Never Again: German Football remembers on 81st anniversary of Auschwitz-Birkenau liberation
The Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp was liberated on 27 January 1945. Every year around that date, German football - in association with the 'Nie Wieder!' initiative - remembers those deported, persecuted and murdered under the rule of National Socialism.
The Nazi regime exploited sport in various ways. It was used as a tool to boost work ethic and military readiness, as well as to standardise leisure activities. Above all, sport served as as a weapon for propaganda. The 1936 Olympic games in Berlin were used by the Nazis to demonstrate their power and entrench their ideology far beyond Germany's borders.
Even German football, which counted Jewish man Walther Bensemann as one of its pioneers - a founding father of the German FA (DFB) and also created the still-loved football magazine kicker - was not immune to Nazi hatred. On the contrary, many clubs actively participated in the disenfranchisement of Jewish citizens, although the Nazi leadership initially refrained from pushing this in sports with the Berlin Olympics in mind.
In many places, therefore, no top-down conformity was actually necessary. Even for national team players such as Julius Hirsch, who won the German national championship with Karlsruher FV - the club founded by Bensemann - in 1910, were no longer welcome. Hirsch was murdered in Auschwitz in 1945.
Despite everything, many leading sports officials remained in their positions beyond the end of World War II. It would take more than half a century before clubs and associations began to examine their role during the Nazi era.
All of this shows that the political neutrality of sport is fiction. Sports clubs are, by their very nature, political institutions, because they are based on democratic values and thrive on participation and equality. History shows that democracy is not something to be taken for granted, and whenever it is questioned, it is accompanied by antisemitic tendencies.
Watch: Bundesliga clubs mark Remembrance Day in 2025
Football, with its powerful influence, bears a responsibility to defend our democratic values. Active remembrance means solidarity with Jewish people, especially when this requires courage and conviction. In 2026, the message of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp survivors resonates even stronger: 'Nie Wieder' (Never Again) - now and forever.
More about German Football Remembrance Day
On 27 January 2004, attendees of a church service at the Protestant Church of Reconciliation, held on the grounds of the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site, signed a letter to the DFL and the DFB. The letter proposed that the two organisations, together with the originators of the idea, establish a "German Football Remembrance Day", which was ultimately held for the first time on the matchday around 27 January 2005 - the 60th anniversary of Auschwitz-Birkenau's liberation.
Today, the 'Nie Wieder' network includes numerous individuals, fan groups, fan projects, clubs, associations and institutions, primarily from the world of football. This year, the professional game is again participating with a variety of activities around 27 January, the 81st anniversary of Auschwitz-Birkenau's liberation. Clubs will commemorate the anniversary across Matchday 19 and Matchday 20 this year.
Further information about the 'Never Again' initiative can also be found at niewieder.info (in German)
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