Football during World War II

Football during World War II
Resistance Museum Amsterdam 29 4 2009 • 11 4 2010
1
Many people are surprised to hear that football
was played during the war. But football was
immensely popular in the Netherlands during the
war. Tens of thousands of Dutch people joined
football clubs and the stadiums were fuller than
ever. Football provided a distraction from the
horrors of war.
But the measures introduced by the German
occupying authorities also had an impact on
football. Shortages,
air-raid prevention,
anti-Jewish measures
and raids made it
increasingly difficult for
football to continue.
The world of football
under occupation
reflected society as a
whole. This exhibition
uses the example of
football to show the
difficulties the Dutch
faced in their daily lives.

Contents
1. Football continues
3
2. Wartime violence
4
3. Shortages
5
4. Persecution of jews
6
5. Collaboration
7
6. Forced labour
8
7. Resistance
9
8. Winter of famine 10
9. Liberation 11
10. Netherlands - Germany 13
11. Football and society 14
1. Football continues
1.0 “Football was more popular than ever
during World War II. Football was a
distraction from the miseries of war.
It’s something I understand all too
well. I was born in Yugoslavia, where
war raged for many years. The city
where I was born, Belgrade, was under
constant bombardment. Even as the
bombs were falling, I wanted to go
outside with my father to train. It was
a way to forget our worries and allowed
me to continue to work on fulfilling my
dream.”
Miralem Sulejmani, football player
1.1 Football provided a welcome distraction during the
difficult war years. The matches were the weekly
highlight for many people. The German occupying
forces allowed the football to continue, as they
believed that people who were involved in sports
would not join the resistance movement. To gain
control of the many football associations and clubs,
the Germans set up a single football association.
The KNVB became the new unified association
under the name Nederlandsche Voetbalbond
(Dutch football association - NVB). The Germans
banned the K for ‘Koninklijk’ (royal). Karel Lotsy,
who had been prominent in Dutch football for
many years, was appointed as chairman of the NVB
in May 1942. He managed to get a lot out of the
German occupiers. Douwe Wagenaar from football
club De Volewijckers says: “During the war, you
needed certain favours from the Germans, if you
wanted to play football, like shoes, balls and oil
for lawn mowers. He took good care of things like
that.”
1.6 Sports journalist Ad van Emmenes with Karel Lotsy
to his right.
1.7 “At the beginning of the war, the Germans united
all associations into a single organisation, so they
would know exactly what was going on in football.
They were pleased we were playing football. If we
played in the Olympic Stadium in 1943 or 1944,
there were 50,000 people in the stands.”
Jaap van der Leck, coach of De Volewijckers
1.8 “We played football for ourselves. You have to
imagine that you’re confronted with the war the
entire week (…). And there were no newspapers
either. Well, except those full of German
propaganda.”
Wim Koek, keeper of ADO Den Haag
1.9 German soldiers in the Feyenoord stadium ‘De
Kuip’. They could get half-price tickets for the
matches.
1.10 Propaganda photographs. The Dutch army fought
the Germans from 10 to 15 May. Following the
surrender of 15 May 1940, every Dutch soldier was
effectively a prisoner of war. The occupying forces
soon organised friendly matches between German
and Dutch soldiers. The occupying authorities
hoped to emphasise the brotherhood between the
German and Dutch nations. After a few weeks they
even released the Dutch soldiers. They hoped the
Dutch would choose the side of Hitler-Germany.
1.11 Football players had to carry a Dutch Football
Association identity card at all times and show it on
request.
1.12 School football matches also continued. The
season’41-’42 was won by the team from the
Amsterdam graphic design college (Amsterdamse
Grafische School - AGS).
1.3 In 1942, Karel Lotsy, together with Joris van den
Bergh, wrote the book De mysterieuze krachten in
de sport (The mysterious forces in sport). It was the
first standard work about sports, and dealt mostly
with football.
1.4 The executive of the Dutch Football Association,
with Karel Lotsy second from the left at the table.
1.5 “We are trying to act as normal. We will act as
normal again. So we will also play sports, we will
once again play …. football.”
Ad van Emmenes, sports journalist at the Sportkroniek, in
the official magazine of the Dutch Football Association,
May 1940.
1.13 “We always cycled to Hilversum to watch football.
The teams were ‘Hilversum’ and ‘’t Gooi’, both first
division teams at the time. There were seats in the
stadium, but they were only for the rich people,
and then there were the stands, where all the
supporters were mixed together. It was just great
fun. There was a huge racket during the matches.
That was partly because of the rattles we used to
spur on the players.”
Arie Bos, supporter of SC ‘t Gooi
1.14 A packed Kuip stadium during the ADO-Hermes
D.V.S match, season ’42-‘43.
2 3

1.15 On 19 August 1940, Feyenoord won the Dutch
championship with a 2-0 win over Heracles. Team
captain Bas Paauwe being carried around on the
shoulders of this teammates.
2.Wartime violence
2.0 “On 11 September 1944 – I was still a
baby – our village, Breskens in Zeeland,
was bombed by allied airplanes. We
had been warned by the air-raid alarm
and were safely at a farm outside the
village. My father and brother returned
home to fetch some things, when the
bombs came. They sought refuge with
other villagers in a warehouse. My
father leaned over a baby to protect it.
After the bombing had ended, it turned
out that my father and brother had been
killed. The baby survived.”
Willem van Hanegem, coach
2.1 Loud sirens warned of upcoming air raids.
Everyone had to find a safe place, even during
football matches. These were often false alarms,
so many people stopped reacting to them. The
Amsterdam football team De Volewijckers played
a match against Heerenveen in the Ajax stadium
on 26 March 1944. Supporter Tip de Bruin: ‘Eleven
minutes after the match had started, the sirens
went off (…), but the spectators didn’t move. A
calm voice asked the fans to vacate the stands.
Everyone stayed where they were (…), and then
the match was cancelled.”
2.3 “If the sirens went off during matches, I was always
pretty scared. There would often be some level of
panic.”
Bob Janse, right midfielder for Hermes/DVS from
Schiedam
2.4 From: Official Programme Ajax stadium
2.5 On 14 May, the Germans carried out major air
bombardments on the city of Rotterdam and more
than 800 people were killed. Allied bombs also hit
targets in the Netherlands during the occupation,
hitting important targets such as Schiphol airport
and the Amsterdam port. Cities near the German
border were also hit accidentally.
