By Mark Heinrich

VIENNA, March 11 (Reuters) - A Jewish sports club that once produced Olympic champions for Austria reopened its doors on Tuesday, 70 years after being forcibly dissolved in the Nazi takeover of the country.

The festive rebirth of the Hakoah sports centre coincided with a week of otherwise solemn events commemorating the Nazi "Anschluss", or annexation, in March 1938 which many Austrians welcomed at the time to the shame of many today.

"Today, we can see that the Third Reich has turned to dust, Nazi ideology is outlawed and Hakoah lives on," club chief Paul Haber told reporters before a ceremony attended by Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer, Jewish and other civic leaders.

Hakoah, founded in 1909 and meaning "strength" in Hebrew, was an eminent name in pre-World War Two European sport. Some of its athletes won Olympic medals in swimming and wrestling.

But its very creation reflected anti-Semitism -- a refusal of other sport associations in Austria to admit Jews.

After Hitler's columns marched into Austria to widespread jubilation and local Nazis grabbed power, Hakoah's facilities were confiscated and its name expunged from public records.

Before the war, Austria's Jewish community numbered around 200,000 and was among Europe's most vibrant. Most fled abroad after the "Anschluss", while 65,000 were killed in Nazi pogroms or camps. There are around 10,000 Jews in Austria today.

After the war, surviving Jews refounded the club but efforts to reacquire land to rebuild their complex were stymied by decades of official slowness to acknowledge responsibility for Austria's role in Nazi crimes or pay restitution.

Hakoah finally recovered land close to its original site in Vienna's Prater Park in 2002 as part of a reparations settlement worth over $200 million for Jewish victims or their descendants.

"I trained on these premises before the war so it's a remarkable, unique feeling to see Hakoah reborn today," Erich Sinai, 83, a former club athlete, told Reuters.

REPARATIONS FUNDED CLUB RENEWAL

Reparations money paid for leasing the land and building the 7.2-million euro ($11 million) centre, which includes a kosher restaurant and sections for care of children and the elderly.

Club manager Ronald Gelbard said non-Jews were welcome. "We are a Jewish association but anyone can use the facilities regardless of faith," he said.

On Wednesday, "Anschluss" commemorations will climax with a candle-lit vigil in Heldenplatz (Heroes' Square), silence replacing the cheers of hundreds of thousands who welcomed Hitler back to his homeland at a rally there on March 12, 1938.

The anniversary has stimulated renewed political and media discussion about the extent to which Austrians were victims of Nazism or willing accomplices.

A local historian estimated a third of Austrians championed Nazi rule, a third acquiesced in it and the rest opposed it.

Austrians ended up playing a significant role in Nazi Germany's military, occupation and Holocaust machinery.

However, 60 percent of Austrians feel it is now time to end debate about the past, according to a poll released on Tuesday. (Additional reporting by Paul Bolding)

AlertNet news is provided by