1. FC Kaiserslautern under National Socialism

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1. FCK - old logo (1931–1950)

The 1. FC Kaiserslautern was in Nazism as other organizations into line . Its young male members were forced to join the Hitler Youth (HJ), the girls were obliged to become members of the Bund Deutscher Mädel (BDM). Jewish members were forced out of the association. The stadium was also used by organizations of the Nazi state such as the SA , and the unemployed were obliged to carry out construction work there. The FCK games were played as part of the newly created Gauliga .

Aryanization 1933

At 1. FC Kaiserslautern , Jewish citizens can be proven at various levels , such as football players , track and field athletes and influential personalities, some of whom held offices on the club board. They were largely assimilated. However, the Aryanization began in 1933 to exclude Jewish athletes from gymnastics and sports clubs and to forbid them from any further sporting activity. At 1. FCK, Aryanization was comparatively late, as there were still Jewish members in the club in 1936. However, this changed after the Olympic Games in 1936 , because the foreign policy bill no longer had to be respected and one no longer had to worry about a boycott of the Games.

By signing the “ Stuttgart Declaration ” on April 9, 1933, the club confirmed its consent to the removal of Jews from sports clubs and at the end of 1936 was also free of Jews .

With the beginning of Aryanization, the NSDAP also introduced various alternative sports and leisure facilities, such as " KdF offers", events of the Hitler Youth (HJ) and "SA sport". The political submission of the youth's leisure culture was regulated on July 25, 1934 by a contract between the Reich Sports Leader and the Reich Youth Leader , which incorporated the gymnastics and sports youth into the HJ. In addition, the boys and girls received compulsory membership when, in 1936, extracurricular physical education was made subject to the Reich Youth Leadership . From now on, the 14 to 18-year-old boys belonged to the Hitler Youth, while the girls became members of the Bund Deutscher Mädel (BDM). Since the party youth was brought into line with the sports youth, it was denied to the youth to do sports in civil associations if they did not belong to the Hitler Youth. This membership was only allowed for the “Aryan” youth and thus Jewish youth footballers could no longer play their sport at 1. FC Kaiserslautern. Now the activity in the club became a "voluntary HJ sports service". From mid-1937 there were only two weekends a month that were available for the sports activities of the youth in the clubs. On the remaining Sundays, the "Hitler Youth Service" and the political education of the youth were on the agenda. It was also decided that they could not be set up with the active football teams in order not to evade the Hitler Youth. This fact caused problems for the FCK, as players were often absent from away games.

"Betzenberg Stadium"

The Betzenberg stadium was built in 1920 as a sports facility made of red sandstone on an elevation. And although the club had existed since 1900, linguistic identification with the Betzenberg did not establish itself until the mid-1930s. From then on, 1. FCK were "the Betze", the players were "the Betzenbergers" and the entire team were "the Betzenberg".

From 1933 the stadium was no longer just a venue for 1. FCK; it was also used by the NSDAP for sporting and political events.

Synchronization

When the NSDAP came to power, all cultural individualism and all social and religious differentiations were abolished at the same time . From 1933 onwards, the national sports leadership reorganized club sports. Therefore, company, works sports and government sports clubs were also dissolved during the synchronization . After the seven regional associations of the DFB had dissolved themselves, a regional division into 16 districts was created in mid-1933 . In these, the clubs could largely continue to exist if they could be aligned. Under the great motto of conformity for the "adaptation to the national revolution ", the associations in Kaiserslautern also had to submit to the Nazi state and adopt the " Führer principle ". Now, when electing the association's board of directors, the Gau leaders of the DRL and the responsible district leaders of the NSDAP first had to authorize the elected person with their consent. The rights of the annual general meeting were also restricted more and more, but this could not be completely abolished because it formed the foundation of the association on which it was built and developed.

Sports club policy

Until 1938 the soccer clubs in Kaiserslautern showed no willingness to break up in order to merge with other clubs. So some politicians tried to tackle this venture. Since these attempts seemed too undiplomatic to the association, various functionaries failed. Mayor Richard Imbt chose a more humane way , who held tactical preliminary agreements with the clubs. However, these remained fruitless.

