had the consent of the camp authorities to fight one another, be it wrestling and boxing. W know that they were already playing football in the Autumn of 1940 with time they began to seek out those among the prisoners who could fight them to add variety to their entertainment, games or fights. We almost all know that football and boxing were popular in Auschwitz, but wrestling was the first sport to appear at the camp. As early as 1940, or most likely January 1941, German functionary prisoners invited the Polish wrestler Lucjan Sobieraj to fight. Mister Sobieraj, a stocky 6’3” athlete lost more than 30 kilograms in the camp but was promised a bowl of soup. The bowl of soup had such a motivating effect that Mr. Sobieraj managed to win and the factor technique that he had learned from the pre-war club. The fight took place in the rooms that house functionary prisoners, presently the first floor of block number 24. This fight sparked a series of subsequent duals between functionary prisoners and other prisoners. Lucian Sobieraj was undefeated for many years and only found a worthy opponent in the person of Jakub Kazalczyk, a Polish Jew deported to the camp in 1943. Jakub Kazalczyk is also a very stocky man, a strong man most likely a pre-war circus performer. In the camp he also gave demonstrations of his strength – lifting barbels and breaking chains. The fight between the wrestlers was prepared as a great spectacle in the 1944. It supposedly took place in the bathhouse located between blocks 1 and 2. The wrestling bat that was meant to be a part of broad sport spectacle approved by camp authorities. It was not only a wrestling gal but also a boxing match. When we talk about a great show, we usually associate it with the sporting galas we have these days but a count state that a prisoners orchestra played music upon entry of each fighter introduced in the ring. The fight was judged and cheered on by prisoners and SS-men. It was not always so obvious as we know from the counts that went the camp authorities found out that the SS-men were cheering on their favorite fighters along with the prisoners wrestling and boxing matches were banned for some time. They took place in Auschwitz only in secret. However, the clash between Jakub Kazalczyk and Lucjan Sobieraj was the last bau of the wrestlers in Auschwitz. It ended in a drought and the plan rematch never took place. Another combat sport was boxing. The first Polish political prisoner to be invited to the dual against the functionary prisoner was Tadeusz Pieczykowski. Talking about functionary prisoners on Auschwitz we are not just referring to the first thirty from the Zackenhausen camp but somewhat larger transport of around 100 prisoners, also from the Zackenhausen camp. Deported to Auschwitz in August 1940, caring a prisoner by the name of Walter Duning. In the camp he was held as Hamburg’s boxing champion. He may also have achieved some success on a national scale. But he was undefeated in Auschwitz. The first fight in March 1941 between Walter Duning and Tadeusz Pieczykowski, which Pieczykowski won, marked the beginning of an entire series of boxing fights because subsequent Jewish transports brought outstanding figures to Auschwitz including famous Jewish boxers, Salomon Arouch and Victor Young Perez. Boxing fights were held in almost all parts of Auschwitz and one prisoner who has started fighting, but wasn’t a boxer prior to the war, was Hertzka Harry Haft, whose boxing career only took off after the war following his immigration to America. Another who also ended up in a camp was the excellent boxer, multiple Polish champion and European vice-champion, Antoni Czortek. He also fought in Birkenau against his clubmate Zygmunt Malecki. They fought before the war and in the camp. It was a challenging time for all of them. So much so that Antoni Czortek did not want to recall that period of his life after the war.

SS-men watched boxing fights for their entertainment. What was the reward and what could happen to one who lost such a fight?

The most anticipated prize was the so-called extra portion of food. It could be a loaf of bread or a portion of soup. It saved a lives of many of those who won their fights. However, it’s worth noting that the extra loaf of bread was not baked specifically for the winner of a boxing fight or game. It was taken from other prisoners. Another highly anticipated reward was a job offer in the good commando, such was a case to Tadeusz Pieczykowski. After winning the fight, he was asked where he wanted to work. Ho chose to work with animals primarily because he had access to food, which the animals regularly received, unlike the prisoners. He rebuilt his physical fitness in this commando, which kept him in excellent condition and shape for more than 2 years he spend in Auschwitz boxing. Until his deportation to Nyingma he had taken part in more than 40 fights, mainly because the reward was food and good work.

