Hans Halberstadt
The scion of a wealthy German family with manufacturing interests, Hans Halberstadt took up the sport of fencing as a young man in his home town of Offenbach en Main. He competed for Germany at the 1924 Olympic Games on the epee and sabre teams and in the individual epee.
A raconteur and man on leisure, he claimed to have had a locker in every major club in Europe, so that he might travel freely without the encumbrance of a fencing equipment bag. A decorated war hero from the First World War, Hans was taken by the Nazis in 1937 and informed – he claimed not to have known – that he was of Jewish heritage.
READ MORE...Friends in high places or bribes got him out of an internment camp and eventually onto a boat out of Rotterdam that took him to New York. After a cross country bus ride, he joined his brother and sister who had earlier relocated to San Francisco.
Hans arrived in January of 1940, penniless and with no occupation other than fencing. He opened the Halberstadt Fencers Club in 1941, living in the back of the rented space, and remained there as teacher until his passing in 1966. His club became the center of the San Francisco fencing community and flourished in his lifetime. It continued on after his death and remains today the longest continually operating fencing club on the West Coast.
Articles
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Hans Halberstadt at the 1928 Olympics
In attempting to self-analyze why writing about Hans is so enjoyable for me, the only thing I come up with is that in almost every group photo of him I’ve seen, he appears to be having the best time.
An Evening at Halberstadts
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Dining with Hans Halberstadt
After a too-long hiatus from posting to the site, I figured I’d start simple. But, like everything, there’s a bit more to the story. Over the summer, Friend of The Archive Jamie Douraghy had the excellent idea of calling me to let me know that retired fencing master...
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