Eintracht Frankfurt have been intensively examining their own history during the National Socialist era for many years. At the end of November, a study the club commissioned from the renowned Fritz Bauer Institute in 2018 will be presented, and by way of this independent research, Eintracht want to take another step towards reappraising their own past, and examine the work of the club’s management during the Nazi era.
For a number of years, major German sports clubs did not engage with the issue of taking responsibility for their own behaviour during the time of National Socialism. It was not until the end of the 1990s that a process of coming to terms with that period began.
Gerhard Fischer and Ulrich Lindner published the book ‘Stürmer für Hitler. Vom Zusammenspiel zwischen Fußball und Nationalsozialismus’ (Strikers for Hitler: The Interplay between Football and National Socialism"). The first club monographs followed at the beginning of the 2000s, for example with ‘Der BVB in der NS-Zeit’ (BVB in the Nazi era – Borussia Dortmund), ‘Zwischen Blau und Weiß liegt Grau’ (Between Blue and White lies Grey – FC Schalke 04), ‘Der Betze unterm Hakenkreuz’ (The Betze under the Swastika – Kaiserslautern), ‘Hertha unterm Hakenkreuz’ (Hertha under the Swastika – Hertha Berlin) and ‘Der FC Bayern und seine Juden’ (FC Bayern and its Jews – Bayern Munich). The German Football Association also commissioned a historian, Nils Havemann, to explore the federation’s history under National Socialism.
Early involvement
Eintracht are among the clubs that addressed their past under National Socialism at a relatively early stage. In 1998, Ulrich Matheja devoted a large section to the subject in his book ‘Schlappekicker und Himmelstürmer’ (Frankfurt players and high fliers). In 1999, club life between 1933 and 1945 was explored in detail in the exhibition ‘Frankfurt on the Ball - 100 years of Eintracht & FSV’.
In 2007 the book ‘Wir waren die Juddebube - Eintracht Frankfurt in der NS-Zeit’ (We were the Jewish boys - Eintracht Frankfurt during the Nazi era) was published, which was the first detailed account of the club’s development under National Socialist rule. Eintracht acted upon these new findings, and developed a broad-based commitment to commemoration over the subsequent years.
Commemorative plaques
The club laid commemorative plaques for its persecuted and murdered members for the first time in 2008, and have laid such plaques annually ever since. As part of the project ‘50 Eintrachtler’ (50 Eintracht members), the Eintracht Frankfurt Museum documents the lives of Jewish club members, and offers teacher training and workshops for school classes and youth groups. In 2011, fans erected a memorial on the stadium grounds to commemorate those who were persecuted. Since then, the Frankfurt fan project has awarded the ‘Im Gedächtnis bleiben’ (Remembering) prize every year to initiatives that take action against racism.
In 2019, Eintracht’s fan liaison officers, in tandem with the museum, organised a series of events together called ‘Spurensuche’ (Searching for Traces), which was concluded with an educational trip to Theresienstadt. Together with vice president Stefan Minden and club member Helmut "Sonny" Sonneberg, who was deported as a child and survived the Holocaust, 30 supporters travelled to Theresienstadt for four days, where they took part in guided tours and discussions. On the last day they also unveiled a memorial plaque from Eintracht at the columbarium, which once contained more than 20,000 paper ash bags with the names of the victims on them.
Study commissioned
A further necessary step in coming to terms with one's own history was to turn the spotlight on those in the club who were responsible at the time, and contributed to the functioning of the system. For this reason, Eintracht Frankfurt contacted the renowned Fritz Bauer Institute in 2018 to research the history and impact of the Holocaust, and initiated an external and independent investigation into the work of the club’s leadership during the Nazi era. With the help of this independent research, Eintracht would like to take another step in addressing their own history.
Dates in 2021
- 13 January 2021, 19:30 CET: Opening event in the museum
- 26 January 2021, 19:30 CET: The Eintracht leadership during National Socialism. Lecture with Max Aigner, Fritz Bauer Institute
- 27 March 2021: Visit to the Eichberg Memorial. During the day tour we will learn more about Eintracht’s Hans Grebe, who was an assistant at the ‘Frankfurter Institut für Erbbiologie und Rassenhygiene’ (Frankfurt Institute for Hereditary Biology and Race Hygiene) from 1937 onwards.
- 27 April 2021, 19:30 CEST: Film evening at the museum: ‘Labyrinth des Schweigens’ (Labyrinth of Silence), followed by a talk with Werner Renz, Fritz Bauer Institute.
- 5 June 2021: Day trip to Frankenthal with a tour of the town and meeting with representatives of the organisation ‘Juden in Frankenthal‘ (Jews in Frankenthal). In recent years, the organisation has initiated a critical analysis of Dr. Adolf Metzner in the city.
- 13 September 2021: Discussion on the topic of "Dealing with one's own responsibility", with representatives of the town, clubs and associations.
