Kurt Epstein

Kurt Epstein (29 January 1904 – 1 February 1975) was a Czech water polo player and survivor of Nazi concentration camps. He represented Czechoslovakia at two Summer Olympic Games, but after 1948, he emigrated to the United States.

Early life Kurt Epstein was born on 29 January 1904 in Roudnice nad Labem in Bohemia, Austria-Hungary, to Maximilian and Helena Epstein. Their family was of Jewish-German ethnicity. He grew up in Roudnice nad Labem on the bank of the Elbe River. He lived in a house built by his father in 1900, on the site on which his grandfather built the first ever house owned by a Jew outside the Jewish quarter of Prague in 1830. While in high school, he became a competitive rower and swimmer, and also a swimming coach.

In 1924, he joined the Czechoslovak Army, was picked for reserve officers school, and became a second lieutenant.

Incarceration in Nazi concentration camps After the German occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1938, Epstein was incarcerated at various Nazi concentration camps, including Theresienstadt concentration camp, Auschwitz concentration camp, and a labour camp at Frýdlant. After a decade of being unable to find steady employment, he ultimately became a cutter in a clothing factory of Star Children's Wear in the Garment District.