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EVA PAWLIK UND RUDI SEELIGER
EVA PAWLIK AND RUDI SEELIGER

Though they did not have the opportunity to be internationally successful in the amateur rinks (due to WW II) as pairs skaters, the Olympic runner-up Eva Pawlik and the Austrian pairs Champion Rudi Seeliger went on to start an outstanding career as professional pairs skaters in the Vienna Ice Revue and in the Scala Ice Revue. Olympic Champion Ernst Baier even considered them the best couple in the entire ice show business in the 1950s.

On the one hand their strength lay in the elegant and synchronal Viennese Waltz, on the other hand they thrilled audiences all over Europe including Austria, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Spain, France, Belgium, Sweden, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, the USSR, Italy and also North Africa (Algier and Oran) with lots of acrobatics.

As Susan D. Russell (International Figure Skating Magazine, 2009) took it, Eva Pawlik´s and Rudi Seeliger´s triumphs over adversity made them true champions. In Kelli Lawrence´s opinion ("Skating On Air", 2011) we shall never know what would have happened if Eva Pawlik had accepted Gene Kelly´s offer to work on an MGM film with him. "But by staying in Europe and bringing her skill, artistry and heart to audiences for over a decade, she found her partner (both in skating and for life) in Seeliger, and together they did something arguably just as important."

 "Im weiteren Verlauf des Programms bezaubert Eva Pawlik immer wieder, allein und mit ihrem Partner Rudi Seeliger, dessen reifes Können sich mit dem ihren harmonisch paart. Die schönste Nummer des Programms Der große Walzer von Johann Strauß und die Fantasie Nymphe und Faun zeigen, dass beide sowohl den klassischen Stil als auch den modernen Eiskunsttanz beherrschen." (Göttinger Tageblatt, 16. August 1956)
"During the program Eva Pawlik enchanted the audience again and again, as a single skater and with her partner Rudi Seeliger, whose profound skills go well together with Eva´s abilities. The most beautiful vaudeville number The Great Waltz by Johann Strauß and the fantasy Faun and Nymph demonstrate that the couple is well versed both in the classic style and in modern figure skating." (Göttinger Tageblatt, August 16th, 1956)

Waltz Eva Pawlik/Rudi Seeliger (live movie from a performance)

"Unzweifelhafter Höhepunkt des Programms war der Faun und Nymphe-Tanz Eva Pawliks und Rudi Seeligers. Akrobatischer Tanz auf dem Eis kann wohl kaum spielerischer, eleganter und ästhetischer dargeboten werden." (Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung, 27. Dezember 1956)
"Undoubtedly the program´s culmination was Eva Pawlik´s and Rudi Seeliger´s dance Faun and Nymph. An acrobatic dance can hardly be presented in a more effortless, elegant and esthetic way." (Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung, December 27th, 1956)

Faun und Nymphe - Eva Pawlik/Rudi Seeliger (live movie from a performance)

"Dr. Eva Pawlik und Rudi Seeliger, die Stars der Scala-Eisrevue verabschieden sich am Sonntag in Hannover von deutschen Publikum, um in den USA in einer Fernsehproduktion aufzutreten. Im März werden sich die Eisstars den Berlinern präsentieren." (Norddeutsche Zeitung, 28. Dezember 1956)
"Dr. Eva Pawlik and Rudi Seeliger, the stars of the Scala Ice Revue, are saying good-bye to the German audience in Hannover on Sunday in order to perform in a television production in the United States. In March, the figure skating stars will present themselves to the audience in Berlin."  (Norddeutsche Zeitung, December 28th, 1956)

 


"Pawlik/Seeliger nicht zu schlagen: Star der Scala-Eisrevue, und nicht nur auf dem Papier, war die beifallumrauschte junge Doktorin Eva Pawlik, die Olympiazweite. Was sie allein oder mit Partner Rudi Seeliger bot, war ganz erstklassig. Beispielsweise im Kaiserwalzer oder, als Höhepunkt, in der romantischen Fantasie. Das charmante Paar heimste den weitaus größten Beifall durchaus verdient ein." (Westfälische Rundschau, 4. November 1957)
"Pawlik/Seeliger cannot be beaten. The revue´s star (not only on paper) was the acclaimed young lady doctor Eva Pawlik, the Olympic runner-up. What she offered to the audience, alone or together with her partner Rudi Seeliger, was a number one. In the Emperor´s Waltz or in the program´s culmination, the romantic fantasy Faun and Nymph. The charming couple got by far the greatest applause - and they were deserving it." (Westfälische Rundschau, November 4th, 1957)

Eva Pawlik Rudi Seeliger Scala Eisrevue (live movie from a performance)

"Bei der Wiener Eisrevue hatte es das Paar (Pawlik/Seeliger) geschafft, zu einem der weltbesten Profipaare der 1950er Jahre zu werden und sich als Paarläufer jenen internationalen Namen zu machen, der ihnen als Amateuren durch die widrigen Umstände des Krieges verwehrt geblieben war." (Isabella Lechner, Die Wiener Eisrevue, Diplomarbeit an der Universität Wien, Seite 60. Wien 2008).
"In the Vienna Ice Revue the couple (Pawlik/Seeliger) became one of the world´s best professional couples on the ice in the 1950s. According to the circumstances of World War II they had not had the opportunity to be internationally successful as amateurs in pair skating. However, they made an international name for themselves as professional pairs skaters ." (Isabella Lechner, Die Wiener Eisrevue/The Vienna Ice Revue, Diploma thesis, University of Vienna, page 60, Vienna 2008).

