Rixi Markus MBE (June 27, 1910 – April 4, 1992) was a British international bridge player. She won five world titles, and was the first woman to become a World Bridge Federation Grandmaster. She was appointed MBE for contributions to bridge in 1974.
Markus was born as Erika Scharfstein into a prosperous Austrian Jewish family in what is now Gura Humorului (Gura Humora), Romania.
In 1916, her family fled, ahead of the Russian advance, settling in ...
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Rixi Markus MBE (June 27, 1910 – April 4, 1992) was a British international bridge player. She won five world titles, and was the first woman to become a World Bridge Federation Grandmaster. She was appointed MBE for contributions to bridge in 1974.
Markus was born as Erika Scharfstein into a prosperous Austrian Jewish family in what is now Gura Humorului (Gura Humora), Romania.
In 1916, her family fled, ahead of the Russian advance, settling in Vienna. After finishing school in Dresden she returned to Vienna, where she first made her name at the bridge table. Married young, and disastrously, she devoted herself almost entirely to bridge.
In 1938, she fled Austria after German forces entered Vienna (the Anschluss). Rixi then made her home in London, where she remained for the rest of her life. She worked as a translator for the Red Cross during World War II, and became a naturalised British citizen in 1950.
Rixi's husband also came to London. He fought her efforts to gain independence...
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