CORRECTION-GERMANY-JEWS/MACCABI The 14th Maccabi Games or "Jewish Olympics" kick off in Berlin's Olympic Park

Record ID: 145794

  • Title: CORRECTION-GERMANY-JEWS/MACCABI The 14th Maccabi Games or "Jewish Olympics" kick off in Berlin's Olympic Park
  • Date: 29th July 2015
  • Summary: FANS CHEERING
  • Embargoed: 13th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Germany
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA3BEZUV91LENHBHBYWGMVZONLD
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: CORRECTS INFORMATION THAT SWIMMER SARAH POEWE WON A BRONZE MEDAL IN THE 2004 OLYMPIC GAMES IN ATHENS AND NOT AT THE LONDON OLYMPICS IN 2012
    Jewish athletes from around the world got down to business in Berlin on Wednesday (July 29), competing in the first round of competitions at the 14th Maccabi Games.
    Seven decades after Adolf Hitler sought to stop Jews from competing in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, more than 2,500 Jewish competitors are taking part in the Games at the same stadium and surrounding sports complex.
    The 10-day "Jewish Olympics" sees participants from 36 nations battle it out in 19 disciplines from athletics to basketball to hockey and even chess.
    Germany, home to the world's fastest-growing Jewish population, is full of pride that the country responsible for the Holocaust in which six million Jews were killed will host the event, which runs until August 5.
    Sarah Poewe, a German-South African athlete, who became the first German Jewish sportswoman to win an Olympic medal since 1936 when she won bronze representing Germany in swimming at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens has been asked to take on the role of a mentor for the swimming competition.
    She says that holding the games in Berlin has brought a sense of relief to some within the Jewish community.
    "One could see that a lot of weight has been lifted off the people, being able to show themselves, to be proud of who they are as a Jewish athlete from all over the world, and to be here at such an historical event, Maccabi Games in Berlin," Poewe said.
    The European Maccabi Games are the European championships for Jewish athletes held every four years in different cities, two years after the quadrennial Maccabiah Games in Israel.
    The Maccabi Games were established in 1929 in Prague as Jews wanted an alternative competition free of discrimination and anti-Jewish sentiment. The last Games were in 2011 in Vienna. Participants need at least one Jewish parent or grandparent.
    It was a controversial decision to award the Games to Germany, with younger members of the movement prevailing against older members who opposed it.
    But one German athlete, who is also mentoring at the badminton competition, said he was proud of his country hosting the games.
    "It has great significance. I think that we can be very proud as Germans, but also the city of Berlin, that the Jewish community has shown us so much trust, by holding it in places with such historical significance," said Marc Zwiebler, who won gold in badminton at the 2012 European Championships.
    The President of Maccabi Germany, Alon Meyer said the whole event was an emotional experience for all those involved.
    "Of course it is an explosion of feelings just like we saw yesterday at the Opening Ceremony. The German delegation with 370 athletes, is the biggest delegation and is taking part in every single sporting event. This is an explosion of feelings that we are not only speaking about new German-Jewish relations, not only that is important, but that we are also seeing that the people are really feeling it and taking it away with them."
    One young athlete told Reuters TV it was an "unforgettable experience".
    "All the Jews around the world coming to compete in sporting events, it's beautiful. It shows that the Jews have come on top and rise above it, come on boys!," said Jojo, a member of the South African under-16 futsal - indoor football - team.
    Also haunting Germany are memories of the 11 members of the Israeli Olympic delegation taken hostage and later killed at the 1972 Olympics in Munich. Anti-Semitism sometimes still flares in Germany today, often linked to Israel's Gaza conflict.
    More than half a million Jews lived in Germany with one of the world's most vibrant Jewish communities. But after the Nazis took power in 1933, most fled or were killed in death camps and the number in Germany was just 30,000 by the end of the war.
    The Jewish population in Germany has revived since the end of the Cold War and there are now about 250,000 -- which Chancellor Angela Merkel has called a "miracle".
    After dropping to 7,000 in 1945, there are 45,000 Jews in Berlin today - many arriving from Eastern Europe, Israel, Australia, France and the United States - attracted by the capital's tolerance, low cost of living and creative arts scene.
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