Pair Of Champions - Eva Pawlik/Rudi Seeliger  (live movie from a performance)

Olympic pair skating Champion Ernst Baier about Eva Pawlik and Rudi Seeliger:
Eva Pawlik and Rudi Seeliger are currently the best couple in the entire ice show business.
They don´t pretend anything. They are just able to do it.
(Source: Lübecker Nachrichten/Germany, July 20th, 1956)
 

 

How it all began..... 

Eva Pawlik and Rudi Seeliger met on the skating rink of the Wiener Eislaufverein (Vienna Skating Association) when they were children (before World War II). Originally, they were both single skaters. In 1936, Pawlik and Seeliger imitated the 1936 Olympic Champions, Maxi and Ernst Baier. Pawlik and Seeliger had a great deal of success with this improvised parody and then decided also to become pair skaters. Within only a few months they were already considered the couple that could become the successors of the 1936 Olympic runners-up Ilse and Erik Pausin.

 

Eva Pawlik and Rudi Seeliger shortly before winning gold at the 1942 Ostmark Championships (that were held instead of Austrian Championships)
Eva Pawlik und Rudi Seeliger, kurz bevor sie bei den Ostmarkmeisterschaften Gold gewannen (diese Meisterschaften wurden statt  Österreichischer Meisterschaften ausgetragen)

However, the inhuman Nazi regime and World War II destroyed the lives of generations, also including the careers of many sportsmen and sportswomen. Unfortunately, Austria ceased to exist in 1938 because it was integrated into Germany in the so-called „Anschluss“. There were German championships on the one hand and "Ostmark" championships instead of Austrian championships on the other. („Ostmark“ was the name the area of Austria had after the „Anschluss“). Eva Pawlik and Rudi Seeliger became German youth Champions, both individually and as a couple. In 1942, they became „Ostmark Champions“ as a couple.
 

Eva Pawlik and Rudi Seeliger practising a synchronal Axel Paulsen in the opposite direction on the skating rink of the Vienna Ice Skating Club
Eva Pawlik und Rudi Seeliger, während sie auf dem Platz des Wiener Eislaufvereins einen synchronen gegengleichen Axel Paulsen trainieren
 
 
Rudi Seeliger, however, could not continue his training as a skater, as he had to serve in the German Army. If he had refused, he would have been killed immediately. Eva Pawlik unsuccessfully tried to get an exemption from the compulsary military service for him. Some sportsmen got such an exemption. But the young girl Eva Pawlik did not have connections to the people who had the Nazi regime´s authority to give such an exemption. So Rudi Seeliger had no chance to escape the war.
 
 
 
In 1943, Rudi Seeliger was captured by the Soviets at the Eastern front and had to work as a coal miner in the Donetsk Basin in the Ukraine. He had a terrible time there but did not give up hope. In his dreams, he was thinking about skating with Eva. Finally, the Soviets let him go in December 1949. He belonged to the group of soldiers known as the „late homecomers“. (He was 26 years of age at that time.)
 
Meanwhile Eva Pawlik could only compete as a single skater. She did not give up. Despite the fact that Austria no longer existed and was part of Nazi Germany, she always chose Viennese music (especially Viennese waltzes) for her free programmes. That was a young woman's careful signal of believing in Austria´s resurrection. When Vienna was bombed in 1945, the figure skating training on the ice rink had to be interrupted for some hours to give everyone the chance to run into a bunker. The skaters returned to find bomb shrapnel on the ice, which they cleared away before returning to their compulsory figures training.
 
 
When Rudi Seeliger came back to Vienna in December 1949, he went to the skating rink immediately to find out if he was still able to skate. Some steps on the ice - - and he knew that he could still do it. One of the first things Rudi wanted to tell Eva was that he had not forgotten skating. As Eva unfortunately was already a professional skater, it was too late for her and Rudi to compete together. So Rudi competed at the 1950 Austrian Championships with another partner (Susi Giebisch). After only a fortnight´s training, Seeliger and Giebisch won the gold medal, ranking ahead of Staerk/Gareis and Ratzenhofer/Ratzenhofer. It is worth mentioning that Ratzenhofer/Ratzenhofer had already been internationally successful, having been the 1949 European bronze medalists.
 
After this success, Rudi turned pro and joined the Vienna Ice Revue. First he was skating together with Emmy Puzinger (at that time Eva Pawlik was skating with Hellmut May, who had finished 8th at the 1948 Olympics). Within a year, it was clear also to the management of the ice revue that Eva and Rudi artistically belonged together. Their first vaudeville number was „A little flirt“ (music: „Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps“/“Quizaz, quizaz, quizaz“). That was the beginning of Eva Pawlik´s and Rudi Seeliger´s outstanding international show career as a couple on the ice.
 
 
To learn more about Eva Pawlik´s and Rudi Seeliger´s professional career, please click here: Profikarriere - professional career or read an artricle about them from the International Figure Skating Magazine (issue Jan/Feb 2009): International Figure Skating Magazine about Pawlik and Seeliger (4 pages) 
 

Eva Pawlik and Rudi Seeliger starring in the Vienna Ice Revue
 
 
 
 


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