{"id":8127,"date":"2021-12-07T07:51:57","date_gmt":"2021-12-07T06:51:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/?p=194178"},"modified":"2021-12-07T08:10:09","modified_gmt":"2021-12-07T07:10:09","slug":"did-nazis-guards-really-play-a-death-match-against-a-ukrainian-football-team","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/rss_feed\/did-nazis-guards-really-play-a-death-match-against-a-ukrainian-football-team\/","title":{"rendered":"Did Nazis guards really play a \u2018death match\u2019 against a Ukrainian football team?"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

By Jonny Wilkes\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Tuesday, 07 December 2021 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

The Berlin Olympics<\/a> in 1936 was intended both as a propaganda display of Nazi might and a demonstration of the physical supremacy of Aryans over all other races. Yet famously the world watched as the notion of Aryans as the \u2018master race\u2019 was challenged, even crushed, by the African-American all-star athlete Jesse Owens and his four gold medals.<\/p>\n

Six years later, with WW2<\/a> raging, the Nazis would attempt another sporting stunt to show their superiority, this time over one of their conquered populations that they deemed to be untermenschen<\/em>, or subhumans. Again, the idea was tested and found wanting, and involved a football match.<\/p>\n

On 9 August 1942, at the Zenit Stadium in occupied Kiev, a team of Ukrainian players called FC Start \u2013 malnourished, forced into labour at a bread-making factory, and living in constant fear \u2013 played against a team from the German armed forces, called Flakelf. They were the best the Nazis had to offer, said to have been kept away from the front lines by Herman G\u00f6ring himself to ensure their safety.<\/p>\n

There were stories of the game being officiated by Gestapo or SS officers; of explicit threats being made to the Ukrainians of what would happen to them if they didn\u2019t lose; and of armed soldiers patrolling the edge of the pitch. And when FC Start pulled off an unlikely win with a score of 5-3, the players were reportedly executed while still wearing their kits. It became known as the \u2018Death Match\u2019. To this day, the murdered players are celebrated as heroes: symbolising bravery, defiance and triumph against oppression. A statue of them stands outside a Kiev stadium.<\/p>\n