Not all forced laborers were allowed to play football during the Nazi era. An exhibition shows that there were even international battles between them.
BERLIN taz | The international match between the Netherlands and Italy must have been hard-fought. In the end, the Dutch footballers won narrowly, 4-3. Neither side had home advantage in the encounter. It took place in Berlin on 20 August 1944, in the middle of World War II. The players were not professionals either. They were forced labourers. They were allowed to play football in their meagre free time – half a day a week was usual – with the blessing of the German Labour Front. The Nazis hoped that this would result in better work performance.
In Berlin, an exhibition celebrating the European Football Championship in Germany commemorates events like this match. “All of Europe Began in Berlin” is the name of the show, and it is no coincidence that it takes place in a rather cramped barracks.
The Nazi Forced Labor Documentation Center is housed in a former shelter for people who had to toil in the imperial capital. More than 8 million people were forced to Germany by the Nazis to replace the German men at the front.
Not all of them were allowed to climb stairs. Women not at all. But it was also forbidden to most men from Eastern Europe. The Nazis considered them inferior “subhumans” who had no right to such privileges in leisure activities, nor to an exit from their camps, nor to a meal that satisfied them.
The show’s creators report that they have not found any evidence of Soviet players. But there is a photo of a sign with the inscription: “Poles are prohibited from entering the sports field under penalty of perjury.”
But some played anyway. They did not obey the bans, despite severe punishments. Like the Pole Tadeusz Brzeski, who was deported to Hamburg in 1940 and spoke good German. “I found people who were interested and founded a football team,” Brzeski says in the exhibition. They played against the Dutch. There was “a lot of joy and excitement there.”
Country competitions among forced laborers
Forced laborers and prisoners of war from Western countries were allowed to play football. Companies even had sports fields available for them, where the men were allowed to perform on “sports days”. Jerseys and balls were provided by the camp management or companies. This led to tournaments between companies that played in a Berlin ‘camp competition’ from 1942 onwards. Shortly thereafter, forced laborers from different countries played against each other.
There were reportedly 15,000 spectators at the Dutch match against Flanders in June 1943, and when the Netherlands met Serbia there were wild brawls on the sidelines. At least women were allowed in the stands, as was the case for Czech Vaclava Svobodová, who was proud of her ‘Argus Foxes’ when they won a trophy.
Players who were particularly good at football were finally able to play for German clubs. Like Bram AppelThe Dutchman, who was kidnapped to Berlin in 1942, was considered a real goalgetter and was allowed to play for Hertha BSC. Even that National observers reported on his objectives, but without mentioning that he was a forced laborer.
“Because I was an important player for Hertha, I always had enough to eat,” said Appel after the war, who had managed to get through the rut somewhat, but was regarded as a collaborator by his compatriots after 1945. It was not until 1955 that Appel was allowed to play for the Dutch national team again.
For most of the forced laborers and the spectators, the football match was a welcome change from the enormous workload, the intimidation of the guards and the lack of privacy in the sleeping barracks. The game could maintain the will to live.
For some, however, the Nazi terror ended fatally. Julius Hirsch was one of two Jewish players on the German national team before the Nazis came to power. In 1933, he avoided expulsion from his hometown club in Karlsruhe by leaving.
From that moment on, Jews were no longer allowed to play sports in German clubs. Hirsch played for Jewish clubs. From 1939 onwards, he had to do forced labor. In the spring of 1943, Hirsch was deported to Auschwitz and murdered. His fate is commemorated in this small exhibition.
All of Europe kicked off in Berlin. Football and forced labor under National Socialism – Documentation Center for Nazi Forced Labor, Britzer Straße 5, Berlin-Schöneweide.