1.16 During the years of occupation, the football
competition was divided across five districts: West
I, West II, East, South and North. The winners in the
five districts, the district champions, played each
other in a winners’ competition for the national
title.
2.6 “Ajax had to play against Excelsior. When we
arrived in Rotterdam, we were told we would
not be going to the stadium immediately. A bus
had been arranged to take us on a tour of the
devastated city centre. Everyone was shocked
by the devastation we saw. The men didn’t feel
like playing the match any more, and the stands
were completely silent. We lost that match, I can’t
remember the score. Back in the train, there was
none of the elated atmosphere that was common
after away matches. The men didn’t play cards and
there was very little talk.”
Frieda Schubert, the wife of Jan Schubert, player
for the Ajax first eleven.
2.8 Going to the evening training sessions was
difficult, because the streets were pitch black.
Allied pilots had a hard time finding their way
over the Netherlands if everywhere was dark. So
street lights were banned and windows had to
be blacked out with thick curtains or black paper.
Shielded bicycle lights only let through a small
amount of light. Ajax player Gé van Dijk: “The
black-out measures made it difficult to go out in
the evenings. I didn’t go to the Ajax club evenings
in café Suisse very often, because it was so difficult
to get there.”
3.Shortages
3.0 “Football improved my financial
situation a lot. We certainly weren’t
a rich household. Nobody earned
money with football during World War
Two, and there was no such thing as
professional football. Players would
be happy with the extra meal they
would sometimes get during training
sessions.”
Ruud Gullit, coach
3.1 There were shortages of all sorts of things during
the occupation. Many products were only available
in exchange for vouchers. For instance, you could
only buy food and clothes if you had the right
vouchers. These vouchers were distributed among
the people. Football players were lucky. Jan Bens, a
player in the Feyenoord first eleven during the war,
says: “We were privileged. We would always get
a meal after the training, because Feyenoord took
care of that. I didn’t experience hunger during the
war, while there were people dying of starvation.
As Feyenoord players, we had an advantage. The
baker and the butcher, who were Feyenoord fans,
often gave us something extra.”
3.2 A long line of people waiting outside the Quick
sports shop in Nijmegen. The Germans no longer
allowed the football shoe maker to make leather
shoes. Quick became the only store in the region
to receive a permit to sell clogs.
3.3 “By refereeing lots of matches, I was often given
extra food, butter vouchers or bread vouchers.
Sometimes I went home with five kilos of
potatoes.”
Dirk Nijs, referee from Rotterdam
3.4 Dutch Football Association notifications and
measures relating to the shortages
1940
• The NVB handled the distribution of football shoes.
There were 33 pairs of shoes for every 100 players
and they had to last for at least three years.
1941
• NVB handled the distribution of football outfits.
Football shorts and shirts could be obtained in
exchange for a textile voucher: Eight points for a
pair of shorts, 20 points for a shirt.
• The paper shortages meant clubs were no longer
allowed to publish their magazines.
• The German occupiers made everyone hand over
their metal objects, because metal was needed
for the war industry. The NVB reported that this
did not apply to sports trophies such as cups and
medals.
• The German occupier claimed land to be used for
food production. The NVB reported that this would
not happen to football pitches.
1942
• The Amsterdam district failed to get permission
to replace goal nets with chicken wire, because
it would be too dangerous. The nets had to be
repaired for as long as this was possible, or play
would have to continue without nets. The NVB
arranged for a repair man in connection with the
‘pressing balls issue’.
1943
• Because of weakening bodies, the NVB gave the
players permission to play with a lighter ball: a
number four instead of a number five.
1944
• The football competition was suspended due to
the railway strike and the winter of famine.
3.5 “I wanted to buy real football shoes with the
shoes voucher. At the time, you still had those oldfashioned
boots with steel noses. They had leather
studs with three small nails. My parents didn’t like
it, but the cobbler still gave me those boots for
the shoe voucher. This meant I couldn’t buy normal
shoes, but I didn’t care. I’d wear clogs.”
Jan Hobby, junior member of DWS in Amsterdam
3.6 “During the war, my father was one of the founders
of the Emmeloord Sports Club. The first ball was
paid for with five pounds of butter, which could
only be bought using vouchers at the time. He was
also responsible for the materials at the club. After
the match, the balls would be hung from the ceiling
to dry above the heater. Balls would regularly
have leaks. This meant taking out the inner ball,
repairing it, putting it back in and re-inflating
the ball. The outer ball would also be sewn if the
stitching came loose.”
Guus Avis, Emmeloord
3.7 Sports journalist Ed van Opzeeland still remembers
clearly how he would play football as a child with
“that unbelievably heavy ball with the irritating lace
that would stick out and often get in your eyes”.
3.8 “There was almost nothing for sale. Our balls were
inflated pig’s bladders, which we get from the
Keuninhg butcher shop. We didn’t play with a real
leather ball with laces until a few years after the
liberation.”
Thom Mercuur, Heerenveen
3.9 The Heracles squad, season ‘40-’41.
4 5

4.Persecution of jews
4.0 “Jews were allowed to do less and less
during World War Two. From 1941, they
were no longer allowed to play football
at a club. Jews were even banned from
going to watch football matches. If I
had lived then, my career would have
been over, because I’m Jewish.”
Daniël de Ridder, football player
4.1 “In 1941, from one day to the next, I was told by
Quick in Nijmegen that as a Jew I was no longer
allowed to play there. My membership was
cancelled. I was devastated,” says Louis de Wijze.
In 1942, Louis was imprisoned in the Westerbork
transit camp in Drenthe. From there, more than
100,000 Dutch Jews were transported to camps in
eastern Europe in overflowing cattle trains. Most
were murdered in the gas chambers at Auschwitz
and Sobibor. Others were forced to work and often
treated so badly that they also died. “Destruction
through labour’, the Nazis called it. Yet even in
the camps, football was played. Louis says: “In
Auschwitz, I had to carry bags of cement. It was
very hard work (…). I heard there was to be a
football match. I couldn’t believe my ears and
made sure I could play in it. For the first time in a
long time, I didn’t feel like a number or an invisible
member of the herd. I scored two goals and we
won the match 3-2.” .
4.2 The main measures against Jews in sports
30 August 1941
Jewish referees were no longer allowed to referee
sports matches.
