From Interwar Sports Hero to Holocaust Victim: The Biography of Lenke Ziszovits-Popper
From Interwar Sports Hero to Holocaust Victim: The Biography of Lenke Ziszovits-Popper

Summary/Abstract: Lenke Ziszovits-Popper was born in 1909 into an Jewish family in Petrozsény, a town in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which was renamed Petroșani after 1920, when it became part of Romania. She is recognized as a prominent tennis player representing the Oradea Athletic Club, her sporting achievements during the 1920s and 1930s making her one of the leading female athletes in interwar Romania. Despite the challenging circumstances of her era, which was marked by antisemitism, she embraced her ethnic identity, actively participated in her community, and competed in a tennis tournament even in Nazi Germany, where she secured a trophy. However, Lenke Ziszovits-Popper was forced to cease her sporting activity after Northern Transylvania was annexed by Hungary, which resulted in the exclusion of Jewish individuals from sporting activities. Furthermore, she was forcibly relocated to the Oradea ghetto, wherefrom she was subsequently transported to the extermination camp in Auschwitz-Birkenau. Her life was tragically ended in the gas chamber. Her premature death contributed to her falling into oblivion in the context of the historical transformations within Romanian society. This research aims at rehabilitating the historical significance of Lenke Ziszovits-Popper, not only as an athlete and a representative of modern women in interwar Romania, but also as a notable figure of the Jewish community and a Holocaust victim.

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