Sport e olocausto: la storia dell'Hakoah Vienna

Lo scenario è grossomodo quello di oltre mezzo secolo fa, come se il tempo si fosse fermato. Una pista d'atletica leggera, una piscina e numerosi altri campi sportivi sbucano dal lussureggiante Prater, il principale parco cittadino di Vienna. Frattanto, un ristorante kosher e un'area dedicata ai bambini hanno fatto capolino tra gli impianti sportivi. Di nuovo, rispetto agli anni Trenta, c'è che la storia ha spazzato via i nazisti, mentre un simbolo - una H racchiusa in una stella di David bianca e blu - campeggia ancora sulle pareti.

Sports and the Holocaust: the Hakoah Vienna's story

The scenario looks as if the clock was stopped over half-a-century ago. A track and field area, a swimming pool and various playgrounds peep out inside the lush Prater, Vienna's main park. Meanwhile, a kosher restaurant and a child care centre spring among the facilities. What is really new compared with the 1930s, history has swept Nazis away, while a crest with a letter ‘H’ enclosed by a blue-and-white Star of David still stands out on the walls.

Welcome home, Hakoah. Founded in 1909 by cabaret librettist Fritz Löhner and other prominent figures, Hakoah - “force” in Hebrew - was a Vienna-based Jewish sports club, particularly popular in the interwar period. It counted 5,000 members at its peak and its activities included over a dozen sports, such as fencing, swimming, track and field. And football; Hakoah’s XI, composed also by Hungarians, was a remarkable side in the 1920s, allegedly the most flourishing period for Austrian Fußball.