Watermarks is a 2004 documentary co-written and directed by Yaron Zilberman, in his directorial debut, that features women from the Viennese Hakoah swim team during the rise of fascism in 1930's Austria. The film describes the women's success as athletes leading up to the Anschluss of 1938 when the swimmers fled Austria to disparate locations in Israel, England, and the United States. The documentary ends with some of the women from the swim team returning to Vienna sixty-five years later for a reunion at their old swimming pool.
One of the women featured in the film, Judith Haspel, was a record-setting swimmer who was selected to represent Austria in the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. She refused to go and was stripped of her records and banned from competition. Her records were reinstated in 1995.
Synopsis
L’Hakoah (« La force » en hébreu), fut fondé à Vienne en 1909, par réaction au célèbre paragraphe aryen qui interdisait aux clubs de sport autrichiens d’intégrer des athlètes juifs et devint l’un des plus grands clubs de sport de l’Europe de l’entre deux guerres. Dans les années 30, les plus grands succès de l’Hakoah furent remportés par ses nageuses, qui dominaient la compétition nationale en Autriche. Après l’Anschluss, les Nazis ont fait fermer le club. Les nageuses réussirent à fuir le pays avant que la guerre n’éclate, grâce à une opération de sauvetage organisée par les sportifs de l’Hakoah. 65 ans plus tard, 7 membres de l’équipe féminine de natation se retrouvent dans leur ancienne piscine à Vienne, un voyage qui évoque à la fois les souvenirs de leurs jeunes années, leur féminité affirmer et qui leur permet de renouer les liens de toute une vie.
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