The three foil fencing champions of the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, from left to right: Ilona Elek-Schacherer, Helene Mayer and Ellen Müller-Preis. (Ullstein-Bild via Getty Images)

(JTA) — One of the most exciting stories for Jewish fans at the 2024 Paris Olympics is the resurgence of Jewish excellence in fencing. Of the 20 fencers on the U.S. team, six are Jewish or come from Jewish families, and three have won medals.

The success of gold medalists Jackie Dubrovich and Maia Weintraub and bronze medalist Nick Itkin reminded me of a trio of Jewish fencers who won medals at the same Olympic Games almost a century ago – the so-called “Nazi Olympics.”

Ilona Elek-Schacherer, Helene Mayer and Ellen Müller-Preis achieved the Jewish triple victory at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin.

In a competition personally presided over by Adolf Hitler, these three Jewish Olympians won the gold, silver and bronze medals in women’s foil fencing, respectively. When they climbed onto the Olympic podium to receive their medals, they did so under the eyes of the Führer who would soon launch a genocide against their people.

Although he won the silver medal at the Olympics, Mayer is arguably the biggest story of the three.

Mayer was born in Frankfurt to a Jewish father and Christian mother and raised Jewish. She won a gold medal at the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam and was the favorite for another gold medal at the 1932 Games in Los Angeles. But Mayer learned during the Olympic Games that her boyfriend had died in a military exercise and ended up in despair, finishing in fifth place.

When Hitler attended the 1936 Olympics, he allowed Mayer to represent Germany as a token Jew to refute accusations that he was anti-Semitic. Although Mayer had left Germany in 1935 to escape rising anti-Jewish sentiment, she accepted the Nazi Party’s invitation to represent Germany at the Olympics in the hope that the gesture would help protect her family members who remained in Germany. Mayer was also believed to have been depicted on more memorabilia than most German athletes – another sign of the Nazi regime’s efforts to launder its anti-Semitism through sport.

There were strong rumors that Mayer had received assurances that her family would be protected if she won a medal and gave the Nazi salute from the podium, which she did. She ultimately finished second, losing to fellow Jewish competitor Ilona Elek-Schacherer of Hungary.

An official 1936 Olympic card shows the Jewish trio on the podium while Mayer makes the Nazi salute. Some may frown upon the spectacle, but Mayer’s family survived the Holocaust.

After the Olympics, Mayer returned to the United States and became an eight-time fencing champion. She was named one of the 100 greatest female athletes of the 20th century by Sports Illustrated. Mayer died in Heidelberg, Germany, in 1953.

Ellen Müller-Preis, the bronze medalist, was born in Berlin and wanted to fence for Germany at the 1932 Olympics, but Germany refused to let her join the team because of her religion. Hitler’s election as German Chancellor was a year away, but anti-Semitism was already high in Germany.

Müller-Preis did not let anti-Semitism stop her from competing in the Olympics: she decided to represent Austria in 1932 and won the gold medal. The German Olympic Committee was reportedly very upset that Müller-Preis won a gold medal for another country.

Due to the Second World War, no Olympic Games were held in 1940 and 1944. At the 1948 Olympic Games in London, Müller-Preis again won the bronze medal representing Austria.

In 1949, Müller-Preis was named Austrian Sportswoman of the Year. At the age of 44, the ageless prodigy took part in the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne and finished seventh. Her Olympic career, which lasted from 1932 to 1956, was the longest of any female athlete at the time.

The gold medal in women’s foil fencing at the 1936 Games went to Ilona Elek-Schacherer. She was born in Budapest to a Jewish father and a Christian mother and came from a family of fencers. Her younger sister Margit was also active in the sport.

Elek-Schacherer won gold again in 1948 and silver in 1952. In addition, between 1934 and 1956 she won ten gold medals, five silver medals and two bronze medals at world championships – the most international fencing titles of any woman in history.

With a wave of his arm, Mayer would overshadow the Jewish stories of the first and third place finishers. Yet all three Jewish fencers should be remembered for their achievements, their courage and the painful decisions they made in dangerous times.