Otto Herschmann

Who was Otto Herschmann?

Dr. Otto Herschmann was a Jewish Austrian swimmer, fencer, lawyer, and sports official.

Herschmann won a silver medal at the initial modern Olympic Games, the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, in the men's 100-metre freestyle event. He also won a silver medal at the 1912 Summer Olympics, in the men's team sabre event in fencing. Herschmann is one of only a few athletes who have won Olympic medals in more than one sport.

He served as President of the Austrian Olympic Committee from 1912 to 1914. Herschmann was then President of the Austrian Swimming Federation from 1914 to 1932.

During the Nazi era, Herschmann was persecuted because he was Jewish. The Nazis arrested him in Vienna and deported him in 1942 to the Sobibór extermination camp, and then to the Izbica concentration camp, where he was killed.