15 September 1941
Jews were no longer allowed to go to sports
facilities. The NVB orders all football clubs to put
up a sign ‘Verboden voor joden’ (no entry for
Jews).
1 November 1941
Jews were no longer allowed to be members of
(sports) associations or go to sports matches.
4.3 “I remember receiving a note from the NVB,
signed by Karel Lotsy. He sent a note to all Jewish
referees. The note said that, as a Jew, I could no
longer act as referee.”
Leo Horn, Jewish referee
4.4 “There was a lot of fear that they would raid our
club. Because the Germans knew full well that a
lot of Jews played at our club. Dozens of people
from our club were rounded up in the Jewish
quarter. Sometimes you had a match and a lot of
people would not turn up and the match would
be cancelled. People became afraid. There was a
constant fear of what would happen. Nobody cared
that football was suddenly off-limits for Jews.”
Michél Agsteribbe, member of HEDW
4.5 One of the HEDW squads.
4.6 “I kept going to Ajax for as long as possible, until it
became too dangerous. Suddenly there was a sign
that said ‘No access for Jews’ and because I just
happened to belong to the chosen people, I could
no longer go there. (…) I spent a year in hiding
with various people and always followed Ajax in the
newspapers.” David van Minden, member of Wilhelmina
Vooruit and an Ajax fan
4.7 Jew Herman Menco from Winterswijk was living
in hiding with football player Sjaak de Bruin
in Rotterdam in 1942-1943. Occasionally, with
bleached hair, he would be smuggled into the
De Kuip stadium among the crowds. A great
outing but a very dangerous one, too, because of
potential raids.
4.8 “My Jewish father was a huge Ajax fan. We would
go to the stadium together every Sunday. Once
Jews were no longer allowed to go to matches, I
would go alone. It was horrible. If Ajax had won, I
would whistle the club song when walking into our
street. If I wasn’t whistling, it meant we had lost.
My father would always be waiting eagerly by the
window to find out the result. If we had lost, he
would have no appetite that evening.”
Pelle Mug, Ajax fan
4.9 Jew Han Hollander was football reporter for AVRO
radio. He did not go into hiding, as he thought
he would be safe due to the fact that he had a
certificate signed by Hitler, which he was given
during the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Hollander was still
arrested and murdered in camp Sobibor, together
with his wife and daughter.
(4.9.1 of 4.14 ipv 4.5) Joop Levi sent letters to his uncle
Jacob from camp Westerbork. He wanted to be
kept up to date on the results of the The Hague
football clubs. On 13 July 1943, he and his parents
were deported to Sobibor and murdered.
4.10 Football clubs with a lot of Jewish members, such
as HEDW in Amsterdam and De Ooievaars in The
Hague, had to withdraw from the competition.
Other teams also had to do without players. The
Wilhelmina Vooruit club magazine, Onze Revue,
wrote in 1941:
“Last Sunday was a very dark page in the history
of WV: defeats and players who didn’t turn up (…).
Numerous players simply failed to didn’t turn up,
both among the juniors and the apprentices.”
4.11 HEDW team. Barend Noordberger, shown
kneeling bottom right, wrote on the back of the
photograph: “All the Jewish football friends before
the war.”
4.12 Members list Wilhelmina Vooruit for the 1941-
1942 season. After the war, the club secretary put
crosses in front of the names of those members
who did not survive the war.
5.Collaboration
5.0 “There were people who chose the side
of the enemy during the occupation.
They became members of the NSB, the
national-socialist movement, which
supported the Germans.”
5.1 ADO Den Haag was known as an NSB club during
the war. Most Dutch people saw the NSB members
as traitors. Herman Choufoer, left-back player for
ADO at the time: “Sometimes hateful comments
from opponents would make you realise that they
considered ADO an NSB club. That was because
a player in our first team began openly expressing
his support for the NSB. It was Gerrit Vreken.
Sometimes he would travel to away games in his
uniform. I can still picture him in his black boots
now.”
5.2 Gerrit Vreken was unemployed and was called
up for labour duty in Germany in 1940. His uncle,
who was a member of the NSB, told him he would
be better off reporting for the Arbeidsdienst
(labour service). This would allow him to stay
in the Netherlands. The Arbeidsdienst was set
up by the Germans to fight unemployment and
to demonstrate to the Dutch how just good
national-socialism was. Vreken: “I was 18 and
knew nothing about politics. It allowed me to
stay in the Netherlands and continue to play
football with ADO. (…) If you wanted to stay in the
Arbeidsdienst after the first year, you had to join
the NSB as a sympathiser. I thought about it for a
long time. But I was in trouble, so what could I do?
For me it was always an escape route.”
5.3 Football team ADO, season ‘42-’43. Standing
top left Herman Choufour, with to his right Gerrit
Vreken. Seated bottom left goalkeeper Dolf
Niezen.
4.13 Football team Camp Westerbork, with Louis de
Wijze to the left on the top row.
5.4 “In a club with more than one hundred people,
three made the wrong choice: player Gerrit Vreken,
the secretary and an honorary chairman. Our
team at ADO was referred to as the Hitler eleven
until long after the war had ended, but that is
really going too far. Even as teammates, we too
sometimes had problems with Vreken. There was
often an icy silence when he entered in his uniform.
We didn’t like passing the ball to him then.”
Dolf Niezen, goalkeeper at ADO
5.5 “One time, a few of our supporters travelled with
us to The Hague with the intention of beating
up a few ADO supporters whom they knew to be
NSB members. It resulted in serious fighting in the
stands.”
Douwe Wagenaar of De Volewijckers from Amsterdam
5.6 From left to right: an ADO training session in the
season ‘42-’43, supporters after the team won the
district title in 1941, the national title in 1942 and
the national title in 1943.
Below: photo album, published when the club won
the national championship in the season ‘42-’43.
5.7 ADO became known as the NSB-club, but there
were NSB members playing at other clubs, too.
Harry Pelser was one example. He played in the
Ajax first eleven from 1939 to 1944. His father Joop
played for Ajax before the war and was a member
of the club executive. The Pelsers were a true
NSB family. From 1942, father Joop worked for the
German bank Lippman Rosenthal & Co, founded
by the occupying authorities to steal Jewish
property. Harry was also a member of the NSB. A
teammate says: “He was a member of the party
and I saw him read the NSB newspaper Volk en
Vaderland (folk and fatherland). But the teammate
adds: “Harry didn’t betray people.” Harry later
said that in his family joining the NSB was a logical
move. His mother signed him up.
