Mr Thoma, this Monday the Eintracht Frankfurt Museum will be awarded the Julius Hirsch Prize in the Palmengarten, which commemorates the seven-time national player who was allegedly murdered in 1943 in the Auschwitz extermination camp.

How does this happen?

Marc Heinrich

Sports editor.

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The German Football Association established it with our work since the museum opened in 2007.

We would have contributed to the perception of the association far beyond the borders of Frankfurt and the region.

In addition, we were able to fathom the history of the association in the Nazi era in a methodical variety and historical depth, which is a role model for other associations.

How did you come up with the idea of ​​continually dealing with the past of Eintracht?

The concept that we want to cultivate a special culture of remembrance existed from the beginning when the fan department wanted a museum. And it should never be a pure Hall of Fame. Our goal was to show the social relevance of unity in addition to the sporting successes and failures. And of course also the club life under National Socialism. In the museum we tell the fate of Jewish association members in particular, but we also show how those in power brought a traditionally cosmopolitan association under their control. And we keep researching: One of our working students has just produced a film about the life of Helmut "Sonny" Sonneberg ...

... who survived imprisonment in the Theresienstadt concentration camp, then returned to his home in Frankfurt and is still considered one of the biggest fans who lost their hearts to Eintracht.

Right. Sonny attended all home and away games for decades, of course he was also there in 1959 when we became champions. For several years he has been reporting in museums and schools about his childhood and the persecution by the National Socialists. Another student wrote his thesis on post-war continuity at Eintracht: He examined who held leading positions from 1933 to 1945 and who continued to accompany them after the Second World War. The perpetrators and victims are named. One of the goals of our work is to keep getting new insights into the subject, so historical research comes first. In addition, by laying the stumbling blocks, we have long been creating places of remembrance in the city and, in cooperation with fan support, we offer tracing projects,associated with educational trips. In 2019 we were in Theresienstadt, this year we visited Buchenwald. Our goal is to do educational work. And the need for this is great.

What does the award mean to you?

It is an appreciation of our commitment, it helps us a lot.

Right now I'm getting congratulations from all over the country, the message memory on my phone is full to the brim.

And we see it as an incentive.

I still remember well how many years ago the “Never Again” initiative had to beg before the official bodies of football announced it in communications.

The day of remembrance in German football, which is organized by the DFB together with the “Never Again” initiative, is now a permanent fixture in the program.

This shows that something is developing - and it is worth persevering.

Does German football generally have to deal more closely with its history?

Everyone at each individual location has to clarify this for themselves. There is no general answer. Just think of the new clubs, that's what I want to call them, that have been added to the Bundesliga: Their careers don't go back that far. But of course it is important to actively deal with your own club history. With regard to Eintracht Frankfurt, I can say that many players are actively working together here. In the year before last, the Fritz Bauer Institute outlined the résumés of the club leaders in the NS in a study that was initiated by Eintracht. As a result, Rudolf Gramlich was posthumously withdrawn from the association's honorary presidency. The club's history is identity-creating and is rolled out again and again. There were beautiful momentslike the German championship, which we celebrate on every anniversary. But there was also the Aryan paragraph, which was included in the statutes in 1940. And both had an impact on the club. I think it's great how Eintracht Frankfurt is positioning itself today. Also in the person of President Peter Fischer and his course of the "clear edge" in the demarcation against fascism, racism or homophobia. Eintracht now has more than 90,000 members and it has the emotional power to get to people. It is simply not true, what is repeatedly claimed by some, that people no longer wanted to hear what happened during the Nazi era: every documentary on television that has good audience ratings proves the opposite. Eintracht was already a liberal and cosmopolitan association in the 1920s.And then it couldn't prevent being brought into line. That has to be a lesson to us to this day - and we can convey that to visitors in the Eintracht Museum with the information we have from history.

Do you already know where and how you will present the Julius Hirsch Prize?

We are only a small house and would be happy if we had more space available for the exhibits and our visitors, but we can certainly find a nice place: In any case, important trophies do not have to be moved to the basement

(laughs)

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