Alfred Nakache

 Alfred Nakache

Alfred Nakache was born Artem "Alfred" Nakache on November 18, 1915 in Constantine,, French Algeria (Present-Day Constantine, Algeria.)

He was the youngest of 11 Children.

In 1931, he won the Constantine Christmas Cup.

In 1933 he moved to Paris.

As a Frenchman born outside of France and not yet registered with a Club in France, he was barred from participation in the European Championships, but competed in French Championships. 

He joined a French Club and despite being Jewish he participated in the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Nazi Germany where he in finished fourth place in the 4 x 200 m Freestyle Relay.

On October 6, 1937 he married Paule Elbaze, an Algerian Jew like himself. 

Between 1937 and 1938 he completed his Mandatory Military Service. 

In 1939, Nakache passed the Examination to become a Physical Education Teacher.

France and Germany declared War with each in September 1939.

The Germans invaded and occupied France in May 1940. 

When French Vichy Collaborationist Leader Philippe Pétain abolished the Crémieux Decree (created in 1870), as an Algerian Jew, Nakache was stripped of his French Nationality. 

As Teachers and as Jews, he and his Wife had to leave Paris in order to continue working and settled with their Daughter in Toulouse which was in the “Free Zone of France” (the part of France not occupied by the Germans until 1942.)

He joined Underground Resistance Networks in Toulouse, including the Jewish Army (French: Armée Juive) where he helped get the Resistance Fighters in physically good shape. 

Though Nakache was initially prominent during the German Occupation of France for his Records and became one of the Country's most decorated Swimmers, he was gradually denounced as a Jew by the Collaborationist Press. 

Finally, he was banned from the pool during the French Championships in Toulouse in 1943, leading to a Boycott by his Teammates from the Local Swimming Club.

On November 20, 1943 Nakache, his Wife and their 2 year old Daughter, Annie, were arrested by the Gestapo. 

He was held at the Saint-Michel Prison in Toulouse, before being sent to the Drancy Internment Camp outside Paris. 

The Family were Deported to the Auschwitz Death Camp in German-Occupied Poland on Convoy Number. 66 out of Drancy on January 20, 1944.

Convoy 66 had 1,153 People in it (including 144 Children.)

They arrived at Auschwitz three days later and Nakache was physically separated from his Wife and Daughter, never to see them again as they were gassed to death upon arrival. 

864 Men, Wimen and Children from Convoy Number 66 were gassed upon arrival at Auschwitz.

Of the 1,153 People from Convoy Number 66 only 72 survived the Holocaust (42 Men, 30 Women and No Children.) 

Nakache was assigned to work in the Camp Infirmary. 

The Germans also forced him to swim every day in their “Lake” (which was actually built to put out fires) even when it was frozen over by ice and snow. 

In January 1945, as Auschwitz was evacuated while the Red Army advanced, Nakache was sent on a Death March, ultimately ending up in the Buchenwald Concentration Camp in Germany where he was Liberated by American Troops in April 1945.

He weighed 92 lbs. when he was liberated. 

Alfred was the only one of his Family to survive the Holocaust.

After the War Nakache he returned to Toulouse and went back to Being a Physical Education Teacher and Training to be a Swimmer again. 

In 1946 he set a World Relay Record and became the French National Champion in the 200 breast and 4×200 Freestyle Relay  - all less than a year from being liberated from a Concentration Camp. 

In 1948 he competed in the Olympics held in London, the United Kingdom. 

Being one of only 2 other Holocaust Survivors to participate in the First Post War World 2 Olympic Games. 

Nakache swam the 200 Breast-Stroke, placing 12th.

After Swimming concluded, he was a Member of the French Water Polo team that finished in 6th Place overall.

Also, in 1948 he married again. 

Nakache retired from Swimming in the 1950s and continued to be a Teacher. 

Alfred Nakache died in Cerbère, France on August 4, 1983, after becoming ill while swimming in the port.

He was 67 years old. 

He was buried in the Le Py cemetery in Sète.

Nakache was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1993 and the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 2019.