Defending democracy – learning from the history of football
On 27 January 1945, the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp was liberated. Every year on and around this day, German football commemorates, together with the “Nie Wieder!” (“Never again!”) initiative, those persecuted, deported and murdered under National Socialism.
Sport and football – interactions with politics
The Nazi regime utilised sport in various ways. Sport was used, among other things, to boost morale and fitness for war and standardise leisure activities. Above all, sport served as a propaganda tool. The 1936 Olympic Games, held in Berlin 90 years ago was the major sporting event that the Nazis used to demonstrate their power and establish their ideology – far beyond the borders of Germany.
German football, with its English roots and many Jewish pioneers such as Walther Bensemann, who was involved in the founding of the DFB (German Football Association) in 1900 and started the football magazine “kicker” in 1920, was not immune from National Socialist hatred. On the contrary: many clubs actively participated in the disenfranchisement of Jewish citizens – although the Nazi leadership did not at first encourage this in sport, in view of the 1936 Olympic Games. In many places, it was not even necessary to have the top-down imposition of “Gleichschaltung” – the process of Nazification. Even for national players like Julius Hirsch, who was a German champion in 1910 with the Karlsruher FV team, founded by Bensemann, there was no longer any place in their sport. Hirsch was murdered in Auschwitz. Despite all this, many leading sports officials remained in their posts after 1945. It would take more than half a century for clubs and associations to come to terms with their role during the Nazi era.
What does this have to do with us today?
A look at history shows this: democracy cannot be taken for granted. And almost always, when democracy comes under threat, it is accompanied by anti-Semitic tendencies. Football, with its charisma, has a responsibility to live and defend our democratic values. Active remembrance therefore means solidarity with Jews, even and especially when – as is currently the case – this requires courage and attitude. In 2026, the message of the survivors of the Auschwitz concentration camp applies all the more resolutely: “Never again!”
“Never again” is now. And always.
