The idea feels wrong. It’s a gut-punch to the senses. When we think of Auschwitz-Birkenau, we see the rusted gates, the stacks of suitcases, and the haunting silence of the gas chambers. We don't usually picture 22 men in shorts chasing a ball across a patch of grass. But honestly, it happened. If you’ve ever wondered did Auschwitz have a soccer team, the answer is a complicated, harrowing yes.
It wasn't just one team. There were many.
Soccer in the camps wasn't about "sportsmanship" or the "glory of the game." It was a bizarre, cruel tool used by the SS for propaganda and a desperate survival mechanism for the prisoners who played. It’s one of those historical details that makes your skin crawl because it feels so normal in a place that was anything but.
The Pitch Next to the Crematorium
The most famous—and arguably most disturbing—soccer matches took place at Auschwitz II-Birkenau. There was a flat section of ground right next to the gas chambers and Crematoria II and III. People were literally dying a few hundred yards away while a whistle blew.
Primo Levi, a survivor and chemist who wrote If This Is a Man, mentioned these games. He described the "gray people" (the prisoners) watching the matches. It’s hard to wrap your head around. Imagine the smell of burning flesh hanging in the air while a goalie dives for a save. That was the reality.
Matches were usually played on Sundays. Sunday was technically a "day of rest" for some prisoners, though that’s a loose term in a death camp. The SS guards loved it. They would bet on games. They’d set up leagues between different work commands (Kommandos). Even the Sonderkommando—the units of prisoners forced to handle the bodies from the gas chambers—had a team.
Think about that for a second.
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These men would spend their mornings dragging bodies and their afternoons playing soccer against the very guards who were overseeing the genocide. It sounds like a sick movie script, but it’s documented history.
Why Did the SS Allow Soccer?
You’ve got to ask: why? Why would the Nazis bother with sports in a place designed for industrial-scale murder?
- Propaganda: Red Cross visits were rare, but the Nazis wanted to be ready. If a visitor saw a soccer game, it suggested the camp was a "labor camp" with recreational facilities rather than a slaughterhouse.
- Control: It kept the "privileged" prisoners occupied. Kapos (prisoner-overseers) and those with slightly better jobs were often the ones playing. It gave them a reason to stay alive and a reason to cooperate.
- Boredom: The SS guards were often bored. They were stationed in the middle of occupied Poland, surrounded by death. Soccer was their Sunday entertainment.
The games were intense. Tadeusz Borowski, a Polish writer and survivor, wrote a famous short story called "This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen." In it, he describes a soccer game. He narrates how, between two corner kicks, three thousand people were taken to the gas chambers. He writes it with a chilling detachment that captures the surreal nature of life in the camp. The game didn't stop because the trucks arrived. The ball just kept moving.
Survival and "Extra" Rations
For the prisoners, the question of did Auschwitz have a soccer team wasn't an academic one—it was a life-and-death calculation. If you were good at soccer, you might get an extra bowl of soup. You might get a job that kept you indoors.
Ron Jones, known as the "Goalkeeper of Auschwitz," was a British POW held in E715, a sub-camp of Auschwitz. He actually organized a league. Because they were British POWs, they were treated slightly better than the Jewish prisoners under the Geneva Convention (though that was often ignored). They had actual kits sent by the Red Cross.
Jones recalled playing games against the SS. He said they played "for their lives." If they won, they felt a momentary sense of dignity. If they lost, they feared the consequences. It’s a level of pressure no modern athlete could ever comprehend.
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The Jewish Teams and the Sonderkommando
While POWs and Polish political prisoners played, the Jewish prisoners were in a much tighter spot. For them, soccer was even more of a "privilege" reserved for the few who weren't yet slated for the "final solution."
There are accounts of matches between the Sonderkommando and the SS guards. Miklós Nyiszli, a doctor who worked under Josef Mengele, wrote about these in his memoirs. He described a game where the SS and the Sonderkommando played together. It was a moment of "normality" that was arguably the most abnormal thing about the camp. It was a mask. Once the game ended, the players went back to their respective roles: the executioners and the soon-to-be-executed.
The teams didn't have names like "Manchester United" or "Real Madrid." They were identified by their work units. The "Kitchen Team" vs. the "Hospital Team." The "Electricians" vs. the "Carpenters."
The Skill Level: Was it Actually Good?
Believe it or not, some of these guys were pros before the war.
In many European countries, Jewish athletes were stars of the 1930s. When they were deported to Auschwitz, their reputations sometimes preceded them. Some Kapos or SS officers who were soccer fans would recognize a famous player and pull them out of the selection line to play on their unit's team.
It was a stay of execution. As long as you could play, you were useful. But once you got injured? Once you became a Muselmann (the camp slang for those so emaciated they had given up)? You were sent to the chimneys.
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The Moral Ambiguity of Playing
Looking back, it’s easy to judge. Why would they play? How could they run around while their families were being murdered?
But that’s a luxury of the living.
When you’re in a place like Auschwitz, your brain does weird things to protect itself. You compartmentalize. You play because if you don't, you die. You play because for 90 minutes, you aren't a number—you're a midfielder. You play because a win feels like a tiny, insignificant thumb in the eye of the Third Reich.
Understanding the "Soccer" Legacy
Today, when you visit the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum, the "soccer pitch" isn't a prominent feature. It’s just a patch of grass. But for historians, it’s a vital piece of the puzzle. It shows how the Nazis used "civilization" to mask barbarism.
If you're researching this, you should check out the work of historians like Robert Jan van Pelt or read the memoirs of survivors like Tadeusz Borowski. They don't sugarcoat it. There are no "inspiring sports movie" endings here. Most of the men who played on those teams didn't survive the war.
The soccer matches at Auschwitz are a reminder that even in the darkest hole humanity ever dug for itself, the rhythms of "normal" life persisted in the most twisted ways possible. It wasn't about the sport. It was about the terrifying human capacity to normalize the unthinkable.
How to Learn More About This History
If you want to dig deeper into the reality of sports in the Holocaust, here are the most effective steps to take:
- Read "This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen" by Tadeusz Borowski. It’s arguably the most visceral account of the soccer matches ever written. It’s short, brutal, and honest.
- Visit the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum website. They have extensive archives and digital exhibits that detail the daily lives of prisoners, including recreational "activities" forced upon them.
- Search for the story of Ron Jones. His interviews provide a unique perspective from the POW side of the camp system, which differed significantly from the experiences of Jewish prisoners.
- Look into the "League of Theresienstadt." While not Auschwitz, this was a highly organized soccer league in the Theresienstadt ghetto/camp. A documentary called Bethlehem (or Liga Terezin) explores how the Nazis filmed these matches for a propaganda movie called The Führer Gives a City to the Jews.
- Consult the Yad Vashem archives. They hold records and testimonies regarding the "privileged" prisoners and the various ways the SS manipulated sports for their own amusement.
Knowing about these matches doesn't change the tragedy of the Holocaust, but it adds a layer of complexity to our understanding of prisoner psychology and the sheer cruelty of the SS administration. It shows that even a game can be turned into a weapon in the wrong hands. Soccer at Auschwitz wasn't a game; it was a symptom of a world gone completely mad.