Olympic Gold Medalist in the Shadow of Nazi Auschwitz: Estella Blits
Athletes at War: Sports and World War II [collection]
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Estella Blits, born Estella Agsteribbe, was an Olympic gold medalist and one of the brightest stars of the 1928 Amsterdam Games. As part of the Dutch women’s gymnastics team, she helped secure gold and became a symbol of discipline, strength, and national pride.
When Nazi Germany occupied the Netherlands, Jewish citizens were stripped of their rights, excluded from public life, and ultimately deported. Even as persecution tightened, Estella remained devoted to her family and community, carrying herself with the same resilience that had defined her athletic career.
In September 1943, she and her family were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. She was 34 years old.
Four of the five Jewish women from the 1928 Dutch Olympic team were murdered in the Holocaust.
Estella Blits’ story is not only one of loss — but of courage, dignity, and quiet resistance in the face of hatred.
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