Football under the Swastika

Since Uruguay in 1930 and Italy in 1934 had hosted and won the first two World Cups, the International Football Association, FIFA, decided on the occasion of the 1936 Olympic Summer Games in Berlin to award the 1938 World Cup to France and the 1942 finals to Germany.

But the political situation was gloomy. Fascism was already growing. Football was played under the Swastika. The Second World War was looming. Hitler’s Germany had annexed Austria on March 12, 1938, and announced the end of Czechoslovakia by October 1. Italy was governed by “Duce” Mussolini, and civil war was ravaging Spain. Many south and central American countries, including Argentina, disapproved of FIFA’s decision to again award the tournament to Europe. Great Britain still kept away from the World Cup event. Consequently the European countries dominated the World Cup in France. Qualifications were unnecessary as were group matches.

The tournament started with a clearly structured first World Cup round.

In Austria and Germany events moved swiftly

One week before the German invasion on March 12, Sweden was drawn as Austria’s first World Cup opponent, but the annexation rendered this first-round match obsolete. The cancellation was announced on March 28 by Dr. Eberstaller, chairman of the Austrian Football Association, ÖFB: “The Austrian Football Association ceases from being a separate national association from today. Consequently the membership within FIFA no longer exists”. German Reich sports manager Hans von Tschammer und Osten called for a “fraternisation match” at Vienna’s Prater Stadium on April 3. Austria won their last match as a national entity for the time being 2-0, and then German national coaches Sepp Herberger and Otto Nerz were asked to name a joint team. Nerz resigned. Herberger was ordered from Berlin to mix his well-tried German side with Austria’s wonder team a few weeks prior to the start of the World Cup.

The squad was as follows: Buchloch (Berlin), Jakob (Regensburg), Raftl (Vienna), Paul Janes (Duesseldorf), Muenzenberg (Aachen), Schmaus (Vienna), Streitle (Munich), Goldbrunner (Munich), Kitzinger (Schweinfurth), Kupfer (Schweinfurt), Mock (Vienna), Skoumal (Vienna), Wagner (Vienna), Gauchen (Neuendorf), Gellesch (Schalke), Hahnemann (Vienna), Lehner (Augsburg), Neumer (Vienna), Pesser (Vienna), Siffling (Mannheim), Stroh (Vienna) and Szepan (Schalke).

The staunch “German-friendly Viennese” Hans Mock and Fritz Szepan were earmarked as captains. Herberger was told to nominate six players from his Wroclaw team, and five players should be from Vienna. Matthias Sindelar renounced his nomination. The reasons are unclear. Fritz Szepan arrived as the 1934 German captain and bronze medallist in Italy. But Germany was not welcome in France with him.

Assorted missiles rained down on Szepan & Co.

The Pan-German team played Switzerland in the opening match of the third World Cup – facing aggression from more than 40,000 spectators at the Paris Parc des Princes. The Herberger team was met by a wave of hate towards Nazi Germany. When Viennese Pesser was sent off after a retaliatory foul tackle, rotten eggs, tomatoes and bottles were hurled at them. The 1-1 draw, after extra time, forced Szepan’s team to a repeat match. Five days later it was the same story. After a 2-0 lead the ill-assorted team of elite players around Szepan lost 4-2 and was eliminated. A German team has never been worse-placed at a World Cup tournament since.

Szepan’s team-mate, Rudolf Gellesch of Schalke, later dictated to a “kicker” reporter: “There was nothing pleasant to be remembered. Travelled there, played badly, immediately eliminated, and all that under strange circumstances. There were no problems with inter-personal relations. But we faced great problems on the pitch, because both countries played differently”. The Wroclaw squad and the wonder team did not fit. Since May 1937, the German team had been called the “Wroclaw team” because they had performed excellently and defeated Denmark 8-0 in Wroclaw. The year before the World Cup they remained undefeated in 10 of their 11 matches. But it became even more bitter for Szepan & Co. The World War II put an end to a 1942 World Cup, and Szepan’s last hope for the title.

The national team did not bring much joy for Szepan. A quarrel with Richard Hofmann had almost ended his international career in 1931. Only when “King Richard” retired, national coach Nerz could again rely on Szepan, who was born in Gelsenkirchen on September 2, 1907, as Friedrich Hermann Sczepan, son of an East Prussian immigrant to the Ruhr Region. He made his debut in the shirt of FC Schalke 04 as a 14-year-old in a youth match, scoring two goals. On August 9, 1925, he played for the A team for the first time – replacing Ernst Kuzorra, the legendary Schalke hero.

The “blond Fritz” played only with Schalke between 1916 and 1950, won six national titles (1934, 1935, 1937, 1939, 1940 and 1942) and the DFB Cup in 1937. Szepan was the Beckenbauer of the 1930s. Together with his brother-in-law Kuzorra, the winger and midfielder Szepan was the heart of “04”. Szepan, Kuzorra and their team-mates confused their opponents by their “Schalke Spin” with many quick, short passes producing a combination similar to a spin.

For its 100th anniversary his club wrote: “Fritz Szepan set the rhythm which ultimately brought victory with his elegant, technically excellent play in all finals. Some critics maintained he was too slow for football on the highest level. But Szepan compensated his lack of quickness by intelligence, good reading of the game, technique and outstanding positional play”.

“Fritz, you were one of the greatest!”

Szepan earned 34 caps (eight goals) between 1929 and 1939, thirty of them as captain. After the Second World War Szepan retired from his career due to knee problems and back pains. He started a coaching career in 1950. He coached the teams of Wuppertaler SV, FC Schalke 04, Rot-Weiss Essen and TSV Marl-Huels, and even won the German title with Essen in 1955. He was President of FC Schalke 04 from 1964 until 1967. When Szepan died as a result of a kidney operation at the age of 67 in Gelsenkirchen on December 14, 1974, Sepp Herberger wept at the grave and is said to have murmured: “Fritz, you were one of the greatest!”

But in the course of historical chronicling of football under National Socialism, Schalke archivists also researched what can be read about Fritz Szepan on the club’s Internet Site: “Off the pitch he once benefited from a great injustice: When the Nazis forcibly removed the textile business from the Jewish business couple Sally Meyer and Julie Lichtmann at the Schalke Market Square in 1938, Szepan took it over. He paid 7,000 marks. This corresponded only to the fixtures and fittings, but not with the entire business which was much higher as proven by Szepan’s annual income of 27,000 marks in 1939. Consequently Szepan must be considered a beneficiary of ‘Aryanisation’. That’s the reason why the club refrained from naming a street around the VELTINS Arena after him”. However, in the memory of many Schalke fans Szepan has remained one of the club’s greatest players. After all, he was elected to Schalke’s “Team of the Century” in 1999.