Judenklub

Lore & Background

The term Judenklub was used by the Nazis to stigmatize association football clubs perceived as having strong Jewish heritage and connections. Among the most prominent clubs referred to in such a way were FC Bayern München (Munich), FK Austria Wien, Eintracht Frankfurt and FSV Frankfurt. FC Bayern München, founded in the bohemian Munich suburb of Schwabing, had a Jewish leadership before the Nazis' rise to power and won its first German championship in 1932 under a Jewish president and coach. After 1933, president Kurt Landauer, director of the youth department Otto Beer, and coach Richard Dombi had to leave the club because of their Jewish background, and the club consequently declined, losing many members. Bayern had very limited success in the Gauliga Bayern during the Nazi era but continued small acts of defiance, such as acknowledging former president Landauer during a friendly in Switzerland in 1943, where he had emigrated.

Reader's Guide

FK Austria Wien, based in Vienna, had from its formation been led and influenced by Jewish citizens. The club experienced little antisemitic behavior until the Anschluss of Austria into Nazi Germany in March 1938, after which it was forced to change its name to SC Ostmark, evict all its Jewish members, and experienced only limited success in the Gauliga Ostmark. Austria Wien's Jewish president, Michl Schwarz, escaped Nazi Germany like Bayern Munich's Kurt Landauer but had a much more difficult time evading arrest. Both men led their clubs once more after the Second World War. For many decades after the war, the Jewish past and Nazi-era events received little attention from FC Bayern München until the 2011 publication of the book Der FC Bayern und seine Juden (FC Bayern and their Jews), which renewed interest. The term Judenklub has also been used in recent times in reporting on antisemitic chants and attacks by rival fan groups on non-German clubs such as Tottenham Hotspur, AFC Ajax, RSC Anderlecht, SK Slavia Prague, MTK Budapest FC, and KS Cracovia.

Did You Know?

• The term Judenklub was applied to FC Bayern München, FK Austria Wien, Eintracht Frankfurt, and FSV Frankfurt during the Nazi era.
• FC Bayern München acknowledged its former Jewish president Kurt Landauer during a friendly in Switzerland in 1943.
• After the Anschluss, FK Austria Wien was forced to change its name to SC Ostmark and evict all Jewish members.
• The term has been used in recent times in reporting on antisemitic chants against clubs like Tottenham Hotspur and AFC Ajax.

The Term and Its Nazi-Era Targets

The phrase "Judenklub," translating simply as "Jew club," served as a derogatory label wielded throughout the Nazi period in both Germany and Austria. It was aimed squarely at association football clubs whose leadership, membership, or founding identity was deeply intertwined with the Jewish community. The clubs most prominently singled out under this branding included FC Bayern München, FK Austria Wien, Eintracht Frankfurt, and FSV Frankfurt. The designation was never purely verbal. It accompanied tangible acts of exclusion: Jewish presidents, directors, and coaches were forced out of their roles, Jewish members were expelled from the clubs, and in at least one case a club was compelled to change its very name. In this way, the term encapsulated a wider state-driven campaign to sever Jewish connections from German and Austrian sport, reducing institutions that had flourished for decades into symbols of contempt.

FC Bayern München – Triumph, Purge, and Quiet Defiance

Founded in the bohemian Munich suburb of Schwabing, FC Bayern München enjoyed a period of genuine success before the Nazi takeover. In 1932 the club captured its first German championship under the guidance of a Jewish president and a Jewish coach. That achievement was short-lived. By 1933, president Kurt Landauer, youth director Otto Beer, and coach Richard Dombi were all compelled to depart because of their Jewish heritage. The club's fortunes collapsed in their absence, and it lost a substantial portion of its membership. Bayern was never a favorite of the Nazi establishment, which favored local rival TSV 1860 München, and the club managed only modest results in the Gauliga Bayern. Yet even under occupation, small gestures of solidarity persisted: during a 1943 friendly in Switzerland, the team publicly acknowledged former president Landauer, who had emigrated there. For decades after the war, the club largely avoided confronting this chapter of its history.

FK Austria Wien – The Anschluss and Michl Schwarz

FK Austria Wien, based in Vienna, had been shaped from its very inception by Jewish citizens who led and influenced the club. For years the environment remained relatively free of the kind of hostility that would later define the Nazi era. That changed abruptly with the Anschluss in March 1938, when Austria was absorbed into Nazi Germany. The consequences for Austria Wien were severe: the club was forced to adopt the temporary name SC Ostmark, was required to evict all of its Jewish members, and saw its competitive standing diminish to a limited degree of success in the Gauliga Ostmark. The club's Jewish president, Michl Schwarz, fled the country much as Bayern Munich's Kurt Landauer had, though Schwarz's escape was markedly more perilous, involving a far more difficult struggle to evade arrest. Remarkably, after the Second World War ended, Schwarz returned to lead his club once again, mirroring Landauer's postwar role at Bayern.

Aftermath, Memory, and the Term's Modern Echoes

For many decades following the end of the Second World War, the Jewish heritage of clubs like Bayern München and the events of the Nazi period received little attention from the institutions themselves. The club in question, for various reasons, had been reluctant to openly address its own history under the regime. That silence began to break in 2011 with the publication of the book Der FC Bayern und seine Juden, which rekindled public and scholarly interest in the subject. In more recent times, the term "Judenklub" has resurfaced beyond its original historical context. It now appears in academic literature and in German-language press coverage documenting antisemitic chants and attacks directed at non-German football clubs with Jewish heritage or connections. Among the teams named in such reports are Tottenham Hotspur, AFC Ajax, RSC Anderlecht, SK Slavia Prague, MTK Budapest FC, and KS Cracovia. The persistence of the phrase in these modern contexts underscores that the legacy of Nazi-era antisemitism in sport remains an unresolved and actively contested issue.