Alfred Flatow facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Alfred Flatow |
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| Country represented |  Germany |
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| Born | 3 October 1869 Danzig (Gdansk), Prussia |
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| Died | 28 December 1942 (aged 73) KZ Theresienstadt, Nazi Germany |
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| Discipline | Men's artistic gymnastics | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Alfred Flatow (born October 3, 1869 – died December 28, 1942) was a German gymnast of Jewish heritage. He competed in the very first modern Olympic Games in Athens in 1896. Sadly, he died during the Holocaust.
Life and Gymnastics
Alfred Flatow was a very successful gymnast at the 1896 Olympic Games. He won the parallel bars event. He also came in second place in the horizontal bar event.
Alfred was part of the German team that won gold medals. They won for both the team parallel bars and team horizontal bar events. He also competed in other events like the vault, pommel horse, and rings. His cousin, Gustav Flatow, was also on the German gymnastics team.
After the Olympics, Alfred and many other German gymnasts faced a problem. The Deutsche Turnerschaft, which was the main group for German gymnastics, had boycotted the Olympics. They thought competing was "un-German." Because of this, Alfred and the others were suspended from their gymnastics clubs.
In 1903, Alfred helped start the Judische Turnerschaft. This was an important Jewish sports organization in Europe. He had been a gymnastics teacher since 1890. He also started writing books about gymnastics in the early 1900s.
In 1933, Alfred was forced to leave his gymnastics club. This happened because he was Jewish. He was very active in German gymnastics until 1936. That year, the Nazis forced him out completely. Even so, he was honored at the 1936 Olympics. All German Olympic champions were invited to attend.
In 1938, Alfred moved from Germany to the Netherlands. He did this to escape the Nazi persecution of Jewish people. However, Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands in May 1940. On October 3, 1942, Alfred was sent to Theresienstadt concentration camp. He was 73 years old. He died there from starvation before the end of the year. His cousin, Gustav Flatow, also died during the Holocaust.
Honors After Death
In 1981, Alfred Flatow was honored. He was added to the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.
In 1997, the city of Berlin remembered Alfred and Gustav Flatow. They renamed a street near the Olympic Stadium to Flatowallee (Flatow-avenue). There is also a sports hall called the Flatow-Sporthalle in Berlin-Kreuzberg. It has a special plaque honoring both of them.
The Deutsche Post (German Post Office) also released stamps. These stamps celebrated 100 years of the modern Olympic Games. One of these stamps shows Alfred and Gustav Flatow.
See also
In Spanish: Alfred Flatow para niños
- List of select Jewish gymnasts