The economist Ludwig Müller , who was elected chairman of the board in 1931 , achieved his first success in sports club politics . Under his leadership, the “leader principle” was included in the statutes of 1. FC Kaiserslautern in 1933 . But before the end of the 1935/36 term of office, Müller had to resign due to a number of conflicts of interest with the NSDAP. He wanted to protect the association from the National Socialist regime and also maintained contacts with former Jewish members. However, there were other aspects that justified a resignation: Müller had hidden income to pay some players. This violated the amateur regulations of the DFB; In addition, he showed no political readiness to adapt, was responsible for various spectator riots and repeatedly embezzled funds from the club. Therefore August Nebling took over the management of the club in 1936, which he handed over to Mayor Allbrecht in 1938.

A few more assumptions of office and merger attempts followed , for example by Jakob Knissel and Peter Meyer. Although the NSDAP acted not only for ideological reasons, but also wanted to overcome logistical challenges by merging the clubs, in the end all attempts failed due to a variety of circumstances and problems. Among other things, the beginning world war forced the merger policy to a standstill, but the beginning success of the "Walter-Elf" also provided reasons for the failure. The FCK remained an independent club.

Gau politics

The successful era of the "Walter-Elf" began in the war time of National Socialism . The club won a championship and was integrated into the activities of the Gauleiter Josef Bürckel to advertise the occupation policy in Lorraine .

Bürckel was a supporter of the NSDAP who ran settlement, construction and job creation programs. He wanted to detach the Palatinate from Bavaria and establish a southwestern territory that would form an administrative unit. The Saarland should be reclassified, with which all Saar clubs were incorporated into the Gauliga Südwest. After the French campaign, the territory of Bürckel was renamed the Gau Westmark. In Bürckel's Gau as well as in the rest of the areas incorporated by Hitler , the existing sports structures were smashed and gaulish formed through the conquest and annexation. From 1941 onwards, both Lorraine clubs and clubs from the Saar and Palatinate regions played in the Gauliga Westmark. As the National Socialist Reich Association for Physical Exercise (NRSL) , which arose from the DRL, became increasingly established, sport was consolidated as a political instrument of the NSDAP and the Westmark strengthened as a cultural unit.

Another aspect of the Gau politics was the “Entwelschelung” or “Germanization” of occupied Lorraine. In the course of these measures, local politics was reorganized by the National Socialists, all French lettering was removed from public spaces, the street names were given German names and all monuments in Lorraine were destroyed. In addition, the Lord Mayor had all sports clubs in Metz dissolved; he made the entire club FV Metz out of FC Metz . On August 5, 1940, there was a propaganda game between FV Metz and 1. FC Kaiserslautern, which ended 1: 9 and in which Fritz Walter scored six of the nine goals. The game was seen as another triumph of the French campaign, ignoring the fact that the FV Metz consisted of a not well-rehearsed team of soldiers who had just returned home.

In the further course there were many propaganda games of the Lorraine football clubs, which competed against the clubs from Saarland and the Palatinate. 1. FCK also played other games against FV Metz. Such games should serve the NSDAP to advance their national politics. Since the FCK also tried to play propaganda games, it also contributed to the Nazi policy of conquest. Because Bürckel managed to eliminate the differences between the Palatinate, Saarland and Lorraine clubs and established the Gau Westmark as a unit, the name for 1. FC Kaiserslautern also changed. Thus, the football players became the Westmärker .

Loss of many top performers through military service

The team's successes came after 1945. For ten years, the club provided the team that dominated German football. From 1940 to 1950 Fritz Walter was the only national player in the ranks of the FCK. Its importance can be seen in the championship rounds of the Westmarkgau, which can be divided into three phases: the phase before Fritz Walter (1932 / 33–1937 / 38), the time with him as a player (1938 / 39–1942 / 43) and the time after him (1943–1945). In the 1932/33 season, the team finished second in the Rhein-Saar regional league and qualified for the finals of the southern German championship. A year later she had to relegate as penultimate in the district class, in which the team was champions in 1936 and rose to the Gauliga Südwest. As early as 1937/38 the team was relegated, but was able to rise again immediately in Walter's first season in 1938/39. As the war broke out after this season, the championship games were canceled for the time being. The association games were replaced by local playgroups and the clubs that belonged to the Gau and district classes were assigned to them. At the end of November the championship began, which was divided into the groups Mainhessen and Saarpfalz with seven teams each. From now on the competition was called "War Championship" and ended with a playoff between 1. FCK and Borussia Neunkirchen , which the Lauterer won 4-1. Thus they succeeded in winning the championship title as a climber.

