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Shaul Ladany

Shaul Ladany is an Israeli Holocaust survivor, racewalker and professor of industrial engineering who competed at two Olympics and survived the 1972 Munich massacre.

born 193650-mile racewalk world recordSurviving the Munich massacreHolocaust survivalIndustrial engineering professorship

Born: 2 April 1936, Belgrade
Occupation: engineer, athletics competitor, university teacher, athlete
Education: Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Columbia University, Columbia Business School

Shaul Ladany was born in 1936 in Belgrade

Ladany was born in 1936 to a Jewish family in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. In 1941 his family fled to Hungary after Germany attacked. In 1944 they were sent to Bergen-Belsen, and in December 1944 they reached Switzerland on the Kastner train.

In December 1948 the family moved to Israel and settled in Lod. He served in the IDF as an officer in the Artillery Corps. He studied mechanical engineering at the Technion and earned a PhD in business administration from Columbia University in 1968.

He began racewalking in 1962 and won 28 Israeli national titles. He competed in the 50 km walk at the 1968 and 1972 Olympics. In 1972 he set a 50-mile world record of 7:23:50 and won the 100 km world title in Lugano.

During the Munich massacre in September 1972 he escaped from the Israeli quarters through the back lawn. He taught at Tel Aviv University from 1969 and at Ben-Gurion University from 1975. He lives in Omer.