Sport & the Nazis Part Two: Endre Kabos
“We will fight not only for universal Hungarian nationhood and pride in Berlin but we Jewish sportsmen, must and want to show the image of Jewish power and virtue.”
Endre Kabos was killed on November 4th, 1944. He was born on November 5th, 1906. The fact that he didn’t reach his 38th Birthday was for one reason only. The Nazis and their Hungarian puppets, The Arrow Cross.
What is, perhaps, the most tragic part of this story, is that Hungary was only a couple of months away from being liberated by the Soviets, when Endre was killed. He died when the Arrow Cross blew up Margaret Bridge, in Budapest, by order of the Nazis. He was crossing, whilst on a slave labour detail. They blew the bridge up, to slow the advancing Red Army.
He was born Ede Katz, into a family of highly-assimilated Hungarian Jews. They put their Germanic and Jewish-sounding names into Hungarian forms. So Ede Katz became Endre Kabos. In the Eastern name order, the family name goes first, so it would be Kabos Endre. But we’ll use the Western name order, for this article, as it is written in English.
Fencing enjoyed something of a craze in Hungary, in the early 20th century. It was associated with honour, masculinity, daring and courage. Sadly, the country also enjoyed something of a penchant for antisemitism, at the same time. In 1920, Hungary became the first Eastern European country to introduce antisemitic laws.
The Numerus Clausus was technically not only aimed at Jews, but was widely understood to be aimed directly at Jews. It essentially put a quota on races and nationalities, at Hungarian universities. The counter-revolutionary Government held strong antisemitic beliefs, the debates around the law in their Parliament, and the thuggish violence meted out by right-wing students towards Jews at the universities, left absolutely no doubt that the law was aimed at Jews.
So, what does antisemitism, in 1920 Hungary, have to do with fencing?
A lot, actually. As stated, fencing was seen as a measure of what the best of what Hungary had to offer. Almost like the ideal Hungarian. And it too became associate with national pride and nationalism. So why were so many of its best fencers Jewish, or at least part-Jewish? It’s simple. The Jews wanted to prove they were “true” Hungarians, so took up the sport in large numbers.
And Endre Kabos was, perhaps, the greatest of them all. He won three Olympic Gold medals and one Bronze, all in sabre. As a bitter twist of irony, two of his Golds came in the 1936 Berlin Olympics - Hitler’s showcase of “Aryan Supremacy.” Jesse Owens is famous for his incredible exploits at those Games. But Endre Kabos’ achievements are equally remarkable, when you consider the main target of Nazi hatred (and murder), was the Jews.
He also won six Golds and one Silver, at various European Championships, between 1930 and 1935.
And then came the Nazis. He was sent to a forced labour camp, until one of the officers recognised him. He was then given the morally dubious “pleasure” of teaching the officers how to fence. But they decided this wasn’t quite fitting, for a Jew, and gave him the job of transporting provisions, to and from the camp.
It was on one of these details that he lost his life, in the Margaret Bridge detonation.
The world lost a great light that day, and a truly great sportsman.