6 7

5.8 Gejus van der Meulen, goal keeper for HFC in The
Hague, was very popular before the war. Between
1924 and 1934, he played more than 50 matches
for the Dutch national side. In addition to playing
football, he was a doctor. During the war years,
he rapidly lost popularity. As early as in the first
months of the war, Jewish patients were no longer
welcome in his practice. Van der Meulen joined the
NSB in September 1940. In 1941, he joined the
Vrijwilligers Legioen Nederland (Dutch volunteer
legion) to fight for the Germans. After training in
Germany, he became an army doctor at the war
front. Many Dutch volunteers died, Van der Meulen
survived.
5.9 ADO booked its greatest successes during the
occupation. The club won the district title in the
’40-’41 season and won the national title the next
two seasons.
6.8 The Netherlands – Czech republic (3-4) in Berlin, 6
August 1944.
6.9 Foreign drafted labourers who played football well
were asked to play in the German competition. This
meant better food and better football matches.
But the players were also expected to do the
Hitler salute at the start of the matches. Noud
Bierings played for Hertha BSC in Berlin: “You
knew that salute was coming. I was really worried.
I decided to see what Appel did. He did a sort of
half-hearted salute, using only his forearm. I did the
same thing. I think the Germans understood that to
some extent, because I never heard them complain
about it.”
6.10 The Dutch team of forced labourers during the
match between the Netherlands and Flanders (4-5),
14 June 1943 in Berlin. Bram Appel is standing fifth
from the right.
6.Forced labour
7.Resistance
6.0 “These days, it is perfectly normal for
a football player or manager to work in
Germany, just as I did with teams like
Schalke 04 and HSV for many years.
Dutchmen also played in Germany
during World War Two. How was that
possible, as Germany was the enemy
after all?”
Huub Stevens, manager
6.1 In 1943, all Dutch men aged between 17 and 40
were called up to work for the war industry in
Germany, including football players. One of the
most popular players to be called up was Bram
Appel. “I received a letter stating that I had to
pack my bags and report to the Hollands Spoor
train station the next day for transport to Berlin. If I
failed to appear, my parents would be arrested.”
Bram Appel departed. In Germany, football
competitions were organised between the workers
at the various factories. Later, matches were
organised between the workers from different
countries. Bram Appel: “Those national matches
in Germany drew huge crowds, and were almost
always sold out. (…) The matches were a big
distraction for the men working over there. (…) I
scored 57 goals in 1944.”
6.2 Call-up for forced labour
6.3 Many men did not respond to the call up for
Arbeitseinsatz (forced labour). From 1943 onwards,
the Germans organised raids to pick up young men
and send them to Germany. Football stadiums were
very good locations for those raids; there were lots
of men and it was it difficult for them to escape.
Bob Janse, right mid-fielder at Hermes/DVS in
Schiedam: “Watching football matches became
more and more dangerous. In 1943, the deciding
match between Neptunus and HVV was played on
the Sparta pitch. I remember the panic when a raid
took place during that match. A lot of people were
rounded up that day.”
6.4 After the match between PSV and Longa, the
Germans conducted a raid targeting the 20,000
spectators leaving the stadium, 27 February 1944.
6.5 “Our street was part of the route to the Olympic
Stadium. There was always a jolly busyness on
the Sundays when there were football matches.
One Sunday in 1943, the German soldiers and
SS officers came and closed off the Stadionweg.
A raid! Peaking through the net curtains of our
living room window, we saw the Germans place a
machine gun across the road. I grabbed my father’s
camera and when one of the soldiers had turned
away, I took a photograph. My mother was crying
with fear, because if the soldier had looked back, I
could have been arrested for espionage.”
Jules Schweppe
6.6 “You were going to a country is at war, which was a
bit scary. (…) I had my football boots in my bag. I
told my father I was taking those with me. A good
move son, he said. I also had a shirt and shorts
with me. And socks, the blue and white ones of
Eindhoven. I thought to myself, if I get a chance to
play football, I’m taking it.”
Noud Bierings, football player for Eindhoven
7.0 “There was virtually no organised
resistance against the German
measures in the football world. There
were individual football players, like
my father who played for SC Varsseveld,
who joined the resistance. He worked
as head of the distribution office. That
allowed him to get food vouchers to
hundreds of people in hiding.”
Guus Hiddink, manager
7.1 The Volewijckers from Amsterdam-Noord became
known as a resistance club. That was largely
because of the two brothers Gerben and Douwe
Wagenaar. Gerben, left midfielder and team
captain, became a key leader in the resistance.
He was wanted by the Germans, so he could no
longer play football. Led by his brother Douwe,
who was club chairman, the Volewijckers players
showed their anti-German colours. On 3 August
1943, they played a match against VUC in orange
shirts instead of their green and white club shirts.
Says Douwe: “I was arrested immediately after the
match. (…) After three days I was released again.”
The club ensured that the players did not have to
work in Germany. Douwe: “One of our members
worked at the labour office. If one of our boys was
under threat of being called up for forced labour,
he would put their cards to the back of the box
again.” Manager Jaap van der Leck remembers
how a young man walked into the dressing room
after a match against ADO in 1944. “There was
a sudden raid and he was afraid he would be
arrested. We got him to safety using the laundry
basket.”
6.7 The Nederlandse Arbeidsfront (Dutch labour front)
organised the football matches and other activities
for the Dutch workers in Germany, including
the national side matches between the forced
labourers from different countries. “Football meant
everything to me. It was the only thing we had in
Germany,” says Cor van Tongeren. He was invited
to play a national match against Serbia. The foreign
teams were also expected to do the Hitler salute.
Luckily, this was not monitored very closely. Van
7.2 “There was no real organised resistance in the
Tongeren: “You already hated the Germans, so
sports world. (…) In those days, you took refuge in
you’re not going to do the Hitler salute. It just
sports, so to speak. You thought the war was bad,
wasn’t done.”
but didn’t quite go as far as Gerben Wagenaar
8
and say: I’m joining the underground movement.
9
You were too afraid. In fact, you were sticking your
head in the sand.”
Jaap van der Leck, manager of De Volewijckers
7.3 “If there was ever any suggestion that we should
stop playing as a sign of resistance, there would be
immediate protests from the players. Football was
the only diversion they had.”
