German Football in the time of Hitler and the Nazis (Article for Sporting Blog)

A History of Football in Nazi Germany

Adolf Hitler and football are perhaps not the most well-known partnership, nevertheless, there is an overlap between the two.

Hitler’s Nazi regime is possibly the most well researched and documented period of world history, yet not as much is known about their influence overlapping into football.

Hitler was in power from 1933 to 1945 and, during this period, the German national side played over 100 games. It is certainly an unexplored period of football and the influence that a country’s political leaders have on the nations’ football side.

Resident Sporting Blog football historian Peter Kenny Jones looks into a dark period in German football’s history.

German League Reformation

Following the assumption of power by the Nazi party, they created a new league system. This was a way of unifying all the new German territories through one football league. They set up the Gauliga, this was the new name for the league. There were several Gauligas across the German territories and this was a strategy to unify all the German land.

The policy of Nazi oppression was also evident as the league organisers were keen to keep football as an amateur sport and money could only be made through ticket sales. This ensured that football could not grow too economically powerful, despite the efforts to encourage participation and common support for football.

Hitler’s control over Germany meant that he had to display his control over all aspects of life, including sport and football. He realised how important it was to the people, the huge attendances at the time helped display this. For the Tschammer-Pokal (German Cup) Final in 1942, there were 80,000 supporters to watch 1860 Munich defeat Schalke, so Hitler knew that football was an important way for him to reach his people.

Schalke, Jewish Denial and Shaming

The team of the Nazi German era was Schalke. They won six league titles in this period with their team of amateur players. Within the squad, they had a lot of coal miners who made a name for themselves with their passing prowess on the pitch.

Despite their successes, they fell foul of the tough punishments put in place that ensured football remained an amateur sport.

In 1930, as a reward to the players from the Schalke board and 150,000 members, 14 players were financially compensated for their successes. However, the league organisers quickly swooped to ban all 14 players for a full year to ensure no such act would be repeated.

Despite these stark penances, the superb Schalke side continued to dominate in the league. This was in part thanks to their ties to Nazi Germany. Star player and captain of Germany, Fritz Szepan, was also part of Hitler’s National Socialist German Workers’ Party. Szepan was also part of the Nazi strategy of purchasing Jewish businesses for a pittance. Szepan was public in his support for Hitler during his role as German captain.

Following Schalke’s title win in 1934, the club also had several players publicly announce that, despite claims that they were Jewish Polish immigrants, their parents were born in Germany and they had lived there all their lives.

Schalke were a product of their time. There were a lot of Nazis in Germany and there were bound to be some that supported or played for a big German side at the time. Schalke were one of these teams and they have not shied away from their role in Nazi German football, even paying for studies into their historic relationship and refusing to honour Szepan with a street renaming in Schalke.

1936 Olympic Games

In truth, Hitler didn’t like football. It wasn’t part of his grand plan to create an Aryan race and dominate Europe and he had little time for it. However, there was one match that he did watch, which was during the 1936 Olympic games.

The 1936 Berlin Olympics have been coined the ‘Hitler Olympics’ or the ‘Nazi Olympics’. The 1936 games were used as propaganda for the Aryan race and a strong united Germany. The awarding of the summer games reinstated Germany’s role on the world stage after the fallout from WW1. For the first time in Olympic history, the games were surrounded by opposition and talks of a boycott for Germany’s human rights offences.

These worries were correctly placed as Hitler and the Nazi party were using the games to cover up their anti-Semitic agenda and plans to conquer Europe, whilst appearing peaceful and friendly on the world stage.

This is exemplified by the huge sculptures of the perfect Aryan athlete that were placed outside the stadium in Berlin. During the games, Hitler declared Aryan supremacy yet he was embarrassed by the role of Jesse Owens. The black American athlete won four gold medals, destroying the myth of Aryan ability during the Olympics.

Things were not too dissimilar in the football, despite Germany cruising to a 9-0 victory over Luxembourg in the first round, it was the quarterfinals where they came unstuck. Hitler arrived to watch the game alongside Joseph Göbbels, Hermann Göring, Rudolf Hess and 55,000 others in attendance, expecting another demolition job from the Germans.

Hitler was to leave before the end of the game as his side let him down on the big stage, a 2-0 defeat to Norway was enough to further embarrass him at his own Olympics and put him off from ever attending a football game again. The Norwegian side were strong, and this remains a famous victory over Nazi oppression at the time.

English teams in Nazi Germany

Several English teams, including the national side, visited Germany during Nazi rule and all had differing reactions when asked to perform the infamous Nazi salute.

Preceding British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s proclamation of “Peace in our Time”, the English national team were asked to take part in a friendly game to demonstrate the peaceful feeling between nations that would soon be going to war with each other.

The England side played in front of 115,000 in Germany and were asked to perform the salute during the national anthem.

This provides us with one of the most shocking images of English football history as all eleven men partake in this show of solidarity with Hitler’s Germany. This was to be a poignant moment in a memorable game that finished 6-3.

