Ludwig Schlanger

Ludwig Schlanger was an Austrian wrestler who lost his first-round bout at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics to Estonian Voldemar Väli, the eventual Greco-Roman featherweight gold medallist. In 1935, Schlanger was the gold medal winner in the second Maccabiah Games in Israel.

Schlanger was born 1904 in what is now Serbia as a Jew, and soon moved after that with his family to Wien (Vienna). He later became a seven times Austrian champion wrestler, but always had to deal with antisemitism. In 1938 he escaped to England with his family and later to the United States where he settled in Los Angeles. He then took the name Louis Slanger. He practiced a variety of trades in Los Angeles: dental technician, entrepreneur, plant manager and real estate investor.

Schlanger’s passion was politics, particularly the politics of the State of Israel. Over the years, he had scores of suggestions as to how the situation there could be resolved, and he didn’t hesitate to send letters to the American Secretaries of State with his detailed ideas as to what should be done to end the conflict. He also often held events talking about the holocaust and its serious consequences.