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Soccer-Fans Lay Wreaths at Dachau to Commemorate Nazi Victims
Soccer Football – Euro 2024 – Germany stages ‘Football and Remembrance’ program – Dachau concentration camp, Dachau, Germany – June 15, 2024 A bagpipe player with Scotland fans during the ceremony. Photo: REUTERS/Angelika Warmuth
Fans from Scotland, Ukraine, Germany, Israel and other nations laid wreaths at the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site on Saturday to commemorate victims of the Nazis, vowing “never again” and to use football as a force to unite people.
The group toured the camp and heard how the Nazis had persecuted Jewish footballers and coaches, forced prisoners to play soccer for propaganda before banning it, then allowed only some inmates to play under the camp’s hierarchy of privileges for different categories of prisoner.
Fans also heard the children of former camp victims tell their parents’ stories, walked in procession with a Scottish bagpiper.
Dachau is half an hour’s drive from Munich’s football stadium, where Euro 2024 began on Friday. It was one of the first concentration camps to be set up by the Nazis, weeks after Adolf Hitler took power in January, 1933.
“It is a somber place. You walk in and it is an uncomfortable feeling. But I think this sort of service is important to remember what happened, to make sure we learn from mistakes… it has opened our minds to a lot of things,” said Cole Cattanach, 21, a Scottish student from Falkirk, travelling through Germany to support the Scotland team.
Andreas Erbel, representing German football fans, said he came to the commemoration to help protect democracy.
“I wanted to show that there is also a counterweight to the move to the right across Europe, that there are more people… who are open to the world.”
“During Euro 2024 many people will come to us in Germany and it is a chance for us to live out this togetherness.”
In the 12 years before its liberation by American soldiers in 1945, over 200,000 people were imprisoned at Dachau, among them the Jewish president of Bayern Munich soccer club Kurt Landauer. At least 41,500 died at in the camp and its satellite sites.
Saturday’s event comes amid Germany’s nationwide “Football and Remembrance” program for Euro 2024, looking at how the Nazis murdered athletes and used soccer for their own ends, with tours at historical sites close to the host cities.
FOOTBALL AT DACHAU
The Nazi SS guards had photos taken in 1933 showing prisoners playing football at Dachau, most likely to try and deceive the outside world that inmates were well treated.
Football was then banned at the camp until 1943, when the Nazis needed to use the fittest prisoners for munitions manufacturing, and so allowed the sport as a perk. However, Jewish prisoners, at the very bottom in the Nazi’s racist hierarchy of prisoners, were excluded.
The football pitch on sandy ground was by the camp’s roll call square.
“What we know from survivor accounts is that you could always notice the smell of burning bodies in the air, you saw the perimeter fence, and the emaciated prisoners. These were football games under extreme conditions,” said Maximilian Luetgens, a historian at Dachau who is leading the historical tours.
On display is a wooden football trophy, carved in 1944 by a prisoner for a tournament between teams of inmates. It was won by a group of political prisoners from Luxembourg.
Visitors can also see a poster designed by prisoners, showing two players, framed by barbed wire and with the triangle badges worn by inmates from Poland, the Czech Republic and Luxembourg.
“This work is so important, because there is unfortunately an increase in racism in European football, and there are racist, antisemitic and homophobic chants,” said Luetgens.
Bernd Neuendorf, President of Germany’s Football Association wrote in an introduction to the Football and Remembrance program, “People from all continents will come to us to peacefully celebrate and support their teams… Nevertheless, we also want to use this tournament to remember the dark sides of German history and reflect for a moment.”
The post Soccer-Fans Lay Wreaths at Dachau to Commemorate Nazi Victims first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Harris, Trump Are in Tight Race in Michigan and Wisconsin, NYT/Siena College Opinion Poll Shows
Democratic presidential nominee and US Vice President Kamala Harris waves from the stage on Day 4 of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, US, Aug. 22, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Kevin Wurm
Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and her Republican rival Donald Trump are in a tight race in the key states of Michigan and Wisconsin, according to an opinion poll by the New York Times and Siena College released on Saturday.
The NYT/Siena College poll found that Harris received 48% support among likely voters in Michigan with Trump garnering 47%, while in Wisconsin Harris holds 49% support to Trump’s 47%.
