6 The Times April 2019

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Fan lingo: U.N.V.E.U. – short for (in German): And never forget: Iron Union. Union representatives Union Berlin is a soccer club of underdogs, but only the well-behaved, honest and open-minded kind

political resistance – that reaches championship after the next. Suf- skilled workers. After the two Ger- their club: they donated blood going to just any soccer game, we’re BY ANNETT GRÖSCHNER back to the days of the divided city. fice it to say that there were often manys unified, 22,000 jobs were lost and gave the proceeds to the club; going to Union.” And there’s always something to what you might call “inconsisten- at the nearby Oberschöneweide they emptied their piggy banks to 1. FC Union Berlin has been play- t’s a Saturday afternoon in these labels, even if many elements cies” at play in that era. These days, industrial area, the equivalent of purchase shares in the team; they ing in the second division since late March. Our destination of the team’s reputation have Dynamo plays in a division two one full Union stadium. With them refurbished the stadium themselves; 2009. At the moment, the club is Iis a home game at the Alte already become the stuff of myth, leagues below Union. went the livelihood of entire fami- and they invented the often-copied in third place, which means their Försterei stadium, deep in the including the legend of the 11 lock- In 1968, Union had one of the first lies. The career paths of some of annual Christmas Caroling event at ascent to the first division, the east of Berlin. The further the smiths on the field and the battle women’s soccer teams in both Ger- Union’s older fans also mirror this the stadium, which 30,000 people Bundesliga, is entirely possible. S-Bahn takes us in the direction cry “Eisern Union” (iron union). At manys. This was at a time when experience: pre-reunification train- attend every year on Dec.23. Now- This also means people in Berlin of Köpenick, the more crowded it 1. FC Union, every player is a soccer women in West Germany were still ing in shift-based systems at large- adays, Union fans even buy pricy are increasingly hearing the typical gets, and the more red-and-white god. Union represents the east, too, kept from playing soccer in clubs scale GDR factories, unemployment beer in their stadium. Union phrase “Scheiße, wir steigen scarves and other gear we see on and above all Köpenick, the city due to the preposterous idea that after the fall of the Wall, various However, the bonds that tie auf!” (Shit, we’re moving up!). It’s a fans of the 1. FC Union Berlin district whose sheer obstinacy women’s bodies and souls would transitional jobs, some even outside the club to its fans are occasion- statement that perfectly captures soccer team. The atmosphere is was able to preserve its munici- ally put to the test. Having made Union fans’ ambivalence toward relaxed, and the crowd is made up pal autonomy well into the 20th an official commitment to toler- reaching a higher division. After all, mostly of older men interspersed century. It also stands for a deep- Even if your entire ance and open-mindedness, the what happens when big companies by all variations of red-and-white rooted Berlin dialect that no one club and its economic council get involved and start making their striped families and their kids. on the other side of Berlin speaks existence is wavering, have implemented a number of own decisions for the team? Women are definitely outnum- anymore. programs, including a job network On this particular Saturday, bered, but they nevertheless have The Alte Försterei’s location at the stadium at the for refugees, that have not been as before all games, fans add the a presence here. All the parking the edge of a wooded area called well-received by all Union fans. Yet word “Fußballgott!” (soccer spaces around the stadium are full the Wuhlheide means that the Alte Försterei remains when an anonymous fan made anti- god!) after each player’s name is and the S-Bahn trains are burst- path to each home game is part of a Semitic comments online about announced over the loudspeaker. ing at their seams, as are the trams. ritual that includes a walk through a reliable home the Ingolstadt player Almog Cohen This time, however, they have an The exit at S-Bahnhof Köpenick the forest. In the past, the walk just a few weeks ago, the response extra “Fußballgott” for the Pader- station is too narrow for the back from the stadium was often suffer if they did – and because of Germany, re-training, additional was unanimous in its condemna- born coach, Steffen Baumgart, a masses of people, but the police the march of a losing team, some- such public displays of their bodies training, jobs at companies that tion. The club reacted immediately former Union captain. Fans don’t are relaxed, standing at their post times even of a sorely beaten one. would supposedly offend standards went bankrupt, failure to be paid by and called on Union fans to fight all forget things like that here. Even next to the sausage stand in the As the Union joke goes: “When of decency and propriety. In East dodgy entrepreneurs – the whole forms of racism. when Baumgart’s Paderborn team station. Today’s opposing team is god created the world, he spoke to Berlin, this brought about great kit and caboodle. People still disagree when it manages to put a stop to Union’s SC Paderborn 07, a worthy oppo- the stones and said: ‘Do you want mirth and shaking of heads. Soccer is a great anchor, though. comes to determining the best 20-game undefeated streak – in nent, but not a team known for its to become Unioners?’ And the For their part, the fate of Union’s Even if your entire existence is Union era. Was it when the team their own stadium, of all places – rabid fans. Things are quite differ- stones said ‘Yes, but we’re not hard men’s team serves to illustrate wavering, the stadium at the Alte still played for only 600 people and Union fans celebrate their former ent when a team like SV Dynamo enough.’ ” many of the upheavals of the Försterei remains a reliable home, fans could sit on the curbstones captain anyway. Dresden travels to the stadium; Back in the GDR, Union was an postwar period in : rel- no matter what division the team and chat? Or is it better today, those games require an increased “elevator team,” that is, a team that egation, ascent, renewed relega- is in. Union fans now come from when almost every game is sold out level of security. went up and down between the tion down to the fourth division, all over. There’s even a “Union in and there are almost as many club Annett Gröschner is a novelist 1. FC Union Berlin is known for first and second leagues, while their debt, the struggle to stay alive and a English” online portal for English- members as seats in the stadium? and professor of journalism at the University of Arts Berlin – its working-class tradition and much-hated East Berlin rival, BFC brush with bankruptcy. The same speaking enthusiasts. Either way, the thing that matters and a passionate fan of Union underdog status but also for its Dynamo, the favorite club of the was true for the fans, too, many Much has been said about the most is something else, and it can be Berlin. sense of solidarity and spirit of Minister of State Security, won one of whom were well-educated and undying love Union fans hold for summarized as follows: “We’re not

