ATHLETICS

Oscar Gerde, of Jewish origin, was a great saber, and he parcipates in the London olympics in 1908 both in individual competition placing eleventh in the general classification and won the gold medal with Foldes Dezso, Fuchs Jeno and Lajos Werrner. In 1912 at the olympic games in Stockholm he won a new gold medal in the team competition with the same companions as in the London games instead, in the individual saber competition it iwas ranked 23th. Once the competitive career ended, he became an international fencing judge. After the skulls were invaded by Hungary in 1924, Gerde was arrested and deported to the concentration camp in Mauthausen- Gusen where he died on 8th October of the same year. In the 1989 Gerde was included in the "International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame".

It is of Jewish origin and was considered one of the biggest sabreurs in the world during the 20s-30s. In 1923, when he was only 19 years old, he attended the European championships and won the bronze medal. With the German occupation of Hungary and the application of the racial laws, deportations begin for the Jews. Petschauer was a celebrity in his country and for this he enjoyed a special "exemption" document that protected him. However, during a normal identification check by the Hungarian police, while he was walking, he was found without the documents he had left at home, the explanation is unacceptable to his inquisitors and so they arrest him. In 1943 he was deported to the concentration camp of Davidovka (Ukraine) wherehe finds as a commander an old friend of his, the Olympian Kalman Cseh, but the old friendship does not save him. The champion of fight Karoly Karpati prisonmate was a witness of Petschauer's death: It was midwinter and bitter cold, they ordered him to undress, to climb on a tree and to sing like a rooster. The guards, amused, threw buckets of frozen water on him. Petschauer died a few minutes later.