Did he lose a fight?

Most probably one, although there’s an account that mentions two. Losing didn’t matter, the fight itself was intended to be exciting. Apparently, the outcome was not as important as the excitement of real fight for the SS-men and functionary prisoners. And that’s why Zygmunt Malecki, for instance, mentions that there’s no possibility of feigning the fight. They genuinely had to fight. They had to fight with all their might because if they didn’t the whips were set to work.

What about stories that claim prisoners were fighting for their lives? That the loser was killed?

I think it may have been the case. Such accounts appear primarily in the context of the Monowice camp. It might have happened but most often it did not. The prisoners tried to conduct the fight, so they looked credible but ended in a draw. Then the odds were that the excited functionary prisoners would cheer on their fighters in the next bout. Conversely, we know from several accounts that in the Monowice camp fighters who were several weights lower, and not necessarily boxers, were paired against real boxers. A powerful blow could indeed have a fatal outcome.

Boxing and wrestling are individual sports, but the camp prisoners also played team sports.

They mainly include football, volleyball and basketball. Football was the most popular. It began with the meeting known from the accounts of several prisoners, which took place in the late Spring or Summer of 1941 when political prisoners were allowed to attend the Poland-Germany match. Poland-Germany is quite a conventional term. The opponents of the German capos block-in-room leaders, that is functionary prisoners, were Polish players who have trained in football Polish clubs before the war. The match took place in the assembly square at Auschwitz I. It attracted many cheering prisoners. “Beat the Germans,” “long live Poland” – many controversies arose because of this match. However, the Polish victory wasn’t interpreted by all Poles as chance of winning the war and regaining freedom. Therefore, such matches arouse the spirit of patriotism. At some point, the so-called “international matches” were banned, and matches were held between representatives of different working commandos or blocks. Prisoners emphasize that even in such circumstances, under the cover of a regular game, Poland-Germany and Poland-France matches were held, in other words, international matches. Well, the assembly square in Auschwitz I playing field, later reduced substantially due to construction of 8 new blocks on the square, the first playing field in Birkenau was built in 1943 on the side of the men’s camp. On the other hand, a full-size grass pitch was created on the section of the hospital. The location of this pitch is worth remembering because it was, to put it simply, bizarre. It was located in just few dozen meters from the crematorium and gas chamber number 3 and next to the unloading ramp where transports of Jews arrived, and the selections were carried out.

At this point, we encourage you to read, for instances, the stories of Tadeusz Borowski, who recalls this place and the view of the ramp from the pitch on the stretch of the hospital.

Yes, especially the story titled “People Who Walked” in a heartbreaking words – “between one and the corner behind me, 300 people were gassed.” The shocking words show that sport existed in Auschwitz despite the extermination.

Several footballers were deported to Auschwitz, could it have been that they tried to pick them out from these games or was it the matter of coincidence that one player participated, while another was delegated to different commando, wasn’t recognized, didn’t admit to having played football or didn’t want to play football and was killed? I think these biographies are very different.

It’s true, they’re very different. However, before the war, if a footballer felt up to it, he wanted to play football. It was linked to rewards and privileges. The case was slightly different for footballers, athletes of Jewish origin, who had to go through selection process. As an example, let us consider the Hungarian footballer Arpad Weisz, who was deported with his family to Auschwitz because of his Jewish origin. The transport was subject to pre-selection in Kozla. The family went on to Birkenau and died, while Arpad Weisz, an excellent football player and coach of the current Inter Milan, emaciated after 2 years of work at the upper-Silesian industrial plants, ended up in the camp. They may have recognized him as a former sportsman but since he was no longer fit to continue working, he was murdered in the gas chamber.

The story is also true of Edward Eddy Hamel, the first American Jewish player of Ajax Amsterdam who also ended up in Auschwitz with his wife and two children but was separated from his family on the ramp. His family were murdered in gas chamber, and he perished in the camp months later.

