Football and Remembrance

During the tournament 2024, numerous memorial sites and museums took part in an extensive program with more than 100 events: fans and people interested in sport were able to participate free of charge in guided tours and workshops.

Sport offers many ways to approach the history of National Socialism — including through perspectives that many people today can relate to directly.

For many people today, football and sport are about more than competition and results — whether as fans, club members, or players. Teams and fan groups have for years been visiting memorial sites together or engaging with the history of their own clubs. Such activities show how closely the history of National Socialism is connected to the development of our sports — and why it continues to have an impact today.

Athletes were persecuted for racist or political reasons. Jewish athletes were systematically excluded from clubs. Many people imprisoned in concentration camps had previously played sport or lived and worked in sports clubs. These stories are part of sports history and continue to raise questions of responsibility, remembrance, and participation.

The map on this platform provides an overview of memorial sites and institutions where the history of the places can also be explored in relation to sport. Clubs, sports teams, and fan groups are invited to visit these places and discuss together what persecution by the National Socialists means for us today — and how sport can be a space in which exclusion and discrimination are actively challenged.

If you have any further questions, our project partners from “what matters gGmbH” can be contacted at shargrefndnbw.anudsuie@erslttunetmal.