games is already proving divisive. dium where Hitler once lorded of society are set to carry out this BY FRANK BACHNER Udo Wolf, the chairman of the over the competition from his process. Thomas Härtel, president Left Party delegation in Berlin’s privileged box? In this epic archi- of the Berlin Sport Federation, set The turn of t was a happy and joyful big- parliament considers the idea “a tectural monument to Nazi mega- the tone: “One hundred years after time sports event. “A time to bad joke.” Berlin’s Senator for Jus- lomania? the of 1936 is the Imake friends” was the motto tice, Dirk Behrendt, of the Green Quite a few people would agree right date to again confront the a century of the 2006 Soccer World Cup in Party is also strongly opposed. with Geisel and Wolf. But their eventful history of our country. Germany. The stadiums were full, This is all understandable. By views are short sighted. It might By looking back, we can set an the weather was sunny for weeks 1936, Hitler’s terror regime had even be desirable to draw paral- example as to how far Germany Why Berlin should apply to host the and the German fans were giddy been in operation for three years. lels to 1936. The result could only has come in its development despite their team losing in the One year earlier, the Nuremberg be that Germany is found to be a into a democratic, peaceful and 2036 Olympic Games semi-finals. Race Laws had downgraded Jews peaceful, cosmopolitan country – cosmopolitan country.” Kaweh The world saw a very tolerant, to second-class citizens, and oppo- as the world already experienced Niroomand, a native of Iran and empathetic country that summer, nents of the regime were already at the Soccer World Cup in 2006. vice president of the German and there could soon be an oppor- disappearing to concentration 2036 would simply be a continua- Olympic Sports Federation, has a tunity for it to happen again. Ber- camps. The dictator exploited tion of that. similar argument. “1936 is a sensi- lin’s Senator for the Interior and the Olympic Games, which had This is true, however, only under tive topic,” he admits. “But it is Sport, Andreas Geisel, has pro- been awarded to Germany in 1931, precisely the condition that his- also a huge opportunity, especially posed that Berlin apply to host as a propaganda platform with- tory is never to be forgotten; it at this time, to present our demo- the 2036 Summer Olympics – with out equal. The largest sporting is imperative that the victims are cratic country as an antithesis to the added symbolic significance event on the planet was intended remembered appropriately. It what it was 100 years ago. of being one hundred years after to show the world that Germany would be a fatal flaw for Germany the Nazis turned the 1936 games was a peace-loving, economically to present itself as a country for into an ignominious propaganda aspiring country. And now, a hun- which National Socialism is a mere campaign. dred years later, the idea has been historical footnote. Frank Bachner is a metro editor for the Berlin daily As of yet, there are but musings, floated for the Olympic Games to The decision-makers in this Der Tagesspiegel. yet the potential push to host the take place again in the very sta- country and the absolute majority