26.01.2015

Bayern Munich launch commemorative exhibition about Jews in German football

Ahead of the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, Bundesliga club Bayern Munich launched an exhibition celebrating the contributions of Jewish people to the sport in Germany.

The "Footballers, Fighters and Legends; Jews in German football" touring exhibition features a number of Jewish football pioneers, including players, coaches, journalists and match officials, who helped make football popular in Germany and whose fair-play, visions and methods shaped the game. Many of them sharing the fate of thousands of Jews in Europe, who were persecuted and killed by the Nazis.

In the years leading up to and during the Holocaust the lives of Jews in Germany and occupied countries were restricted by numerous laws, including bans on their participation in sport.

The exhibition, now on display, highlights the stories of former Bayern Jew players and coaches, including the Austrian-born Richard Kohn, who managed the Bundesliga club between 1931 and 1933 and was forced to leave Germany after the Nazis rise to power.

Others, whose careers were abruptly interrupted because of the Holocaust, such as the German and former Bayern president Kurt Landauer and the Germany international players Julius Hirsch and Gottfried Fuchs, are also remembered in the exhibition.

"Footballers, Fighters and Legends; Jews in German football" was first presented after the 2006 World Cup in Germany by the New Synagogue Centrum Judaicum Foundation and Dachau's Protestant Church of Reconciliation.

The exhibition will be at the club's Adventure World until 29 March and is part of the German campaign „Nie Wieder!“ (in English, 'Never Again!') in memory of the victims of the Holocaust, which also looks to counter discrimination in German football.

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