Sports medal awarded to a young female Polish Jewish athlete during the 1935 Maccabi Games
Extent and Medium
overall: Height: 1.620 inches (4.115 cm) | Width: 1.500 inches (3.81 cm)
Creator(s)
- Leah Gutman (Subject)
Biographical History
Liza (Leah) Grochowska (Grochovsky) was born in Białystok, Poland. She had an older brother, Alexander (Sasha), born in 1915, who immigrated to Palestine in 1935. Leah joined him there on December 9, 1938. She participated in the Maccabi Games in basketball, and the track and field events and later became a coach and instructor for Hapoel. Her parents, Joseph, born in 1893, and Lova Yevnin, born in 1895, and her younger sister, Chaya, born in 1921, were imprisoned in a ghetto and then deported in 1943 to Auschwitz concentration camp where they perished. In 1947, Leah immigrated to the United States. She married Arnold Gutman and they had two children. She passed away, age 92, on January 7, 2012, in Illinois.
Archival History
The sports medallion was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2008 by Leah Grochowska Gutman.
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Leah Gutman
Scope and Content
Medal awarded to 16 year-old Liza (Leah) Grochowska in the Maccabi Games in 1935. She competed in basketball and track and field. She and her family lived in Bialystok, Poland. Her older brother Alexander emigrated to Palestine in 1935, and Liza joined him there in 1938. Her parents, Joseph and Lova, and her younger sister, Chaya, were deported in 1943 to Auschwitz concentration camp where they perished. In 1947, Leah emigrated to the United States.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Conditions Governing Reproduction
No restrictions on use
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Shield-shaped, silver-colored metal medal. The front border is engraved with a Star of David and Hebrew text and numbers. Attached at the top is a 4 link chain; within the links is a flower with a small silver bead in each center. The reverse has engraved Hebrew text in the corners.
front center, engraved : Hebrew characters forming stylized Star of David / 2 lines of Hebrew / 7 – 9 / VI / 1935 back center, engraved : 5 lines of Hebrew
Corporate Bodies
- Maccabi World Union
Subjects
- Poland--Emigration and immigration.
- Jewish children--Poland--Bialystok.
- Jews--Poland--Bialystok.
- Jews--Sports--Poland--History.
- Palestine--Emigration and immigration.
Genre
- Awards
- Object