Despite the big victory for England, they were politically defeated as they displayed their bond with the tyrannical leader.

One man who didn’t partake in the game was Stan Cullis, the Wirral born Wolves player was so appalled with his country’s decision to partake in the salute that he refused to play.

Being of such a strong moral compass, the FA had to pull him out of the starting eleven to ensure the correct message of peace was portrayed. Cullis was snubbed and he is rewarded for this by not being part of that shameful image and being portrayed as a shining light of that side.

Aston Villa were also on a tour of Germany in the same summer and they followed Cullis’ lead. Villa faced a German XI (ten of which were former Austrian internationals) and defeated them 3-2 in front of over 100,000 supporters. Again, under the instructions of the British government, Villa were asked to perform the salute at the end of the game. The whole squad refused and walked off to a chorus of German booing and jeering.

Derby County were also in Germany in 1934 and they had the opportunity to face a German XI and perform the salute in a show of solidarity. The tensions were not as high 1934 as they were during the exploits of Cullis and Villa, nevertheless, Derby too had a morally strong individual who was happy to take a stand, as he refused to partake in the salute with the rest of the team.

Goalkeeper Jack Kirby stood alongside his Derby teammates but his hands were by his side as the rest saluted the Nazi regime.

These are just a few examples of English sides at the time, there were many nations and clubs who visited Germany and they were all asked to partake in an example of Nazi propaganda to illustrate the dominance of Hitler’s nation. There were only a few though who were bold enough to defy orders and publicly stand up for what they thought was right.

1938 World Cup

Following on from these disruptive day-trippers, German attention turned to the World Cup in France. The Austrian players that had been drafted into the German side were set to represent Germany on the footballing world stage.

Germany joined fourteen other nations in the third World Cup, in 1938. The competition was hosted by France and began at a Round of sixteen which saw some key absentees. As this was the final tournament to be held before the outbreak of WW2, there were some understandable international conflicts that caused some teams to withdraw or not be present.

Argentina and Uruguay refused to participate as the tournament was held in Europe for the second consecutive occasion.

They believed it should alternate between Europe and South America and so withdrew in protest. Spain was also unable to participate because of the ongoing Spanish Civil War. Due to the large distance to travel, lack of technology and protests, of the fifteen sides to participate, only three were based outside of Europe. All this taking place in the same tournament that saw a Nazi regime led German side featuring Austrian players who were forced to play for Germany.

Following the disappointment of the 1936 Olympics and the growth of Nazi territory, the German National Team sought to poach some of the better players from Austria into the German side. The Austrian National Team were known as the Wunderteam from the early 1930s and the German selectors were keen to have some of this talent in their squad.

Austria had reached the semi-final in the previous World Cup tournament and the Germans believed they would be able to improve the side that they had on offer. Because of this, several players were called up to the squad at short notice, following the acquisition of Austria to the Nazi regime in 1938. Austria was removed from the line up for the 1938 World Cup with the German team remaining in place, bolstered by their larger, and much more Austrian, squad.

However, this lack of preparation, an ageing Austrian side and a disgruntled German team produced another disappointing display on the big stage. The united team was disjointed on the pitch in their first game against Switzerland in Paris.

Public opinion was clear as the Germans were jeered by the French and following the 1-1 draw, the game went to a replay, as per the tournament rules. Germany had claimed an early two-goal lead, but the Swiss turned them over and the game finished 4-2, Germany had fallen at the earliest hurdle and were out of the tournament in the first round.

Of course, the defeat was blamed on the poor attitude of the inherited Austrian players and this remains the earliest occurrence of Germany being knocked out of the World Cup. Special mention should be given to Austrian Matthias Sindelar who was reportedly deemed too old for selection, but many believe that he refused to play for this new German side. He was found dead in his home under suspicious circumstances a year after the tournament.

Summing up Nazi German Football

The truth is Nazi German football was a bit of an embarrassment for Hitler during his reign. They repeatedly let him down on home soil and on the big stage. Whether this was in front of their leader or with a team of Austrians, they could not (or possibly did not want to) display the prominence and power of the Nazi state.

They tried to use their football as propaganda opportunities to demonstrate the status of Hitler’s Germany, but they were simply not good enough to do so. A large part of this would be down to the amateur sides that were on show in the German leagues. Had they been given the opportunity to be professional footballers, the resources available to them would have been better and they could have improved the national side through this. However, the Nazi oppression reduced the capability of national success through football.

Huge respect should go to the likes of Stan Cullis, Jack Kirby, the Aston Villa side, and Matthias Sindelar who understood that they could use their opportunities given to them to highlight the atrocity of Nazi Germany. Football is not the most important thing in life, but it provided these men the chance to stand up for what they believed in, all aware of the risks they were taking, Sindelar paying the ultimate penalty.

Thankfully, Nazi German football is not a story of success and silverware, instead missed opportunities, embarrassment and righteous rebels are what it is best known for today.

PETER KENNY JONES

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Peter Kenny Jones

@PeterKennyJones

https://peterkj.wixsite.com/football-historian