Bob Janse, right midfielder at Hermes/DVS
7.4 In 1941, Leo Horn, being a Jew, was no longer
allowed to referee matches. He adopted a false
identity and became active in the resistance. As
doctor Van Dongen, with the staff of Aesculapius
mark on his bicycle, he got dozens of people
in hiding to safety. Later he joined the armed
Amsterdam resistance group Stanz. With this
group, he took part in a spectacular attack on a
German ammunitions truck. The loot consisted of
guns, grenades, uniforms and thousands of rounds
of ammunition.
7.5 The Stanz resistance group from Amsterdam-Zuid
during an instruction session on plastic explosives.
Leo Horn is seated in the middle.
7.6 Jan Wijnbergen played football for the Ajax first
eleven. In 1941, he got involved in the resistance
movement. “After I had distributed what later
turned out to be the appeal to join the February
strike, I was asked to deliver things or make
contacts more often. I was still playing for Ajax at
the time, but that combination became impossible
eventually. I often had to cancel football training.
Ajax were obviously not pleased with that.”
Eventually, Wijnbergen stopped playing football. “I
was convinced that the resistance work was more
important than playing football.”
7.7 Most sports journalists continued their work under
the German occupation. Kick Geudeker, who
founded the weekly magazine ‘Sport in en om
Amsterdam’ (Sports in and around Amsterdam) in
1940, was one of the few to join the resistance. He
worked for the illegal newspaper Het Parool. He
was helped by the half-German sports caricaturist

Bob Uschi, who worked for Het Volk and later
for De Telegraaf newspaper. With his German
passport, Uschi was well-equipped for courier
work.
7.8 Arie de Jong was the treasurer for football club
Unitas in Gorinchem. When he joined the NSB,
the Unitas members decided not to re-elect
him in September 1943. Unitas member Huub
Sterkenburg put forward a different candidate who
was elected by a large majority. The NSB supervisor
of the clubs in the region decided that Unitas had
to appoint De Jong anyway and that Sterkenburg
had to be ejected from the club membership.
Karel Lotsy, the most powerful man in football
during the occupation, warned Unitas they would
have to obey if they wanted to continue as a club.
But Unitas refused. The NSB supervisor repeated
his demands in April 1942, but Unitas refused to
comply. Arie de Jong was subsequently appointed
as “authorised agent” at the club. This meant
he had complete authority. Virtually all Unitas
members cancelled their membership in protest.
8.Winter of famine
8.0 “There was great famine in the western
part of the Netherlands in the final
winter of the war. A lot of people died
of hunger, including many children.
The football competition had come to a
virtual standstill. My club, Heerenveen,
invited dozens of young Amsterdam
football players at the time. They came
to Friesland to stay with guest families
and get their strength back.”
Foppe de Haan, manager
8.1 There was virtually no football played during the
winter of famine. The competition ground to a halt.
People’s main concern was to find food and fuel.
Even goalposts and stadium seating were used as
fire wood.
Jan Hobby from DWS went to Friesland to regain
his strength. In Heerenveen, the youngsters from
Amsterdam were greeted with a plate of porridge,
which they devoured. The hearty Friesian food was
too much for many of the little players. Jan Hobby
remembers: “After eating one spoonful of gravy I
immediately had to go to the toilet with diarrhoea
because it was far too greasy for me. And one time
I walked away from the table because my foster
brother Piet complained during the meal. (…) I
knew what it was like to be hungry.”
7.9 Booklet from 1947 about the resistance at Unitas
and a reaction to it from the KNVB.
7.10 Fan mail for the popular football player Daan
de Jongh, forward at ‘resistance club’ De
Volewijckers.
7.11 Caricature of Daan de Jongh, forward at De
Volewijckers, drawn in 1944 by Bob Uschi, who was
involved with resistance newspaper Het Parool.
7.12 Notebook with handwritten reports on De
Volewijckers matches by forward Daan de Jongh.
7.13 De Volewijckers from Amsterdam-Noord – known
as the resistance club– had its most successful
period during the war years. The club was
promoted from the third to the first division in
1941, moved to the top division in 1943 and, in
1944, not only became district champion but also
national champion, pushing its biggest rival ADO
out of the top spot.
8.2 In September 1944, the Dutch government in exile
in London called for a railway strike. They wanted
the transports of German soldiers to be stopped
because the allies wanted to carry out airborne
landings near Arnhem. The Germans stopped
food transports in retaliation. And travel became
impossible. Ad van Emmenes, editor in chief of
the Dutch Football Association magazine: “For
me, it was the end of my trips to matches. (…) The
railways resisted and then there was nothing.” For
a while, De Volewijckers team used a horse and
cart to travel the country and play friendly matches
as national champion. But almost nobody wanted
to play football any more because of the famine.
Bob Janse, right midfielder at Hermes/DVS in
Schiedam says: “It was almost impossible to travel
any more. The strange thing was that there was
also virtually no football played in fields or in the
streets any more, as if football had had never been
played there before.”
8.3 Publication from the illegal newspaper Vrij
Nederland about the consequences of the railway
strike.
8.4 German propaganda emphasised that the railway
strike only caused misery and famine for the Dutch
population. It did not affect the Germans too
much, because their troops were transported in
German trains. The strike still continued until the
liberation.
8.5 Transport of children during the winter of famine.
They travelled across the IJsselmeer to the
provinces of Friesland and Groningen in the holds
of cargo ships.
8.6 Referral from a doctor for one of the young football
players who was sent to Heerenveen:
“Willem Kuppers is malnourished, though
otherwise healthy. A move outside the city is
urgently necessary.”
8.7 Bertus Moehring of football club Blauw-Wit was
one of the young football players chosen and
allowed to go to Heerenveen. Bertus stayed with
Jan Lenstra, the brother of the famous player Abe
Lenstra. Once the children had regained their
strength, they returned to football. Bertus played a
match against Heerenveen’s fourth junior team. In a
letter to his parents, he wrote: “We won the match
3-2 and I even scored a goal.”
8.8 Jan and Jeltje Lenstra with their daughter Minnie
in front of the farmhouse where Bertus Moehring
stayed.
8.9 To show their gratitude for the help Heerenveen
had given the young players, the Amsterdam clubs
gave the Heerenveen football club a tableau made
of tiles shortly after the war. The Friesian foster
parents received a print of the picture.
