Running His Own Way: Walter Frankl—‘The Israeli Nurmi’

This article explores the life and legacy of Walter Frankl, who was one of the most prominent athletes to emigrate from German-speaking countries to Mandatory Palestine in the 1930s. Frankl gave up a promising athletic career in his homeland of Austria and chose to remain in Palestine permanently after competing in the First Maccabiah Games. He won the first marathon held in Palestine and represented the Jewish Yishuv in international sporting events. Like many emigrants from central Europe, Frankl was confronted with the stark disparity between the role of sport in Europe and in the Yishuv, and was attacked for attempting to separate politics from sport. In Palestine, the Zionist slogan of ‘Muscular Judaism’ featured in the language of self-defence more than in that of sport. Frankl himself belonged to the Haganah military organization and was imprisoned for his efforts to facilitate illegal immigration. In the course of his career, he trained many sports instructors and worked to commemorate his fellow Hakoah Wien members who perished in the Holocaust. Frankl, who was made torchbearer of the Fourth Maccabiah Games in 1953, is also remembered as one of the pioneers of hydroponics in Israel.