Helene Mayer facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Helene Mayer
Mayer in 1928
Personal information
Full name	Helene Julie Mayer
Born	20 December 1910 Offenbach am Main, Germany
Died	10 October 1953(1953-10-10) (aged 42) Heidelberg, West Germany
Height	5 ft 9 in (175 cm)
Weight	155 lb (70 kg)
Sport
Country	Germany  Germany  United States
Sport	Fencing
Club	FC Hermannia
Medal record Olympic Games Representing Germany Gold 1928 Amsterdam Individual foil Representing Nazi Germany Silver 1936 Berlin Individual foil

Helene Julie Mayer (born December 20, 1910 – died October 10, 1953) was a famous fencer from Germany. She won a gold medal at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam. Later, she won a silver medal at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin.

Helene Mayer faced a difficult situation. She was Jewish and had to leave Germany in 1935 because of the Nazi government's rules. She moved to the United States to study. Even so, she competed for Nazi Germany in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. After the Olympics, she returned to the U.S. and became a citizen in 1941. She went back to Germany in 1952 and passed away the next year.

Many people consider Mayer to be one of the greatest female fencers ever. Sports Illustrated even named her one of the Top 100 Female Athletes of the 20th Century. Her story is complex because of the choices she made during a very difficult time.

Helene's Early Life and Family

Helene Mayer was born in Offenbach am Main, a town near Frankfurt, Germany. Her mother was Lutheran, and her father, Ludwig Karl Mayer, was a Jewish doctor.

A book called Foiled: Hitler's Jewish Olympian: the Helene Mayer Story tells her story. It explains how the Nazis brought her back from the U.S. to be a "token Jew" on their Olympic team. From a young age, Helene was known as "the Jewish Mayer" to tell her apart from a neighbor. When Adolf Hitler and the Nazis came to power in the 1930s, her Jewish background became a big problem. In 1933, her fencing club in Germany even removed her membership because of new Nazi laws against Jewish people.

Helene's Amazing Fencing Career

A West German stamp from 1968 featuring Helene Mayer.

Helene Mayer was incredibly talented at fencing. She was only 13 years old when she won the German women's foil championship in 1924. Experts who saw her fence said her skills were amazing. By 1930, she had won six German championships.

Olympic Achievements

Helene won a gold medal in fencing at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam. She was only 17 years old and represented Germany. She won 18 matches and lost only 2. She became a national hero in Germany, and her picture was everywhere. People described her as tall, blonde, elegant, and full of life.

In 1931, her father died. At the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, she finished fifth. She had learned just two hours before her match that her boyfriend had died in a military exercise. After these Olympics, she stayed in the U.S. to study. She was an exchange student at Scripps College and later studied at the University of California at Berkeley. She also fenced for the USC Fencing Club.

When Hitler became leader in 1933, new anti-Jewish laws threatened her career. Her German fencing club ended her membership. She also lost her study exchange program. She found work teaching German at Mills College and later at San Francisco City College. In 1935, Germany took away her citizenship because of the Nuremberg Laws, which said she was not German.

Despite this, she accepted an invitation to compete for Germany at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. The Nazi government wanted to show the world that they were fair. Joseph Goebbels, a Nazi leader, even told the press not to mention Helene Mayer's Jewish background. She won a silver medal in individual women's foil. During the medal ceremony, she gave a Nazi salute. She later said she did this to protect her family who were still in Germany.

Winning International and U.S. Titles

Helene Mayer was also very successful in other competitions. In 1928, she won the Italian national championship. She was the European champion in 1929 and 1931. She also became the World Foil Champion in 1929–31 and again in 1937.

After settling in the United States, she continued her amazing fencing career. She won the U.S. women's foil championship eight times between 1934 and 1946.

Return to Germany and Passing Away

In 1952, Helene Mayer moved back to Germany. She married an old friend, Erwin Falkner von Sonnenburg, in a quiet ceremony in Munich. They moved to the hills near Stuttgart and then settled in Heidelberg. Helene passed away in October 1953 from breast cancer, just two months before her 43rd birthday.

Helene Mayer's Legacy

Helene Mayer is remembered as one of the top 100 female athletes of the 20th century by Sports Illustrated. She was also honored by being added to the USFA Hall of Fame in 1963.

Helene's Accomplishments

Images for kids

• 

  Helene Mayer giving the Nazi salute at the 1936 Summer Olympics

See also

In Spanish: Helene Mayer para niños