Sport Hall of Fame
Nazi past – Sporthilfe wants to re-evaluate members of the German hall of fame
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Hans Günter Winkler (l.) at a tournament in 1954. Now the German equestrian legend’s NSDAP past is coming into focus
Quelle: picture-alliance/dpa/DB
15 instead of the previous 5 members of the German sports hall of fame are said to have a NSDAP past. Deutsche Sporthilfe and the other sponsors now want to work through this. Among the newly discovered names is one of the greatest German sports legends.
The German Sports Aid Foundation, the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) and the Association of German Sports Journalists (VDS) want to reassess the political past of some members of the German sports “Hall of Fame”. Sporthilfe announced this on Wednesday upon request. Specifically, this is about membership in the NSDAP during the Hitler era.
Sporthilfe was reacting to a report in the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”, according to which significantly more former NSDAP members were inducted into the Hall of Fame than previously stated. This was overlooked for many of these athletes, according to the SZ article. The basis is therefore research by the historian Armin Jäger.
Among the names researched in the NSDAP central file is the five-time Olympic equestrian champion Hans Günter Winkler, one of the greatest German sports heroes. Winkler, who was carried injured to gold by his mare “Halla” in 1956, joined the Nazi Party in 1944 as a teenager, it is said. In addition, the Olympic champions Erich Rademacher (swimming, since 1933), Helmut Bantz (gymnastics, since 1941) and Gustav Schäfer (rowing, since 1937) belonged to the NSDAP, and Schäfer was also an SA troop leader. The party membership of all four athletes mentioned was not yet known.
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The situation is different for another six of those taken in in 2008, who were still considered blameless at the time. Wimbledon winner Cilly Aussem, the former rower, sports official and entrepreneur Georg von Opel, the former president of the German Sports Association Willi Weyer, the fencer Erwin Casmir, the soccer goalkeeper Heinrich Stuhlfauth and the rowing coach Karl Adam were already known to be party comrades . The biographies in the hall of fame, criticizes the “SZ”, were only supplemented accordingly by von Opel, Weyer and Stuhlfauth.
Note in Herberger biography
“Specifically, the process that has now been initiated is that, together with the other sponsors, we will compare the facts mentioned in the “SZ” with the texts and portraits of the affected members on the homepage and revise them accordingly with the involvement of experts,” Sporthilfe’s statement said: “If it becomes apparent during the course of the process that further measures are necessary, we will address these accordingly.”
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Sporthilfe and the other “Hall of Fame” holders are aware that the Hall of Fame is a special challenge due to Germany’s history. The “Hall of Fame” with its current 128 members is continually supported by experts in its development. That’s why we don’t claim to be scientific, the statement said.
World champion coach 1954: Sporthilfe refers to Sepp Herberger’s NSDAP past. Now other members are being examined
Source: picture-alliance/dpa/Koll
Therefore, the remembrance and education process initiated in 2008 is not yet complete, particularly with regard to the topic of the Nazi era. “Whenever new, relevant facts become known to us, we endeavor to take these into account when presenting the honored personalities on the website,” it continues.
When the digital hall of fame was founded in 2008, a jury also inducted five former NSDAP members. Their contributions to sport in the Federal Republic of Germany had outshone past burdens, the paper said. This includes, among others, the legendary 54 World Champion coach Sepp Herberger. In the “Hall of Fame” his biography explicitly refers to his membership in the Nazi Party.