Yes, and I believe he didn’t even get a chance to play a single match. Besides, the situation does not only apply to footballers but also track-in-field athletes. Athletics were popular sport, primarily because running requires short but very intense energy expenditure. Admittedly, the pave camp roads could’ve been used for running but it was not a popular sport. However, the excellent Polish athlete Józef Noi, was deported to the camp. An Olympian at the Berlin Olympics, he did not run a single distance at the camp. He was sent to Auschwitz for his activities in the underground resistance movement. Apparently, he ended up in a penal colony in Auschwitz and was shot.

We mentioned team sports, football was the most popular, but volleyball and basketball also appeared in the accounts of survivors.

True, they do appear. These accounts contain information that help one understand why these two team sports were so popular. Namely because of the size of the field. The small space between the blocks and the prisoner barracks can be used as a volleyball and basketball court. They played games between the prisoners’ barracks in Birkenau and Auschwitz I. But again, the physical state of the prisoners was a determining factor. Hence, the strongest team was the Auschwitz I prisoner hospital. Interestingly, it was one of these teams who had special uniforms on with inscription “Prison Hospital” and the matches were played in these uniforms.

We are also familiar with many stories of athletes who could not demonstrate their artistry at the Auschwitz. Perhaps, the most telling example is the skiers who are among the camps inmates. You could see these side mountains on the horizon but had no chance to ski in the camp.

Yes, we are talking about Polish skiers. There were more appropriate word should be Polish couriers. During the occupation Polish skiers knew the terrain of the mountains, were familiar with the terrain’s topography, had great scale in crossing the mountain terrain on skis and helped smuggle not only people but also documents, weapons and money across the borders. They also facilitated the passage of young people who attempted to go to France to the newly formed Polish troops. Most of those captured were taken to the prisons in Muszyna or sent for investigation to the gestapo outpost palace in Zakopane. They were sent to other prisons from these two outpost and the first and second transports of prisoners from Tarnow were full of Polish skiers. It is difficult to mention everyone as they numbered around 50 or 70 but the most famous of them is, of course, Bronislaw Czech, a multi-medalist in one of the most versatile Polish skiers. We are not only talking about alpine competitions but also jumping and cross-country skiing. We are talking about Mr. Bednarski and Mr. Izydor Luszczek. These were the people deported to Auschwitz who perforce could not ski. Nevertheless, they were highlanders. The highlander tradition is also the tradition of working with wood, but it is also a folk art. Accordingly, several Polish skiers ended up in workshops, including carpentry workshops and after the camp museum was established, they were placed in the museum. They did perform not only practical works but also had the chance to develop their artistic skills. As a result, the museum collections contain many paintings, sculptures and cases made by the highlanders. They were also tasked with embellishing the letters of other prisoners. The work shows how precious freedom was to them, their love to the mountains and, indeed, the artistry of folk craftsmanship and tradition.

The term “Lager Museum,” “Camp Museum” has emerged, and I think two words of explanation are in order. It is worth emphasizing that this is a place created by the SS to deal primarily with art luted from victims. There, artist, specialist estimated the value of such works and catalogued them in to a certain way. The SS also used the skills of prisoners-artists to commission and produced art for their needs. One of the rather strange, sometimes controversial, places in Auschwitz I is the fire tank with is located a bit off to the side and has stairs to a jumping hill with a springboard and starting poles, so water sports do figure in this palette of sports and athletes in Auschwitz.

There was a high risk of fire in all parts of Auschwitz. Primarily due to wooden barracks in the area. So, they began to build fire reservoirs. The vast majority of them have a similar design. The walls are quite sloping, and it is quite difficult to do any water sports in such fire reservoirs. Yet, we do have some accounts that say otherwise. Notably, the Monowice camp only had pools with sloping walls. However, in 1944, a fire tank with almost vertical walls was commissioned and the rear of the Auschwitz I camp. On a so-called Berch Alley and permission was given to a quipped with a springboard, a platform and posts. It was also a quip with railings going down into the water. This pool was used for water sports. However, the slimness of the facility meant that only the best could use it. There were, indeed, swimming competitions but water polo, very popular before the war, was also played. Trampoline jumping shows were also performed. It is reported that it was a very high rolled-class standard. However, Alfred Naujocks was the most successful swimmer of all those who ended up in Auschwitz. He was sent to Birkenau. Interestingly, the pre-war Olympian multi-medalist, multiple world record holder in various styles, despite his stay and survival on the camp, managed to rebuild his career after the war and also competed in the Olympics.