8.10 “We had an official Amsterdam team of
HONGERWINTER
C-grade juniors, which regularly played against
9.Liberation
9.0 “I was born on 4 May 1945. In the final,
harsh months of the war, there was
no more football: there was so much
hunger and so many shortages. But
immediately after the liberation on 5
May - I was cheering in my cradle –
teams were immediately formed again
and they played against the allied
liberators.”
Jan Mulder, football analyst
9.1 The first post-war international match was played
between the Netherlands and an English military
side in June 1945 in De Kuip stadium. It attracted
60,000 spectators. Top football player Faas Wilkes:
“These days it is completely normal to have a full
stadium. But in those days, in 1945! There were
no trams yet and only the occasional train. You
a Heerenveen B-juniors team. (…) Abe Lenstra
put together and coached the Amsterdam team.
(…) We looked up to him immensely, because
he was very well known in 1942, when I joined
Ajax. He was a star player who could do anything.
(…) Despite his instructions, we always lost to
the Heerenveen boys, although they were close
matches. (…) That was largely due to physical
differences. We were pretty emaciated when we
arrived in Heerenveen. We really had to get our
strength back.”
Robbie Been, youth player at Ajax
8.11 Abe Lenstra, star player at Heerenveen and coach
of the young players from Amsterdam.
8.12 Robbie Been with his little brother Otto,
Amsterdam 1940.
8.13 “When I left for Heerenveen, we were in the
middle of the winter of famine. People fainted in
the streets, and there was almost nothing to eat.
At home, we would sometimes be fed tulip bulb
soup and my mother baked biscuits from sugar
beet pulp, which tasted horrible even if you were
hungry.”
Robbie Been, youth player at Ajax
8.14 Homemade sugar beet grater.
8.16 The remains of the ADO stands after the winter of
famine.
hardly saw any cars on the roads. The whole city
of Rotterdam was devastated. People came to the
stadium on foot, on bikes with no tyres or wooden
tyres. Basically, any way they could. It was an
unforgettable match.”
9.2 Immediately after the Netherlands was liberated
on 5 May 1945, there were football matches again,
against teams of allied troops. Robbie Been was
sent to Heerenveen during the winter of famine
and celebrated the liberation there. “I remember
matches from those days between Heerenveen and
British teams from the Royal Navy, the Highlanders
and the RAF. They often had real professionals
playing for them, but Abe always stood out. I didn’t
get back to Amsterdam until July, travelling on the
boat from Lemmer.”
9.3 On 13 May 1945, a team of allied troops played a
team from Leeuwarden at the Sportpark Cambuur
stadium. The Friesians won the match 3-2.
The photograph shows the allied team.
10 11

9.4 Feyenoord supporter Frans Appels attended the
first post-war international match with Faas Wilkes
in De Kuip stadium. The playing of the Dutch
national anthem, the Wilhelmus, is one thing he
will never forget. “Everyone stood and sang along.
After all, it was the first time in five years that we
could sing it without danger of punishment. I had
tears in my eyes. Of course, nowadays, it is difficult
to imagine that it was as important as it felt at the
time.”
9.5 Faas Wilkes, after the liberation.
9.6 Karel Lotsy, chairman of the Nederlandsche
Voetbalbond, attended the first post-war central
training session of the Dutch national side, on the
VUC pitch in The Hague.
9.7 In August 1945, a football match was organised in
Amsterdam as a benefit match for the devastated
city of Arnhem. The ticket price had to be paid in
goods.
9.8 Shortages remained until long after the liberation.
The Ajax first eleven posed dressed in old shirts
from English team Arsenal on 15 May 1947. Seated
on the left is Rinus Michels.
9.9 In May 1945, Amsterdam football teams played
a competition in the city’s Olympic Stadium. The
winners received a small bottle of jenever (Dutch
gin) in a little orange clog from the Bols distillery.
9.10 Members of the NSB and SS were punished by the
courts after the war. They were often also ejected
from their football clubs. Special ‘purification’
committees judged the behaviour of the football
players. They could suspend or withdraw the
membership of members and managers. The
football players in this exhibition also had to justify
their actions:
• The goalkeeper for the Dutch national side,
Gejus van der Meulen, who was an SS doctor
during the war, appeared before the Bijzonder
Gerechtshof (extraordinary court) in Amsterdam
on 21 June 1947. He was sentenced to eight years
in prison. The football world turned its back on him
completely.
• On 6 March 1947, Ajax executive Joop Pelser, a
member of the NSB who worked for a bank which
confiscated Jewish possessions, was sentenced
to more than three years in prison by the Tribunal
founded specifically to judge war crimes. The
purification commission at Ajax withdrew his
membership of the club.
• Ajax player Harry Pelser, son of Joop Pelser,
together with many NSB member, was detained at
the Amsterdam Levantkade. Afterwards, he was
forced to grow potatoes in the Noordoostpolder
for 14 months, wearing the same sweater and
trousers for the entire period. “My right shoe was
broken, I had to fix it with pieces of string. Other
than that I was treated well. The guards never beat
me up.” Harry was never punished by the Ajax
purification committee. He never again dared to
talk to his father about the war again. “That period
created wounds that have never healed.”
• Together with many dozens of NSB members
from The Hague, Gerrit Vreken was detained in
the building of the Christian technical school. He
was interrogated after a month. “That was my
chance to make it clear that I had done nobody any
harm and I was released.” The ADO football club
suspended him and his voting rights were taken
away for ten years.
• Bram Appel, like all other forced labourers in
Germany who had played in a German team, was
suspended until 1 January 1947. “I was furious
about that. I was reprimanded, while Lotsy himself
could simply go and watch matches in Germany.”
• On 27 October, Karel Lotsy appeared before the
national purification committee for sports. In a
lengthy written defence, he explained that he
had in fact wanted to prevent national-socialist
influence in football. The committee was convinced
of his ‘healthy patriotism’. Much later, Historians
argued that Lotsy, who had after all been actively
involved in the exclusion of Jews from sports, had
been judged very leniently indeed.
9.11 Gejus van der Meulen, on 21 June 1947, before the
extraordinary court in Amsterdam.
9.12 The Jewish referee and resistance worker Leo
Horn, went on a driving tour with members
of his resistance group during the liberation
celebrations. In the photograph on the left, he can
be seen standing in the front of the car. After the
liberation, he became a guard at the internment
camp for NSB members in Amsterdam, where
Harry Pelser was also detained. The photograph
above shows Leo Horn second from the right,
wearing a helmet.
