The next part of the series “When Prague wrote hockey stories” is devoted to the world championship in 1938. During the troubled times, forward Rudi Ball of Jewish origin also fought in the jersey of Nazi Germany in Štvanice.
On February 20, 1938, when the German team fought the Czechoslovak team for the bronze medal in Štvanice at the world championship, only 18 months were left before the start of the most destructive war in human history.
In Germany, the anti-Jewish Nuremberg Laws were in effect for the fourth year. Nevertheless, Rudi Ball, who certainly did not meet the racial requirements for a “pure Aryan”, fought in the jersey of the team that invoked the swastika flag.
The son of a Jewish woman was one of the biggest stars of German hockey throughout the 1930s. But after September 15, 1935, he ceased to be “racially suitable”. The agile and only 163 cm tall player was even absent from the nomination for the keenly watched Winter Olympics in 1936 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
Another German star, Gustav Jaenecke, rebelled against this. The mercurial defender, who also represented Germany in tennis’ Davis Cup, refused to play unless Ball was nominated.
The case was discussed at secret meetings of the Nazi Party. The result was a delegation’s trip to Switzerland, where the player was staying.
A goal in front of the Nazi leaders
Ball agreed, but only on the condition that his family be allowed to leave the country after the Games. That’s what the Nazi leaders promised him.
The start of the Ga-Pa tournament did not go well for the Germans. In the match against the Americans, Ball was the best player of his team, but he did not prevent a 0:1 defeat.
Hitler’s adjutant Rudolf Hess and the first man of Nazi propaganda Joseph Goebbels arrived in the auditorium of the Olympic Stadium for the key duel of the basic group with the Italians.
What must have been their surprise when it was the “half-Jew” Ball who sealed the result of the match at 3:0. The Germans won their group, but did not reach the second stage of the tournament to advance to the medal fights. The fact that a key player got injured and lost a lot of his hitting productivity also played a part.
Although the hockey team did not reach the desired medal, the German leaders fulfilled their promise. In July, Ball’s parents Leonhard and Gertrude set sail from Southampton, UK, on the final leg of their journey to safety, joining Rudi’s brother Heinz in South Africa.
However, there was a catch. The authorities asked Rudi to stay and play in Germany. Hard to say how much choice he had. He returned to his club Berliner SC and completed the collection of eight national championship titles with him.
Representative farewell in Prague
His 49 matches in the German jersey included those played at the 1938 World Championship in Prague. Here the selection of the country, which he always referred to as “them” and not “us”, was more successful than two years ago in Ga-Pa.
Although the team advanced from the basic group B at the last moment, they won their place in the playoffs. After a close defeat to Canada in the ratio 0:1, the Germans faced Czechoslovakia for third place.
Even here, however, the player famous for lightning speed and accurate shooting did not succeed. The Czechoslovaks won 3:0 and celebrated bronze in the gloomy pre-war era.
This match also marked the end of Ball’s international career, during which he netted 19 goals. He played his very last match in January 1943.
Allied bomber squadrons were already taking turns over Germany. This also ended the Reich Hockey League, in which the team of Czech Germans NSTG Prag also played.
Ball moved from the bombed-out capital to his summer residence and lived to the end of the war in the midst of forests and lakes in the western suburbs of Berlin.
In April 1948, he and his wife Hilma and brother Gerhard boarded a plane at Berlin’s Tempelhof Airport and flew to South Africa to join the rest of the family.
Meetings with loved ones were marred by sadness. That same month, the family learned the details of what happened to Ball’s aunt Hulda. Father’s older sister died in the concentration camp in Terezín, through which the victims of the Nazis passed on their way to the concentration camps further east.
Ball died in 1975 in Johannesburg at the age of 64. 29 years later, he was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame.
2024-04-10 17:10:45
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