Hans Halberstadt

Hans Ignaz Halberstadt (10 June 1885 – 22 September 1966) was a German-born American Olympic épée and saber fencer.

For the American author, see Hans Halberstadt (author).

Hans Halberstadt
Personal information
Birth nameHans Ignaz Halberstadt
NationalityGerman-born American
Born(1885-06-10)10 June 1885
Offenbach am Main, Germany
Died22 September 1966(1966-09-22) (aged 81)
San Francisco, California, United States
Sport
CountryGermany; USA
SportFencing
Event(s)Epee and sabre

Early and personal life

Halberstadt was born and raised in Offenbach am Main, Germany, and was Jewish.[1][2][3] He was trained at the Offenbach am Main Fechtclub.[1][4]

Fencing career

Halberstadt was German National Champion in epee in 1922 and 1930.[1] He was also German team sabre champion with Fechtclub Offenbach in 1924 and 1925.[5]

He competed for Germany in the individual and team épée and team sabre (coming in fourth) events at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam at the age of 42.[5]

After the Nazis came to power, after Kristallnacht his family's business was seized by the Nazis and Halberstadt was interred in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp by the Nazis because he was Jewish.[2][4][6] He then fled Germany at the age of 56 with what he could carry, first to London, and then San Francisco in 1940.[2][4]

Halberstadt then became 1940 US Sabre Champion, both in individual saber and team saber.[5]

In San Francisco he taught fencing in the 1940s at the San Francisco Olympic Club and then at his own club which he opened, and ran a fencing supply company.[2][4] Among his students in San Francisco were Helene Mayer and Tommy Angell. His name lives on through a San Francisco fencing club founded by his students after his 1966 death.[7][8]

Halberstadt was inducted into the U.S. Fencing Hall of Fame, in its Class of 2013.[9]

References
  1. "Hans Halberstadt at the 1928 Olympics," West Coast Fencing Archive.
  2. Bernard Postal, Jesse Silver, Roy Silver. Encyclopedia of Jews in Sports.
  3. Paul Yogi Mayer. Jews and the Olympic Games: sport: a springboard for minorities
  4. "Hans Halberstadt and the Thomson Twins," West Coast Fencing Archive.
  5. "Hans Halberstadt Olympic Results". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 25 April 2010.
  6. "Halberstadt, Hans," US Fencing Hall of Fame.
  7. "U.S. Fencing Hall of Fame". Archived from the original on 18 June 2013. Retrieved 16 June 2013.
  8. "Halberstadt Fencers' Club". Retrieved 17 June 2013.
  9. "Two Fencers With Penn Ties Headed to Hall of Fame," University of Pennsylvania.
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