In 1909, after the Austrian government passed a law known as "the Aryan Paragraph" which forbade sporting clubs from accepting Jewish members, a group of Jewish athletes responded by forming a sports organization of their own. Known as "Hakoah Vienna" (from the Hebrew word for strength), the club sought to give Jewish athletes a place to turn to, and to confront stereotypes that Austrian Jews were intellectual giants but physical weaklings. Hakoah Vienna's members were champions in a number of
sports in Austria and Europe (and their soccer team defeated Britain's legendary West Ham United in a 1924 exhibition match), but their most famous athletes were the members of the women's swimming team, who soon came to dominate competition throughout the nation. Hakoah Vienna's female swimmers were the core of Austria's 1936 Olympic Team, held in Germany, though some refused to participate in what was seen by many as a propaganda triumph for Adolf Hitler. In 1938, after Nazi Germany took control of Austria, Hakoah Vienna was put out of business, the records of many of its champions were stricken from the books, and nearly all the athletes were forced to flee the land of their birth. Director Yaron Zilberman reunited eight of the Hakoah Vienna swimmers for the documentary Watermarks, in which these extraordinary women discuss the triumphs and tragedies of their past, return to Vienna, and swim together for the first time since 1938. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
Zilberman's storytelling is a little jumpy, but his documentary is a fitting tribute to seven women whose strength of mind and character, as much as their physical prowess, was developed by the organization that ensured their survival.
This account of the pre-Nazi glory and subsequent harrowing fate of the Austrian Jewish sports club Hakoah makes for a necessary corrective to Leni Riefenstahl's grudgingly admired Olympic myth-mongering.
Surprisingly complex and moving, Yaron Silberman's vibrantly nostalgic documentary succeeds because it is about more than its surface subjects, young Jewish women who were champion swimmers in the 1930s whose lives were interrupted by the war.
The film's denouement is one of triumphant symbolism as the women return to Vienna for a swim in their former pool. There are no medals given for this reunion, but it's definitely one that deserves a cheer.
One of the most amazing aspects of this film is how many of the octogenarian-plus swimmers have survived after first fleeing post-Anschluss Austria for the four corners of the world.
A great documentary because of its subject. The women were intriguing, I loved hearing their stories, and each of them was unique. This film conveyed their great pride in being Hakaoh members. Their reunion was climactic and stirring. The last scene of the film really touched me.
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