The first four are arranged geographically – the Greater German Reich Allied and Neutral Countries Great Britain and Mandated Territories Eastern European Countries. The anthology, the outcome of a 2012 conference, with its presentations later revised and expanded, is divided into five parts. Simpson’s 2016’s Soccer Under the Swastika: Stories of Survival and Resistance During the Holocaust in shedding light on the period, the various arenas and manifestations of the game, and its use by occupiers, victims, and resistors. This anthology joins Simon Kuper’s 2003 Ajax, the Dutch, the War: the Strange Tale of Soccer During Europe’s Darkest Hour and Kevin E. I did not find any information about those Middle-European Jewish stars, (some of which did indeed migrate to the Americas and display their considerable skills in their new lands), or about my father in European Football in World War II: Training and Entertainment, Ideology and Propaganda, but the anthology, co-edited by Markwart Herzog and Fabian Brandle, is an important contribution for understanding a unique period in the history of the game, and the various roles that football fulfills during times of war.įootball literature and scholarship have addressed wars and armed conflicts, from the Congo to Central America but, surprisingly, little has been written about the sport during the Second World War. My skepticism about such an alleged success, in light of the game’s lowly status in the United States, was answered by a long lecture about Jewish life between the wars, mighty Austrian and Hungarian players who proudly wore their Star of David on their football uniforms, and Jews excelling in every arena of life. Among the many football tales he regaled me with throughout my childhood, along hymns to such wizards of the ball as Matthews, Di Stéfano and Garrincha and praises lavished on teams whose players were tough, creative and fair, was also the claim that his American team could, and did, beat elite European teams of the era. Israel Tzvi Raab Z’L, my father, was a speedy winger for Maccabi Tel Aviv in the 1930s and, in the following decade, for Hakoach New York. Oxford: Peter Lang 2018 (Sport, History and Culture) European Football During the Second World War: Training and Entertainment, Ideology and Propaganda
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