| Michael WOLACH |
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Michael "Mischa" Wolach nacque a Varsavia nel 1914 dove ricevette un'eccellente educazione imparando la bellezza di nove lingue!
Nel 1939, quando i tedeschi invasero la Polonia, li combatté e venne fatto prigioniero dai russi che lo internarono in un campo di prigionia in Siberia. Dopo sei mesi riuscì a fuggire e grazie alla conoscenza di tutte le lingue attraversò la Russia e l'Armenia e si ricongiunse all'esercito polacco in Egitto.
Purtroppo l'intera sua famiglia venne sterminata durante l'Olocausto.
Alla fine della guerra si recò a Londra dove, grazie alla perfetta conoscenza del bridge, venne adottato da un gruppo di emigrati e divenne un regolare frequentatore del Crockfords Club.
Ha rappresentato più volte l'Inghilterra nel Camrose ed è stato l'unico giocatore ad aver fatto, per oltre 40 anni, ripetutamente coppia con la legenda Rixi Markus.
Assieme ad altri titoli nazionali, nel 1961 vinse la prestigiosa Gold Cup, nel 1960 il Crockford, nel 1967 lo Spring Foursomes, nel 1959, 1961 e 1964 la Tollemache e nel 1962, 1964 e 1970 l'Hubert Phillips.
Resta famoso il suo tour in Sud Africa dal quale grazie ad un suo rifiuto di misurarsi solo con giocatori non di colore, nacque La Pioneer Cup, che lui vinse e che da allora è stata una competizione aperta a giocatori di ogni sesso, razza e religione.
Scomparve nel 2009.
Michael Wolach
(1914 - 2009) was born and brought up in Warsaw and received an excellent
education in Poland where he leant to speak about nine languages.
He fought against the Germans when they invaded Poland in 1939, but he managed to escape from Warsaw, where his entire family was captured and later killed in the Holocaust.
Meanwhile, Wolach was himself captured by the Russians and sent to a prison camp in Siberia. After six months in the biting cold, he escaped again and, due to his knowledge of dialects and languages, he was able to make his way across Russia, to Armenia, then Israel and eventually to Egypt, where he rejoined the Polish army. With them he fought his way up through Italy. After the war, he settled in London where he was soon adopted by the leading émigré bridge players and he was a regular player at Crockfords, Lederers and the Hamilton.
He represented England in the Camrose matches and won most of the major English competitions.
With others nationals title, he won 1961 the prestigious British Gold Cup, in 1960 il Crockford, in1967 the Spring Foursomes, in 1959, 1961 e 1964 the Tollemache and in 1962, 1964 e 1970 the Hubert Phillips.
Women were very rare winners of the Gold Cup in those days and the prizes selected for 1961 were four elegant pairs of gentleman’s hair brushes, which were not appreciated by the ladies.
Mischa was a fairly regular partner of Rixi Markus for over 40 years – an amazing feat!
In 1962 Wolach was part of the British team which was invited by Rita Jacobson and Jack Harrison to tour South Africa. It was just after the Sharpeville incident so feelings about apartheid were at their highest and the British were told that they could only play matches against white opponents. The British refused and, after a discussion in the South African Parliament, it was agreed that they could play two matches against the coloureds and one against the blacks. The tour was a great success and, after the final Test Match, the British presented a trophy, the Pioneer Cup, a championship for teams with no restrictions to colour, creed or gender.
The competition became, and still is, one of South Africa’s major championships and this might be considered an early strike for the antiapartheid movement.
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