Jewish footballers persecuted by the Nazis, the encyclopedia online

The initiative is from the German football museum to remember the Jewish players who made the history of this sport in Germany before the advent of the Nazis in 1933. Among them Julius Hirsch, a player of the national team who died in Auschwitz, and 200 other footballers i whose names were erased from sports yearbooks and commemorative plaques. “Never forget”. This is the name of the online encyclopedia that the German Football Museum wanted to dedicate to the Jewish players who made the history of this sport in Germany before the advent of the Nazis in 1933. Among them Julius Hirsch, a player of the national team who died in Auschwitz, and 200 other footballers whose names were deleted from sports yearbooks and commemorative plaques. Created thanks to the cooperation between the archives of 23 football clubs and associations, as well as the network of football museums, the encyclopedia will be put online tomorrow on the occasion of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day. “The Nazis have not only wiped out lives but also memories. Portraits of Jews who had been successful in sports were removed from sports albums, scratched off commemorative plaques. Their faces were covered in club photos and their achievements removed from record yearbooks, “stresses Manuel today. Neukirchner, director of the German Football Museum. “With this online encyclopedia, we draw attention to the fate of ostracized and murdered Jewish sports pioneers who once gave football a major boost in Germany. Our ambition is also to send a strong signal against racist and anti-Semitic tendencies in the football today, “added Neukirchner.