The Jewish Experience in Football from the Holocaust to the Modern Era

Jewish players, coaches, referees, club officials, and journalists played an important part in European football in the first decades of the twentieth century. After the Nazis came to power, they were excluded from their clubs and from competition, and many were later deported and murdered. Players persecuted as political opponents of the regime shared a similar fate. After the war, clubs and football associations rarely spoke about this period, and most of these people were forgotten.

The connection between football and the Jewish past did not disappear, however. Supporters of clubs such as Tottenham Hotspur and Ajax Amsterdam, most of whom are not Jewish, have long described themselves as "Yids" or "Super Jews," and opposing fans have often responded with antisemitic abuse. In recent years, a number of clubs have also started to research their own history during the Nazi era and to remember the players and members they lost.

This webinar presents two recent books on these topics. The speakers will discuss what their research shows, how it relates to antisemitism in football today, and how this history can be taught to young people and fans.

The books

Football Players in Focus, developed in cooperation with Borussia Dortmund, presented by Dr. Andreas Kahrs.

Twelve short biographies of footballers from across Europe who were persecuted by the Nazis as Jews or political opponents, some well-known, others largely forgotten. Designed as educational material for schools and fan projects, it uses original documents to explore Nazi occupation and the camps and encourages fans to research persecuted athletes from their own city and the role their club played during the Nazi era.

The Making of "Jew Clubs", presented by its author, Dr. Pavel Brunssen.

A study of how Bayern Munich, Austria Vienna, Ajax Amsterdam, and Tottenham Hotspur came to be labelled "Jew Clubs" despite never defining themselves as Jewish, and of how fans and rivals have used Jewishness, antisemitism, and philosemitism in the stands over more than a century.

Objectives

The webinar aims to share this research with a wider audience and to look at football as a place where Holocaust memory, Jewish identity, and antisemitism meet. It will connect the history of persecuted players and clubs with what we see in stadiums today and show how this history can be taught in schools, clubs, and fan communities. It also serves to strengthen the network of historians, clubs, educators, and institutions working on these questions through Together Through Sport.