Study presented: BVB in the time of National Socialism | OneFootball

On Thursday evening, the BORUSSEUM invited fans to a memorial event for "Lest We Forget Day", which commemorates the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration and death camp on 27 January 1945. Rolf Fischer and Katharina Wojatzek presented their study "Borussia Dortmund in the time of National Socialism, 1933–1945" to some 120 spectators.

In 2020, Borussia Dortmund announced that it would conduct a scientific study of the club's role during the Nazi era. Historians Rolf Fischer and Katharina Wojatzek then examined the behaviour of officials and players on the basis of all the documents provided. They presented the results and most important findings of their study "Borussia Dortmund in the time of National Socialism, 1933–1945" at the BORUSSEUM on Thursday evening.

The National Socialists quickly identified the social significance of sport. As soon as they came to power in January 1933, they set about bringing the football clubs into line with their policies and ideologies: "Vereinsführer" (club leaders) were installed, while "non-Aryans" were excluded. From then on, club football was played under the conditions imposed by the Nazis or it was not played at all.

According to the study, that process of bringing the club into line was "relatively silent" at Borussia Dortmund: it was concluded with the election of August Busse as Vereinsführer in 1934. With the introduction of the principle of having a club leader and the adoption of the uniform statute introduced by the German Reich's sports management authority, BVB also submitted to the new regime. Initially, book printer Wilhelm Röhr was the only self-confessed National Socialist and SA man in the upper echelons of the club. After Röhr's resignation from all Nazi organizations in 1939, Busse joined the NSDAP in 1940. In total, Fischer and Wojatzek looked at 67 BVB players and officials. Seven of them were members of the NSDAP – around 10 percent.

Between 1928 and 1933, BVB had no Jewish members in the first team or on the board. "There might have been Jewish people in the youth department and in the passive membership, but no concrete evidence of that was found," the study states.

The authors conclude that "the decisive reasons for the comparatively low affinity of the leadership and members of the club to National Socialism (…) [were] the socio-political origin and foundations of the club and its members".

Due to the great interest, the event will be held a second time in the coming week. The full summary of the study will be presented to members in the next issue of the BORUSSIA members' magazine. The study "Borussia Dortmund in the time of National Socialism, 1933–1945" has been published by Metropol-Verlag and is available for purchase for €24.

Noch mehr News zum BVB findest Du in der BVB App.