Szapsel Rotholc worked as a typesetter-printer, but there was something else in his life in which he was a champion – boxing. He had an extremely strong blow, which also hit the sportsmen of the Third Reich. Unfortunately, the war broke his career and had a tragic effect on the boxer’s life.

Rotholc, as the first Jewish boxer, became the Polish champion in the flyweight (1933), and a year later he won a bronze medal at the Olympic Games in Budapest. He was also supposed to compete during the Olympic Games in Berlin (1936) and break the boycott of the Jewish athletes. All Poles loved him – regardless of their religion. When in 1938 (a few days after Kristallnacht) he defeated the German Nikolaus Obermauer, in the Poland-Germany boxing match, Polish fans shouted: “Szapsio, beat Kraut at Swastika!”. And Szapsio, despite his average height, was boxing very hard. He won over 120 out of 135 fights.

In the ranks of the Jewish Order Service

On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland and World War II began. Szapsel was mobilized into the ranks of the Polish Army. Soon he was captured by the Soviets (the Soviet Union, in alliance with the Third German Reich, attacked Poland on September 17, 1939). Ultimately, however, he ended up in the Warsaw Ghetto, which the Germans had created for Jews.

There he joined the Jüdischer Ordnungsdienst, a police unit that collaborated with Germans, and was partially subordinate to the Judenrat. As he explained himself, he wanted to ensure the safety of his relatives and easier access to food. However, he escaped from the ghetto to the “Aryan side” and was hidden by a Polish boxer. At that time, the Germans murdered his wife, Maria. He was left alone with his 3-year-old son, Ryszard.

Accused of collaborating with the Germans

In 1946, he was accused by the Social Court at the Central Committee of Polish Jews of collaborating with the Germans. Some witnesses believed that he helped other Jews, others claimed that he abused the ghetto inhabitants. The sentence was: guilty. Later, however, many sports activists supported him. Therefore, in 1948 the sentence was revoked.

Rotholc decided to leave Poland for Belgium in 1949. From there he went to Canada, where he worked as a furrier. He died in 1996 in Montreal.