The socio-political significance of football

Great moments in football bring to mind unforgettable stories and the people at the heart of them. Some visitors may have been there live at the stadium, others may have celebrated at a public viewing event, or simply listened to their grandparents’ accounts of how it all unfolded. In this way, everyone encounters their own personal history in a fascinating way at the German Football Museum. The history of the national team, in particular, plays a key role in this. It forms a central theme on the first exhibition level. However, this is not merely about the emotional impact of major successes, titles and triumphs, but also about the events and historical circumstances in which they took place.

‘Rahn has to shoot from the back, Rahn shoots. Goal, goal, goal…!’ Of course, the ‘Miracle of Bern’, Germany’s first World Cup victory in 1954, is inextricably linked to Helmut Rahn’s famous goal in the 3–2 victory over Hungary – a team considered unbeatable – a moment that still resonates today thanks to Herbert Zimmermann’s no less famous radio commentary. A spine-tingling moment, behind which lie many stories.

Young visitors to the exhibition, who have never known anything other than receiving images and news from all over the world instantly, learn that in 1954 there were just 40,000 television sets in Germany. Or who is really aware that the national team, with the German-Romanian Jupp Posipal in its ranks, was already a driving force for integration back then? Or that the players who achieved such a sensational victory, whilst attaining – and still enjoying to this day – hero status, sometimes struggled to cope with life off the pitch? At the time, football – and despite a World Cup title – did not bring great wealth. And anyway: the ‘Miracle of Bern’ would never have been possible in the first place if the German national team hadn’t beaten the Saarland in the qualifiers for the tournament in Switzerland. International matches against the Saarland? A ‘us against us’ clash, as was also the case 20 years later at the 1974 World Cup in Germany during the match between West Germany and East Germany? The German Football Museum presents a comprehensive programme that highlights the broader context of football.

The exhibition explores football from sporting, cultural, social and historical perspectives, linking the present-day experiences of young visitors with the perspectives of earlier generations. For many in a divided post-war Germany, winning the World Cup in 1954 was a marvellous feeling. Federal President Joachim Gauck also recalled this during the presentation of the Silver Laurel Leaf to the 2014 World Cup winners at Bellevue Palace. In football, Gauck said, the memory of being one nation had always remained alive during the division of Germany.

Nor must we ever forget that, alongside the ‘Heroes of Bern’, there were also forgotten heroes. The biographies of Jewish footballers, club founders, referees, sports journalists and football fans document the crimes committed against Jews under the Nazi regime. They tell of the deprivation of rights, expropriation, expulsion and murder.

And we remember unsung heroines such as Lotte Specht. In 1930, she founded the 1st German Women’s Football Club.  Together with her fellow players, she pursued her passion for football in the face of opposition from her own family and the public. In 1931, mocked by the press, the 1st DDFC disbanded after just one year. Although she went on to work as an actress and cabaret artist, Lotte Specht is regarded as the great pioneer of women’s football in Germany, just like the players who defied the ban on women’s football between 1955 and 1970.