He was 16 years old when his life ended. Wiped out by senseless violence, died on the sidelines of a soccer game.
Exactly 40 years ago, on October 16, 1982, Werder supporter Adrian Maleika traveled to the cup derby at HSV with other members of his fan club “Die Treuen”, which his brother Roland had co-founded two years earlier.
The mood was tense, and things got dicey in front of the Volksparkstadion. Adrian and others from Bremen were ambushed. They dodged into a bush to protect themselves from violent Hamburg hooligans.
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There, Maleika was hit in the head by a brick, and then several attackers kicked the glazier apprentice who was lying on the ground. A day later he succumbed to his severe injuries (cranial base fracture, cerebral hemorrhage) in the Altona hospital.
The attackers kicked the defenseless 16-year-old
Adrian Maleika was the first to die in Germany as a result of fan violence.
Willi Lemke, Bremen’s manager at the time: “It was a huge shock. One of the blackest days I’ve experienced at Werder. It was awful, just awful.”
Even 40 years later, the pain is deep.
Also with Uwe Jahn, today chairman of the Bremen fan project. Young Adrian and he were in the same fan club.
During the North Derby in the 2nd round of the DFB Cup on October 16, 1982 (3:2 for HSV), Hamburg and Werder fans repeatedly clashed
Jahn remembers October 16, 1982: “We didn’t know where Adrian was. We got to the corner ten minutes after the events and didn’t suspect anything. He was one of the youngest of us, passionate about football and proud to be part of the group. Adrian was not a speaker.”
The 16-year-old traveled to a game without his brother for the first time – he was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The perpetrator was never identified
On the evening of the game, the news of a serious injury spread. A day later the shock. “It was scary. I sat in the car and it almost knocked me off the Autobahn,” Jahn recalls.
The trial of the rioters ended in December 1983. The thrower of the deadly stone was never determined.
Ringleader Peter L., known as “Kugel” and a member of the “Barmbeker Löwen” fan club, which was infiltrated by radical right-wing extremists, received the highest sentence of two years and six months in prison.
Jahn: “We are aware that the perpetrator may not even know that it was him. It’s sad that he was never identified.”
fear of acts of revenge
After the death, the sympathy was great – as was the concern that there would be acts of revenge. Three months later, on Willi Lemke’s initiative, the “Peace of Scheeßel” came about between the fan groups, exactly halfway between Bremen and Hamburg.
In Scheeßel, among others, HSV manager Günter Netzer (at the microphone) and Bremen’s Willi Lemke and Otto Rehhagel (sitting on the right) try to mediate
Lemke: “We wanted to steer it in the right direction. Our goal was: No revenge! Something like this must never happen again.”
There was no escalation, but the great rivalry between the fans of both clubs has remained. Lemke still often drives past Maleika’s former parents’ house: “I then think about what could have become of his life.”
His friends still remember their Adrian today
The “The Faithful” fan club still exists. About 30 members from back then are still there today. Some regularly visit the grave in Bremen-Huckelriede.
A memorial plaque for Adrian Maleika is already hanging in Bremen’s Weser Stadium. Another one is to be unveiled on Monday at Hamburg’s Volksparkstadion
On Monday, on the 40th anniversary of his death, a commemorative plaque will be unveiled at the Volkspark Stadium. Representatives of both clubs and the “faithful ones” as well as brother Roland Maleika are on site.
So that Adrian’s death is never forgotten.
