04/08/2024 Event
In addition to an exhibition, numerous events on the occasion of the European Men's Football Championship will address aspects of the history of football under National Socialism and remembrance work today.
The European Men's Football Championships will begin in Germany on 14 June 2024. Hamburg will also be the venue - four group matches and one quarter-final will take place in the Volksparkstadion.
The Foundation of Hamburg Memorials and Learning Centres has therefore put together a diverse accompanying programme that focuses on the wide-ranging history of football in Hamburg. The focus is on sport during National Socialism, but Hamburg football before 1933 and developments up to the present day are also examined. How was sport organised before the National Socialist era and how did the clubs and associations adapt after 1933? What was the position of FC St. Pauli and HSV under National Socialism? What happened to Jewish footballers? Who was allowed to play football in concentration camps and why? And: How did football come to terms with the past after 1945 and what does the culture of remembrance still look like today?
Exhibition ‘Hamburg Football under National Socialism - Insights into a history that has been glorified for decades’ to be shown again
The exhibition Hamburger Fußball im Nationalsozialismus - Einblicke in eine jahrzehntelang verklärte Geschichte (Hamburg Football under National Socialism - Insights into a History Glorified for Decades), which was first shown at Hamburg City Hall in 2016, will be shown again from 8 June to 14 July 2024. The exhibition documents Hamburg football in all its facets. How did National Socialism and later the war change sporting and club life? Individual fates of athletes and club officials as well as the presentation of individual clubs show the effects of the NSDAP's sports policy, of bans and persecution, but also of sympathy. The exhibition also takes a look at the - belated - attempts to analyse the history of football clubs and associations under National Socialism. The exhibition will be on display at two locations within walking distance of each other, the Stadthaus Remembrance Site and the St. Nikolai Memorial, and invites visitors to combine a visit to the exhibition with a walk through the city.
Guided city walks and lectures
Various city walks shed light on the history of Hamburg's two major sports clubs during National Socialism. The tour ‘Stories of persecution under National Socialism using the example of HSV’ (in German and English) tells the biographies of persecuted HSV members and uses their fates to address topics such as persecution, resistance, flight, deportation and murder under National Socialism. The tour takes place in the Grindel district. The city tour ‘From Stadthaus to Millerntor’ will focus on places of Nazi terror and resistance between Neustadt and St. Pauli and asks how football clubs - such as FC St. Pauli - and their members acted under National Socialism. In his lecture ‘Journey through the history of Jewish football in Hamburg’, Lorenz Peiffer will search for Jewish traces in Hamburg's football history of the 1920s and 1930s.
Football in the concentration camp
To this day, it is little known that football was also played in many concentration camps. This information often causes irritation at first. The football matches played by prisoners on the former roll-call square at Neuengamme concentration camp provide a starting point for talking about working and living conditions and hierarchies in the camp. The themed tour of the Neuengamme Concentration Camp Memorial (in German and English) also provides an opportunity to learn about the historical site.The Netherlands will play their first Group D match in Hamburg against Poland. The day before, the themed tour ‘Dutch prisoners and football matches in Neuengamme concentration camp’ will take place in Dutch at the Neuengamme concentration camp memorial. In addition to the football matches in the camp, biographies of prisoners - mainly from the Netherlands - who played football themselves or had other connections to the sport will be presented.
Remembrance culture and reconciliation in football
The project presentation ‘From a place of jubilation to a place of injustice’ and the evening event ‘Remembrance work in football - in conversation with Paula Scholz from the Neuengamme Concentration Camp Memorial’ will address questions of coming to terms with the history of football under National Socialism and today's culture of remembrance in clubs, associations and fan scenes.
Further information and registration options can be found in the event calendar.
See also: Football and Remembrance Website