9.13 A design for a commemorative stone for the
members of Unitas in Groningen who were killed
in the concentration camps because of their
resistance work. The stone was never made.
9.14 A few Jewish survivors decided to keep football
club HEDW going. This had been discussed even
in camp Auschwitz. Maurits van Thijn says: “In
Auschwitz, I kicked a stone around. Bert Thal saw
that and said: ‘I can see that you have played
football or can play’. I said yes. He said: ‘If we
get out of this camp, you should come and play
for us, at HEDW.’” Michél Agsteribbe says about
the inaugural meeting: “It was a meeting where
many people cried. A lot of the guys were gone
of course. About 90 percent were gone. But we
founded the club again anyway, with a lot of new
people.” Sixteen-year-old Jacques Granaat also
joined up: “Everyone who was left went to HEDW.
That was the club to join if you were a Jewish boy.”
This is how HEDW became bigger and more Jewish
than it ever was before the war. A monument was
raised for the club members who had been killed.
10.Netherlands - Germany
10.0 “Football matches between Germany
and the Netherlands remained
emotionally charged for a long time
after the liberation. That was all down
to World War Two. Marco van Basten’s
deciding goal during the 1988 European
Championships had great symbolic
value, partly because of the trauma of
1974.”
Frits Barend, television programme maker
10.1 In 1956, the Dutch and German national sides
played a friendly match in Germany. It was a special
match, because it was the first time since the war
and Germany were the World Cup holders at the
time. There were 40,000 spectators in the stadium.
Abe Lenstra: “We became quite emotional when
the national anthem was played. Roel Wiersma
stood next to me. He took my hand and squeezed
it. Abe, he said, we will win today. I knew why he
said that. I knew what he felt. What was going
through him, through all of us. We were all charged
up.”
The Netherlands won 2-1. Abe Lenstra, one of
the Netherlands’ most famous football players,
scored both goals. Thousands of Dutch supporters
who had travelled to the match, shouted his name:
A-be, A-be, A-be. It was an historic victory: the
former enemy was beaten.
10.2 The Dutch team, before the match between the
Netherlands and Germany on 14 March 1956 in
Düsseldorf. Abe Lenstra is standing fifth from the
left.
10.3 The first goal from Abe Lenstra (not pictured)
against the Germans, 14 March 1956.
10.4 After the match between the Netherlands and
Germany, Dutch players were borne aloft on
shoulders. Abe Lenstra is second from the right.
10.5 During the 1974 World Cup in Germany, the
Netherlands played the final against Germany.
As in 1956, it was an emotionally charged match.
Minister Tjerk Westerterp was in the stadium.
“Among the Dutch spectators in the grandstand,
I felt a sense of ‘we are going to right World War
Two this afternoon’. (…) Many Dutch people
hoped to achieve through football what we had
failed to do during the war: beat the Germans.
Willem van Hanegem, who played in the match,
says: “As far as I’m concerned, you cannot dig a
hole deep enough for those Germans. (…) That
hatred, that has always been there. For reasons
that everyone is aware of and that still haven’t
gone away.” The Netherlands lost 2-1. Hans van
Breukelen, who later became goal keeper for the
Dutch national side, remembers he was full of
feelings of revenge and cried sitting in front of the
television in an orange shirt, with tears also for
“the horrors and the terror visited by the Germans
during World War Two in the Netherlands”.
10.6 The Dutch team, World Cup 1974.
10.7 The Dutch team, European Championships 1988.
10.8 Marco van Basten in action during the semi final
between the Netherlands and Germany, European
Championships 1988.
10.9 In 1988, the two arch rivals met again, during the
semi final of the European Championships on 21
June in Hamburg . The Dutch wanted revenge, for
1974 and for the war. Orange supporters in the
stands sang loudly: “In 1940 kwamen zij, ’88 komen
wij, holadijee, holadijoo (they came in 1940, here
we come in ’88). Goalkeeper Hans van Breukelen,
talking about what he calls the best match of his
football career: “Something had to be put right
to my mind. (…) We were determined to walk
of the pitch the winners and we did. In the last
minute, Marco van Basten put the winning 2-1 on
the score board and we went crazy. I have never
seen a group of players react so strongly and so
exuberantly. We celebrated together with the
30,000 Dutch supporters in the stadium. We had
been freed of all our feelings of unease in one fell
swoop.”
Journalist Simon Kuper: “On the Tuesday night
when the Netherlands beat West Germany by 2-1
in the semi final, millions of Dutch people went out
into the streets to celebrate the moral victory. It
was probably the biggest public gathering since
the liberation.”
12 13

11.Football and society
11.0 “People from different backgrounds
meet through football, sports and
games. Children learn to live with
each other and accept each other.
On the pitch, it makes no difference
whether you’re rich or poor, boy or
girl, or whether or not you were born
in the Netherlands. Many football
clubs and well-known football players
make efforts to help young people
advance via sports; in the Netherlands,
but also in the Third World.”
11.1 Football unites people
Mohammed Allach, football player and
founder of MaroquiStars
11.2 Mohammed Allach founded the MaroquiStars
foundation in 2003 in an effort to involve
Moroccan youths more in society via football.
Allach: “You cannot clap with one hand, is an
old Moroccan saying that indicates the need for
cooperation. (…) Professional football players
play an important role in the way we operate,
as role models and to communicate norms and
values, among other things.”
11.3 The originally Moroccan football club Chabab
from the Amsterdam Slotervaart neighbourhood
is successful. The enthusiastic chairman,
Mahomed Moussa wants to achieve more than
just football. “We want to prove that different
nationalities can work together perfectly well
in this large club. I tell the children at the
club: you can only succeed if you accept your
responsibilities and go for it. We will not deny our
origins, but we are Dutch first and foremost.”
Sporting Maroc, another Amsterdam club,
often hits the headlines because of violence,
intimidation and suspensions.
11.4 FC Chabab celebrating after the 1-0 victory over
DWS, which put the club in the first division.
11.5 “In the football team, my son Oussama plays with
boys from all sorts of cultural backgrounds. The
football pitch really is a meeting place for them.”
Ahmed Zeamari
11.6 E1 of WV HEDW. Bottom row, second from the
right: Oussama Zeamari.
