 Hirsch in 1938 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | (1892-04-07)7 April 1892[1] | ||
| Place of birth | Achern,German Empire | ||
| Date of death | declared dead 8 May 1945(1945-05-08) (aged 53) | ||
| Place of death | Auschwitz-Birkenau,German-occupied Poland | ||
| Position | Left winger | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1902–1909 | Karlsruher FV | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1909–1913 | Karlsruher FV | ||
| 1913–1919 | SpVgg Fürth | 32 | (27[2]) |
| 1919–1925 | Karlsruher FV | ||
| International career | |||
| 1911–1913 | Germany | 7 | (4) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Julius Hirsch (7 April 1892 – declared dead 8 May 1945)[3] was aGermaninternational footballer. A Jew, he was executed atAuschwitz concentration camp duringthe Holocaust.[4][5] He helped theKarlsruher FV win the1910 German football championship, and also played for theGermany national team, including at the1912 Summer Olympics.[6] He then joinedSpVgg Fürth, with whom he won the1914 German football championship.
Hirsch was born inAchern, Germany (and later lived inKarlsruhe),[7] wasJewish,[8] and was the seventh child of a Jewish merchant. He joinedKarlsruher FV at the age of ten.
Together withFritz Förderer andGottfried Fuchs, Hirsch formed an attacking trio.[8] Nicknamed "Juller", he was a dynamicmidfielder andstriker best known for his attacking style, his hard shot, and powerful left foot.[8][9][10] He helped Karlsruher FV win the1910 German football championship.[8]
After joiningSpVgg Fürth in 1913, he won the1914 German football championship with them the following year.[8][11]
Hirsch was the first Jewish player to represent theGermany national team, which he joined at 18 years of age in 1911.[8][12] He played in a number of matches for Germany, including at the1912 Olympic Games inStockholm, Sweden.[12] Hirsch scored four goals for Germany against the Netherlands in 1912, becoming the first German to score four goals in a single match.[8][11]
Hirsch enlisted in and served for four years in theGerman Army inWorld War I, and was decorated with theIron Cross.[12][13] His brother Leopold was killed in action in June 1918, also fighting for the German Army.[14][15]
He returned toKFV after World War I, and retired in 1925.[12] However, he remained with the club as a youth coach.[14]
Reading in a newspaper on 10 April 1933 that allSouthern German clubs would ban Jewish members, Hirsch leftKFV by his own choice after over 30 years as a member. In a letter to his club he requested that it should not be forgotten that many Jews had given their life blood for the German nation and believed themselves to be true patriots, as shown by their deeds and words.[14]
Hirsch's children Esther and Heinold, deemed second-grade "Mischlinge", were forced to leave their school in 1938.[16][7] In 1941 they were required to wear theyellow star.[7] In 1942 he divorced his non-Jewish wife in an effort to flee from theNazis.[7]
Hirsch, now 50 years old, was deported fromKarlsruhe, Germany, toAuschwitz concentration camp on 1 March 1943.[8][17] He had not believed that the government would harm him, as he had fought for Germany in World War I and played for Germany's national football team.[8] His exact date of death is unknown. In 1950, a German court declared him dead with the date of death set on 8 May 1945, past his 53rd birthday and after the camp's occupation by theRed Army in January that year.[18][19][20] His arrival was not registered in surviving camp records and it has been assumed from this he may have been gassed immediately after arrival in camp.[21] In February 1945 his children were deported toTheresienstadt, from which they were liberated by the Red Army in May 1945.[7]
Since 2005 theGerman Football Federation has awarded the "Julius-Hirsch-Preis" for outstanding examples of integration and tolerance within German football.[22][23][8]
In January 2020,Chelsea unveiled a mural bySolomon Souza on an outside wall of the West Stand atStamford Bridge stadium, as part of their 'Say No to Antisemitism' campaign. Included on the mural are depictions of footballers Hirsch andÁrpád Weisz, who died atAuschwitz concentration camp, and Ron Jones, a Britishprisoner of war known as the 'Goalkeeper of Auschwitz'.[24]
 | ||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