In the following season the club was only second behind the FV 03 Saarbrücken and also the "Tschammer-Pokal" could not be won. At the beginning of the season there was another change in sports policy. The Saarpfalz group became the Sportgau Westmark and the Mainhessen group became the Gauliga Hessen-Nassau . In 1941/42 the reorganization was completed with the inclusion of the Lorraine clubs in the Sportgau Westmark. The success of the "Betzenberger" in the new season seemed unlikely, as many players had been drafted for military service. Therefore, from 1942, the active teams were allowed to include up to six youth players in their squad. In 1942/43 the gaps in the team opened up: Ottmar Walter had joined the Navy, the goalkeeper was no longer available to the team and Fritz Walter was drafted. Therefore, the team now consisted of a mixture of regular players and inexperienced young players. At times, the footballers returned to the team as "vacationers" for a few games, but they couldn't prevent the club from slipping to the bottom of the table in November 1942. While they were able to fight their way up to fifth place this season, the "Betzenberger" landed in last place in the following season with only three games won. The fact that the team was finally missing 14 players gives an idea of ​​their situation. But the results of the games in which Fritz Walter was involved also made it clear that he had an influence on the team, led them and rightly gave the team his name. While it was initially very unusual for guest players to fill the team, the club benefited from them in the first three “war championships”. The reason for this was the "23er barracks" in Kaiserslautern, which made their soldiers available to the association. However, the FCK also gave players to other clubs as "guests". For example, Fritz Walter played for TSG Diedenhofen from April to June 1943 , and later with the soldiers' team "Rote Jäger" until the end of the war; During this time he could no longer take part in Gauliga games.

literature

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Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Markwart Herzog: The "Betze" under the swastika - 1. FC Kaiserslautern in the time of National Socialism. Verlag Die Werkstatt, Göttingen 2006, pp. 50–52.
  2. ↑ Markwart Herzog: The "Betze" under the swastika - 1. FC Kaiserslautern in the time of National Socialism. Verlag Die Werkstatt, Göttingen 2006, pp. 209–217.
  3. ↑ Markwart Herzog: The "Betze" under the swastika - 1. FC Kaiserslautern in the time of National Socialism. Verlag Die Werkstatt, Göttingen 2006, pp. 53–54.
  4. ↑ Markwart Herzog: The "Betze" under the swastika - 1. FC Kaiserslautern in the time of National Socialism. Verlag Die Werkstatt, Göttingen 2006, pp. 67–68.
  5. ↑ Markwart Herzog: The "Betze" under the swastika - 1. FC Kaiserslautern in the time of National Socialism. Verlag Die Werkstatt, Göttingen 2006, pp. 71–78.
  6. ↑ Markwart Herzog: The "Betze" under the swastika - 1. FC Kaiserslautern in the time of National Socialism. Verlag Die Werkstatt, Göttingen 2006, pp. 76–78.
  7. ↑ Markwart Herzog: The "Betze" under the swastika - 1. FC Kaiserslautern in the time of National Socialism. Verlag Die Werkstatt, Göttingen 2006, pp. 78–91.
  8. ↑ Markwart Herzog: The "Betze" under the swastika - 1. FC Kaiserslautern in the time of National Socialism. Verlag Die Werkstatt, Göttingen 2006, pp. 129–131.
  9. ↑ Markwart Herzog: The "Betze" under the swastika - 1. FC Kaiserslautern in the time of National Socialism. Verlag Die Werkstatt, Göttingen 2006, pp. 131–145.
  10. ↑ Markwart Herzog: The "Betze" under the swastika - 1. FC Kaiserslautern in the time of National Socialism. Verlag Die Werkstatt, Göttingen 2006, pp. 155–158.
  11. ↑ Markwart Herzog: The "Betze" under the swastika - 1. FC Kaiserslautern in the time of National Socialism. Verlag Die Werkstatt, Göttingen 2006, pp. 158–162.