Kurt Landauer

Guten Abend und herzlich willkommen auf dieser, die Champions-League-Sonderausgabe von Harry Hotspur!

Hitler… there was a painter! He could paint an entire apartment in ONE afternoon! TWO coats! 

There are two excellent reasons why Bayern Munich should win the Champions League final. Firstly on a superficial level it will facilitate us and we get to play in the competition ourselves. The ripple of pride that went through our ranks upon qualifying last time was nothing shy of a complete delight.

But also, there is the story of a man called Landuaer.  

This bloke Kurt Landauer was a Jew. Sure he was Jew, but he was also man who wanted his football club to play in a manner that was both stylish and entertaining as well as productive. 

This direction was not only inspired but it generated tangible success and between the wars his Bayern Munich amassed a playing staff of genuine note and their (Jewish) manager Richard Dombi led them in in ’32 to their very first Championship.

During the reign of the Nazi’s the club’s Jewish members, players and anyone Jewish remotely associated with the club were forced to leave. The club refused to appoint a Nazi sympathetic president or embrace the insane doctrines.

Bayern however kept Kurt running the club behind the scenes. However, he was arrested in 1938 for being Jewish and held for a time at Dachau;  but as one of the few lucky ones he re-emerged and took back the presidency of Bayern in ’47.

The ‘Father of Bayern’ is now honoured by Bayern fans and I love the quote from  German football historian Dietrich Schulze-Marmeling who said of  Karl Heinz Rummenigge who has welcomed the club acknowledging it’s roots…

 “You get the impression it has become a personal thing for him.” 

I’ll be cheering for Bayern tomorrow. For what they will do for us and also for the kernel from which that club was grown.