Gretel Bergmann

Gretel Bergmann, also known as Margaret Bergmann-Lambert (born 12 April 1914) is a German-born athlete who competed as a high jumper during the 1930s.

Biography

Bergmann was born in Laupheim, Germany, where she later began her career in athletics. In 1930 she joined Ulmer FV 1894, achieving a German record in high jumping in 1931 when, during the South German Championships, she crossed 1.51 metres. After the Nazis' accession to power on 30 January 1933, she was expelled from the club for being Jewish. That April, her parents sent her to the United Kingdom, where in 1934 she took part in the British Championships and won the high jump by crossing 1.55 metres.

The German government wanted her to return to Germany in order to help portray the nation as a liberal-minded, tolerant country. Members of her family, who had stayed behind, were threatened with reprisals if she did not return. She complied and returned to Germany, where she was allowed to prepare for the 1936 Olympic Games. She won the Württembergian Championships in the high jump in 1935. On 30 June 1936, one month prior to the opening of the Olympic Games, she tied the German record by crossing 1.60 metres.^[1][2] However, two weeks before the opening of the Olympics, her accomplishment was stricken from the record books and she received a letter from the German sports authorities that she was being removed from the national team for under-performance.^[3] She was replaced by high jumper Dora Ratjen, who was later revealed to be a man who had been raised as a girl.

In 1937, Bergmann emigrated to the United States, settling in New York City,^[1] where she married Bruno Lambert, a doctor. That year, she won the U.S. women's high jump and shotput championships, and in 1938 she again won the high jump. Her sports career ended after the outbreak of World War II. In 1942, she received United States citizenship.

Honors and commemoration

In August 1995, a sports complex in Berlin-Wilmersdorf was named after her on the recommendation of the German National Sports Federation. Bergmann, who had vowed never to set foot on German soil again, did not attend the festivities.

In 1996, she was admitted to the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in the United States. In 1999, she received the Georg von Opel-Preis for achievements in the sphere of sports and society without the prospect of material gains.

The stadium in Laupheim, from which she had been barred in the 1930s, was named after her in 1999. This time, Bergmann attended the dedication, saying:

"I was not going to participate, but when I was told that they were naming the facilities for me so that when young people ask, 'Who was Gretel Bergmann?' they will be told my story, and the story of those times. I felt it was important to remember, and so I agreed to return to the place I swore I'd never go again. But I had stopped speaking German and didn't even try when I was there. They provided a translator."^[2]

In 2004, a documentary based on her life in Germany, Hitler's Pawn – The Margaret Lambert Story, debuted on HBO.

On 23 November 2009, her German national record (1.60m) from 1936 was officially restored by the German track and field association, which also requested she be admitted to the German sports hall of fame.^[1][4][5]

In September 2009, a movie about her life, Berlin 36, debuted in German theaters.^[3]

See also

• 1936 Summer Olympics
• List of Jews in sports
• List of Jewish American sportspeople

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Goldsmith, Samuel (24 November 2009). "Woman 95 gets record back". New York Daily News. http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/more_sports/2009/11/24/2009-11-24_qns_woman_95_gets_olympic_record_back_after_36_nazi_team_replaced_her_with_man_h.html. Retrieved 2009-11-25. "Germany has restored the 1936 high jump record to a 95-year-old Queens woman who was kicked off the Nazi Olympic team because she was Jewish. Margaret Bergmann Lambert was banned from the Berlin Olympics despite matching the high-jump record of 5 feet 3 inches to qualify and having spent two years on the team, starting in 1934." 
2. ^ ^{a b} "Margarethe Bergmann". Jews in Sport. http://www.jewsinsports.org/Olympics.asp?sport=olympics&ID=2. Retrieved 2009-11-25. 
3. ^ ^{a b} German film helps record-breaking Jewish athlete right historical wrong
4. ^ "Germany honours Jewish athlete banned from 1936 Olympics by Nazis", guardian.co.uk, 24 November 2009
5. ^ "Jewish High Jumper, 95, Finally Beats Nazis and Gets Record Restored". New York Post at Fox News. November 24, 2009. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,576569,00.html. Retrieved 2009-11-25. "A former high jumper now living in Queens, N.Y., finally saw her German national record restored Monday — 73 years after the Nazis disallowed it because she's Jewish." 

Further reading

• Bergmann Lambert, Margaret (2004). By Leaps and Bounds. Washington, DC: United States Holocaust Museum-Holocaust Survivors Memoirs Project. ISBN 978-0-8960-4166-0 
• Bergmann, Gretel (2003). "Ich war die große jüdische Hoffnung." Erinnerungen einer außergewöhnlichen Sportlerin. Karlsruhe: Braun. ISBN 978-3-7650-9056-1 
• Guttman, Allen (1992). Women's sports. A history. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-2310-6957-X 

Film

• Die Angst sprang mit – Die jüdische Hochspringerin Gretel Bergmann (SWR 2004)
• Hitler's Pawn – The Margaret Lambert Story (HBO, 2004)
• Berlin 36 (Germany 2009), a faction film based on her story (website, IMDb)

External links

• Voices on Antisemitism Interview with Margaret Lambert from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
• Webpage about Gretel Bergmann
• Another article about Gretel Bergmann
• Webpage of Laupheim (in German)
• Her encyclopedia entry at the Jewish Women's Archive
• Los Angeles Times article: From Nazi pawn to U.S. champion

Persondata
Name	Bergmann, Gretel
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Date of birth	12 April 1914
Place of birth
Date of death
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