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36 SPORTSWORLD Rabbi helped Nazi soldier become a football legend MORE than 20,000 people SUSAN BOOKBINDER, pictured, presented Bert and taken to a prisoner-of-war demonstrated outside Man- camp in Ashton-in-Makerfield, ITrautmann with his Manchester City Hall of Fame Lancashire. chester City’s Maine Road award in 2004. Having grown up listening to her father’s There he was told of concentra- ground in 1949 against the tion camps and the Holocaust signing of a tall, blue-eyed, stories about Trautmann playing on in the FA Cup Final in and said he kept nothing from blonde goalkeeper called 1956 with a broken neck and knowing that her the war — “I don’t have my Iron Cross anymore,” he said. Bernhard Trautmann. grandfather, a Jewish immigrant, held him up as a 2004 was not only the year he The 25-year-old looked the very hero, she was honoured to introduce him that was inducted into the Hall of picture of Hitler’s Aryan master Fame, it was also the year he won race vision. night. Trautmann died of a heart attack in his adoptive home in Spain last an OBE in recognition of his con- It didn’t look good though for week, aged 89. Susan looks back on how a former Nazi soldier became a tribution to the improvement of this ambitious player, not least peacemaker, was awarded an OBE and won the respect of all Europeans. Anglo-German relations. because he had the enormous It was his reconciliation with shoes of City’s much loved Eng- But it all started with the Jewish concept of forgiveness — offered by a Manchester’s Jewish community land goalie, Frank Swift, who was Jewish leader and Holocaust survivor in Manchester. that laid the foundations of this retiring after 16 distinguished crucial diplomatic work. years at the club. “We never, ever want another This young man faced a much the 1956 FA Cup Final, in which make crucial saves to preserve world war,” he said. “It absolutely bigger hurdle if he was to sign for Trautmann established himself City’s lead. must not happen.” across the world as a legend. the club of choice of Manches- It was such a privilege and a There is a statue inside the Eti- ter’s powerful Jewish community, It is a story known to every moment I will never forget when had Stadium in honour of Bert, for he was a captured Nazi para- City fan of every age and one I inducted him into the Hall of but his death last week has led to trooper and former member of which I grew up hearing from my Fame. tributes from all over the world the Hitler Youth. father, who regularly described The 2004 awards were the first. and calls for a ‘Bert Trautmann Just four years after the Sec- how, as a teenage boy he queued Also inducted at the time were TRIBUTE: Bert Trautmann with his Stand’. up all night for his Cup Final ond World War ended, with the greats such as Colin Bell, Francis Manchester City Hall of Fame award As a life-long City fan with ticket. atrocities of the Holocaust fresh Lee, Mike Summerbee, Joe Corri- roots in Manchester’s Jewish in the minds of the entire nation, Having “run away from home” gan, Niall Quinn, Paul Lake and The statuesque, smiling figure, community, I would love to see it was perceived an unforgiveable and hitchhiked down to Wembley Andy Hinchcliffe — but the admi- gracefully waving to his worship- that happen. to see City lose to Newcastle the ration was palpable, the atmos- pers. insult to the fans who had sur- It would say so much about the previous year, City simply had to phere, electric, when Trautmann vived German air raids and to the The love and respect for him humanity and soul of Bert Traut- win against Birmingham City. came to the stage. Jewish community of Manches- spans generations, playing on mann, hand-in-hand with that of ter, in particular, for City to even And win they did, 3-1, with “Your hero, your father’s hero, with a broken neck is heroic City’s Jewish fans. consider such a move. Trautmann playing the final 16 your grandfather’s hero — ladies enough, but he’d actually So how did the man known as minutes in terrible pain, with a and gentlemen, Bert Traut- achieved an historic feat already. I Susan Bookbinder, a journalist and broad- Bert — because the English fractured neck. mann!” So how, as an ex-Nazi Luftwaffe caster, will be writing a monthly guest col- couldn’t pronounce his name — There are various accounts of I had hardly got the word ‘Bert’ paratrooper did Bert Trautmann umn for the Jewish Telegraph from August. become worshipped as the bravest how he sustained the injury, but out of my mouth before being win the hearts and minds of Man- She has asked that her fee be donated to man in English sport and, even most describe the moment he — drowned out with cheers and chester’s Jews, many of them the Association of Jewish Refugees. more incredibly, win Manches- bravely as always — dived at the applause as the entire room — still bearing the weeping wounds ter’s Jewish hearts? feet of Birmingham’s Peter Mur- some 500 City-mad guests — were of the Holocaust? It was a question I put to phy, then staying on the pitch to on their feet. Bert seemed relieved that I was Trautmann when, alongside fel- asking him a different question low broadcaster and City fan, to the usual broken neck one. John Stapleton, I had the honour “Rabbi Altmann, that’s all,” he of presenting him with his Man- told me. chester City Hall of Fame award Trautmann also seized on the in 2004. opportunity to make amends. He “Because of one man” he told went out into the Jewish commu- me. nity of Manchester and tried to Dr Alexander Altmann, the explain how, as a teenager, he communal rabbi, appealed for joined the German army. Trautmann to be given a chance He told the Observer in 2010 “in — reminding everyone that an Hitler’s Germany, you had no individual should not be punished mind of your own . then when for his country’s sins. you began taking prisoners, you An amazing act in itself, when heard them cry for their mother you consider that Dr Altmann and father. had arrived in Manchester a “When you meet the enemy, you refugee from Berlin, where his became a real person.” parents and six other members of Trautmann was one of only 90 his family were murdered by the members of his original 1,000 Nazis. strong regiment still alive in Without Dr Altmann’s inter- 1945. vention, it is unlikely that City HEROIC: Bert Trautmann dives at the feet of Birmingham City’s Peter Murphy in He escaped from the Russians would have signed him and we the 1956 FA Cup final. Trautmann played the final 16 minutes with broken bones and the French Resistance to be would not still be talking about in his neck and helped Manchester City lift the trophy 3-1 finally captured by the British INTERVENTION: Dr Alexander Altmann Trautmann’s tears for hero Dr Altmann WHENEVER Bert Trautmann BY SIMON YAFFE she made a programme about “He told me that his ‘real’ ball at him.” recalled what Manchester German prisoners of war who had education started when he was 22 Former City striker Johnny communal rabbi Dr Alexander “He felt amazed at the decided to remain in Britain. He and arrived in England — it was Williamson, who played with Altmann did for him, he became forgiveness of the Jewish was one of them. the first time he saw a different Trautmann in the early 1950s, said world. emotional. community and the English people. “We got on extremely well and he won the Blues’ fans over with his “It made him cry every time,” he only had to think about it for “Bert wanted to show there were performances on the field. “Bert admired Dr Altmann Trautmann’s Journey: From half a minute when I asked him good German, not just bad ones. “Bert was a brave and terrific Hitler Youth to FA Cup Legend enormously. It surprised me that he whether I could write a book about “He told me a story of three person,” he told Sportsworld. co-author Catrine Clay told used to cry about it, because he was his life,” Catrine said. Jewish Manchester City fans, “I know there was animosity Sportsworld. a ‘tough’ guy.” “There was no question he was youngsters, who went to watch him from City’s Jewish fans at first, but “Speaking about Dr Altmann Former BBC documentary-maker affected by what happened during train. I think they took him to their genuinely brought tears to his eyes. Catrine first met Trautmann when the Second World War. “He invited them over to kick the hearts.”.

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