11.7 Sports presenter Humberto Tan grew up in
Amsterdam’s Zuidoost neighbourhood. He knows
what it is like to live in a disadvantaged area.
He founded the Dutch Street football Union to
give youngsters from those types of areas an
opportunity to get together in a positive way:
“Tournaments were organised in 36
neighbourhoods. In Amsterdam, the
neighbourhoods of Zuidoost, Zeeburg and
Slotervaart took up the initiative.”
11.8 Football offers people opportunities
11.9 The 2010 Football World Championships will
be held in South Africa. The Dutch organisation
Stars in their Eyes wants to create opportunities
for South African youths. Managers and top
players from Dutch teams coach South African
footballers and support them in the fight against
poverty and crime. Eleven-year-old Nkosikhone
“Vice” Mayekiso from Cape Town: “I love football
because it helps me stay away from bad things,
like becoming a gangster. When I grow up I want
to play for a big professional team like Feyenoord
in Holland.”
11.10 Johan Cruyff sets up kicking fields – Cruyff Courts
– to help kids play and live together. “Children
are the future and our children have the right to
grow up in safety and health. We have to make
sure they can. Sports and physical exercise are
incredibly important in children’s development,
just as important as learning to read and write.”
There are also courts in South Africa, the
Netherlands Antilles and Aruba, Morocco and
Great Britain.
11.11 Tile from the Johan Cruyff Foundation. Anyone
who buys a tile supports the foundation.
11.12 The Stichting Meer dan Voetbal (More than
Football foundation) organised the Dutch
Homeless Cup for the first time in 2008. Sixteen
teams of homeless people from the Netherlands
participated. The Rotterdam team won and were
given the chance to travel to Melbourne to play
for the World Cup. Captain Vincent Gard feels
stronger for the experience: “I hope that, once
we come back to the Netherlands, I can make
a real go of it,. With a new job, a home and
everything that goes with that.”
11.13 Clarence Seedorf set up the Champions for
Children foundation to help disadvantaged
children in his country of birth, Surinam. In 2001,
he had the Clarence Seedorf Sports complex built
and he founded the Para Junior League for young
footballers. Seedorf hopes to keep the kids on
the right path through football.
11.14 Ibrahim Kargbo grew up in Sierra Leone, a
country torn apart by civil war. He played in
the national youth team and currently plays for
Willem II in the Netherlands. Kargbo has been
lucky. “I must have lost hundreds of friends I
played football with and who had to join the
army.” Kargbo uses the money he earns playing
football to help his native country, together with
aid organisation CARE. “I bought a piece of
land in Freetown where I want to build homes
and schools for children.” In 2008, Kargbo was
awarded the Football for Peace Award.
11.15 Football shows you where you belong
11.16 Some professional football players are faced
with the choice which country they should play
for. Ibrahim Afellay says: “I was flattered by the
request to play for the Moroccan national team.
But I think it would be best for me to play for the
Dutch national side.”
Karim EL Ahmadi: “In Afellay’s case, everyone had
an opinion. I understand that he chose to play for
the Netherlands. My instincts told me to choose
Morocco.” Some players have so many doubts
that they change their minds. Like U˘gur Yildirim,
who played for the Dutch national side in 2005
and later went on to play for Turkey. Yildirim: “I
have always felt very Turkish. A Turk who grew up
in the Netherlands. I am glad about that, because
I was able to establish my name as a football
player in the Netherlands. But I prefer to live in
Turkey.”
11.17 Ibrahim Afellay, 2005.
11.18 Tibet is under Chinese occupation. Many Tibetans
have fled to India. They formed a national football
team there to focus attention on Tibet’s right
to independent existence. In 2008, the team
visited the Netherlands. Captain Tenzin Namgyal:
“We want to tell the truth. People have been
fleeing to India for forty, fifty years to live in exile,
because China violates human rights.” Coach
Kelsang Dhundup: “The most important thing is
to support peace through sports, not so much the
winning in itself.”
11.19 Football strengthens national sentiments. When
it comes down to it, the entire nation gets
behind the Dutch national side. A supporter says:
“During the 1998 World Cup, the match against
Mexico was my first ‘Orange’ international match
in a stadium. I will never forget that. We were
all dressed as Mexicans, with sombreros and
ponchos. But all orange, of course.”
11.20 “I am a huge fan of PSV. My room is covered
in scarves and posters of the best club in the
Netherlands. Since PSV usually with the national
title, I wear my shirt and scarf to the matches with
pride.”
Bart, 11 years old.
11.21 You play football with respect
11.22 “Football is a team sport. If everyone respects
their opponents, and their team mates too,
football will never be war.”
Kees Gerbrands, referee
11.23 The campaign “What do you do to keep football
fun?” is aimed at keeping football fun. Marco van
Basten: “Football is important to kids. These days
kids spend a lot of time in front of a television or
behind a computer. If you’re playing sports, you
are off the streets, you learn to deal with winning
and losing. In addition, and particularly in team
sports, you learn that you have to help each other
to achieve a good result.”
11.24 Poster KNVB campaign, 2009.
11.25 FC Twente helps ‘young drop-outs’ with the
project Scoren door Scholing (score through
education). Young people are given ten weeks of
lessons at the club’s training centre. Of the 130
drop-outs, 85% find a new purpose: education or
a job. Rodney Bloks: “When the players turned
up to train, we went to study. The goalkeeper,
Sander Boscker, talked to us about grabbing this
opportunity. That made an impression. Thanks to
FC Twente, I managed to follow an internship as
a teacher in a junior school. I know exactly what I
want to do now.”
11.26 Sander Boscker, goal keeper at FC Twente
11.27 The Schilderwijk neighbourhood in The Hague
is changing for the better. The Sporttuin in The
Hague is helping. Five hundred pupils from 10
different schools are members and are given
extra sports lessons. Karin Striekwold, director
of the Het Startpunt junior school: “A few years
ago we were always beaten at tournaments
and the children didn’t know how to behave
themselves. But from the moment we began to
win tournaments and the children were getting
compliments for sporting behaviour, everything
changed.”
11.28 “I have been playing in boys’ teams since I was
six. It’s much more fun and I get better because
of it. Sometimes the boys don’t like losing to a
girl. Then they will start calling me ugly names. I
think they should respect a girl who plays against
boys.”
Eefje, 13, Sporting ’70 D1.
14 15

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