In addition to qualified sports, such as boxing, wrestling or football, we also find in the accounts description of things like chess, cards and boardgames in Auschwitz. And the question here again is whether we still qualify these as sports or as mere mental entertainment?

They do appear, however mental activity was forbidden. If a functionary prisoner caught a prisoner playing chess, cards, checkers, or dominos he was obliged to report the incident the following morning during roll call. Prisoners were severely punished. Nevertheless, it was also an escape from everyday life. An exciting form of leisure. The chess and bridge games were on a very high level. The question, on the other hand, is where did the chess and cards come from? The prisoners mainly produced it at their own expanse. The museum’s collection is full of figurines, chess pawns made by the prisoners. What was most often used as the material? Sometimes plastic, sometimes a piece of paper. We also know that occasionally such figurines or pawns were made from bread crumbs. With the mass deportations of the Jewish population, it was possible to obtain all kinds of sports equipment, from the warehouses containing property plundered from the victims. As with any other type of sport, mental sports are also an interesting way to spend your free time. It was played on the upper-concealed floors of the bunks, they played in nooks and crannies. In their spare time, of course.

Sports existed in Auschwitz because camp authorities permitted. It is obvious that if the SS-men hadn’t seen any benefit for themselves, they wouldn’t have allowed it. What is the role of sport for SS-men? We will probably have very few sources of the perpetrators themselves.

Physical exercise was one of the pillars of educating the younger generation for the national socialist state and right. Therefore, the SS-men sent to Auschwitz were also athletes. A suitable organizational infrastructure was prepared for them and the SS-sports society was founded in 1941. The SS-men were only allowed to play a few sports within the sport society. It included football, handball, athletics, tennis and skiing. As one can see, boxing is not included in a list. For the SS-men who made use of the existing sports infrastructure within the city of Oswiecim competitions were organized in the town and away from home. We can safely say that the SS were boldly interested in sports. However, competitions were organized for them occasionally. While on duty at the camp, they could watch, they could cheer. They were supporters and observers. It was also a kind of entertainment for them. We also know of accounts in which SS-men even forced prisoners , especially boxers, to engage in real and brutal fights.

Practicing sport in Auschwitz is somewhat peripheral to the history of the entire camp, the cruel war, dehumanization, terror and death that existed in the camp. One may come across arguments by holocaust deniers who used information about the exercises of a swimming pool in Auschwitz or other forms of sport performed by prisoners to prove that Auschwitz was not an extermination center. It is also important to emphasize that on one hand sports exited and on the other this does not negate what Auschwitz truly represented.

Sport existed despite the extermination and not just in Auschwitz but in all the concentration camps. Prisoners tried to create substitutes for social and cultural, including sporting, life. It was a significant part of their camp life that helped them to survive. Sport, although marginal, played a vital role in the camp. Not only for those who played the sport but also for other prisoners, the fans. The rules of sports were observed in Auschwitz, fights and matches were refereed. Auschwitz was a place where no rules of social life in freedom were observed, whereas implementing these rules and the sporting life reminded many prisoners that these rules still existed. At the same time, it offered hope and perhaps if they survived, the rule of law would return. Perhaps justice will be possible, just as sporting duals were judged fairly. Besides, sport is the memory from the free world. The prisoners dreamed of returning to a situation where they had the opportunity to watch or play sports after a hard days at work. As long as they’re alive, they continue to hope so. The role of sport is also one of prisoner unity. The prisoners cheered on their favorite players. It strengthen their sense of prisoner unity, particularly if it was an international match when they could cheer on their chosen players. Over a million people died in Auschwitz, including sportspeople. But we must remember that we do not know all of them. Although several names have been mentioned here, many of them will remain unknown but let us remember every one of them, those who devoted part of their lives to training, active athletes in their own towns, countries or on the international stage and were Olympians, they all deserve the upmost respect and remembrance.