Gustav Flatow, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

    

Gustav Flatow

gymnast

Date of Birth: 07-Jan-1875

Place of Birth: Kościerzyna, Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland

Date of Death: 29-Jan-1945

Profession: artistic gymnast

Nationality: Germany

Zodiac Sign: Capricorn


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About Gustav Flatow

  • Gustav Felix Flatow (7 January 1875 – 29 January 1945) was a German gymnast.
  • He competed at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens and at the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris. Flatow was Jewish, and was born in Berent, West Prussia.
  • In 1892, he moved to Berlin. Flatow competed in the parallel bars, horizontal bar, vault, pommel horse, and rings individual events.
  • He won no medals, unlike his cousin and teammate Alfred Flatow.
  • However, both were members of the German team that competed in the two team events, for parallel bars and the horizontal bar.
  • As Germany won both those events (the horizontal bar unchallenged), Gustav earned two gold medals.
  • He also competed at the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris, but without winning medals.
  • He retired from gymnastics to manage his textile company, which he founded in 1899. After the Nazi takeover in Germany in 1933, he had to flee to the Netherlands.
  • On New Year's Eve 1943 he was jailed, and in February 1944 he was deported to Theresienstadt concentration camp, where his cousin had already died in 1942.
  • Less than one year later he starved to death there at the age of 70.
  • He lost up to 20 kg at the camp. When the Nazis took over in Germany in 1933 he fled the country.
  • He did what so many people did which was trying to escape the Nazis terror.
  • He went to the Netherlands to find refuge but he was caught ten years latter.
  • On New Year's Eve 1943 he was jailed for fleeing and in February 1944 he was deported to Theresienstadt concentration camp.
  • This camp was a combination of a concentration camp and ghetto.
  • This camp was different that most of the concertation camps.
  • This camp had two different objectives.
  • One was for it to be a waystation to the extermination camps.
  • The other objective was for it to be a "retirement settlement" for elderly and prominent Jews.
  • This camp was used to try to mislead the German people about what was really happening.
  • This was the same camp where his cousin who was in the Olympics was sent to.
  • His cousin had already died there in 1942.
  • Less than one year after he got there Gustav starved to death.
  • He was 70 years old when he died on 29 January 1945.
  • In 1986 journalists discovered his urn, which is now entombed in TerezĂ­n near the site of the concentration camp. In 1997 Berlin honoured Alfred and Gustav Flatow by renaming the ReichssportfeldstraĂźe (a lane) near the Olympic Stadium to Flatowallee (Flatow-avenue).
  • There is also the Flatow-Sporthalle (sports hall) at Berlin-Kreuzberg with a commemorative plaque for both.
  • The Deutsche Post issued a set of four stamps to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the modern Olympic games.
  • One of the stamps honors the Flatows.

Read more at Wikipedia

See Also