Born Katharina Brumbach in 1884 Vienna, Austria, Katie Sandwina became one of history’s most celebrated strongwomen. Her life was defined by extraordinary physical power, a long career under the big top, and a persona that skillfully blended immense strength with feminine charm.
A Circus Upbringing
Sandwina’s path was set from birth. She was one of 15 children born into a family of Bavarian circus performers. Her parents, Philippe and Johanna Brumbach, were known for their own feats of strength. Her father stood over six feet tall and possessed a 56-inch chest, while her mother showcased 15-inch biceps. Sandwina and several of her siblings inherited their parents’ powerful builds and were integrated into the family’s circus acts from a very young age. Her early training was in gymnastics, but as she entered her teens and her natural strength became more apparent, she began serious weightlifting.
The Challenge and a Husband
As a young performer in Europe, Sandwina’s act included a bold challenge. She would offer 100 marks to any man in the audience who could best her in a wrestling match. For a long time, she remained undefeated. One night in New York City, a young man named Max Heymann accepted the challenge. Sandwina defeated him, but the encounter sparked a romance. They soon married, and Max, who stood just 5-foot-4 and weighed 165 pounds, became her lifelong partner and stage assistant. Adopting the stage name “Sandwina,” a feminine version of the strongman “Sandow,” she embarked on a career that would make her famous.
Read more
Headlining “The Greatest Show on Earth”
Sandwina’s strength was the centerpiece of her act with the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, where she was a star attraction for nearly 40 years. Her feats were legendary and varied. A signature part of her performance was lifting her husband, Max, overhead with just one arm. As reporter Marguerite Martyn noted in 1911, “Carelessly, laughingly, she tosses her husband about as though he were not flesh and bone, but merely an effigy of inflated1 rubber.”
Her power went far beyond lifting her husband. On stage, she would bend solid steel bars into spirals, snap iron chains, and resist the pull of four horses. Another of her famous acts involved a “human bridge,” where she would lie on a bed of nails while assistants placed a wooden plank across her torso. Men, and sometimes even horses, would then walk across this bridge. She also performed a feat where she would support a carousel on her chest, complete with several adults riding on it.
Offstage, Sandwina cultivated an image that was both powerful and domestic. She was often photographed in fashionable dresses, contrasting with the images of her bending steel. The press was fascinated by her, and she engaged with them, once demonstrating her strength to a reporter by lifting him and his chair with one hand. She was also a mother, and her son, Theodore, who would grow up to be a New York City boxing champion, was sometimes mentioned in articles about her. This duality made her a unique figure; she was a strongwoman who could break iron, but also a wife and mother. Her officially recognized strength records stood for decades, with her weightlifting marks remaining unbeaten until 1987.
After a long and physically demanding career, Katie Sandwina retired from the circus in her early 60s. She and Max settled in Ridgewood, Queens, a neighborhood in New York City. There, they opened a neighborhood bar and restaurant. Even in retirement, she would occasionally entertain the patrons by breaking horseshoes or bending steel bars, reminding everyone of the incredible strength she possessed. Katie Sandwina passed away in 1952.