The surveys were conducted by telephone between Sept. 21 to 26, where interviewers spoke with 688 likely voters in Michigan and 680 likely voters in Wisconsin.
The margin for sampling error among likely voters is about plus or minus four percentage points for each poll.
The polls also found that Harris had a lead of nine percentage points over Trump in Nebraska’s Second Congressional District, whose lone electoral vote could be decisive in the Electoral College.
The post Harris, Trump Are in Tight Race in Michigan and Wisconsin, NYT/Siena College Opinion Poll Shows first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Regional Politicians, Others React to Killing of Hezbollah’s Nasrallah
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a joint statement to the media in Baghdad, Iraq, April 22, 2024. Photo: AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/Pool via REUTERS
The following are reactions by regional politicians and others to the killing of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut on Friday:
IRAN’S FOREIGN MINISTRY
The ministry said in a statement that Nasrallah’s “path will continue and his goal will be realized in Jerusalem’s liberation”.
YEMEN’S IRAN-ALIGNED HOUTHIS
The group said it mourned the killing of Nasrallah, adding: “The martyrdom … will increase the strength of sacrifice … determination and continuity.”
MOHAMMED SHIA AL-SUDANI, IRAQ’S PRIME MINISTER
He said the killing of Nasrallah showed “the reckless desire to expand the conflict at the expense of all the peoples of the region and their security and stability.”
HERZI HALEVI, ISRAEL’S CHIEF OF THE GENERAL STAFF
“Nasrallah indiscriminately murdered Israeli civilians and aimed to end this war with the destruction of the State of Israel. We made sure that did not occur. We eliminated him, and we will continue to grow stronger. Hezbollah has murdered innocent people worldwide, hiding his weapons under the homes of families, women and children and turning them into human shields. As we have shown, we will not allow such a threat to our citizens. We are determined to continue destroying the Hezbollah terrorist organization and to keep fighting.”
MOQTADA EL SADR, IRAQI SHI’ITE MUSLIM POLITICIAN
He said he mourned Nasrallah as “his companion in resistance”.
GEBRAN BASSIL, LEADING LEBANESE CHRISTIAN POLITICIAN
He said he mourned the death of Nasrallah as a major loss and said it was a hard time for all Lebanese, adding: “In the face of the Israeli enemy, we have no choice but to be together as Lebanese.”
MICHEL AOUN, FORMER LEBANESE PRESIDENT
In a statement mourning Nasrallah, he referred to “the dangers our country is witnessing as a result of the ongoing Israeli aggression which requires rising to the highest level of national solidarity that protects and fortifies our unity because that is the true salvation”.
SAAD AL-HARIRI, FORMER LEBANESE PRIME MINISTER
“The assassination of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has plunged Lebanon and the region into a new phase of violence. It is a cowardly act condemned in its entirety by us, who paid dearly for the lives of our loved ones when assassination became an alternative to politics. May God have mercy on Sayyed Hassan and my sincere condolences to his family and comrades. We often disagreed with the deceased and his party and met a few times, but Lebanon was everyone’s tent. In this extremely difficult phase, our unity and solidarity remain the foundation.”
TURKISH PRESIDENT TAYYIP ERDOGAN
In a post on X after the killing of Nasrallah but which did not name him, Erdogan said he condemned recent attacks in Lebanon as part of what he called an Israeli policy of “genocide, occupation, and invasion” and said the Muslim world should show a more “determined” stance.
The post Regional Politicians, Others React to Killing of Hezbollah’s Nasrallah first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Iran’s Khamenei: ‘Zionist Criminals Too Weak to Succeed Again the Resistance’
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during a meeting with a group of students in Tehran, Iran, Nov. 2, 2022. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
i24 News – Responding on Saturday to the assassination by Israel of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has delivered familiar staples of Islamist rhetoric.
“The killing of defenseless civilians in Lebanon,” he said, “has once again revealed the savage nature of the rabid Zionists to everyone. On the other hand, it has proven how shortsighted and insane the policies of the leaders of the occupying regime are.”
The cleric inveighed against “the terrorist gang ruling the Zionist regime” that “hasn’t learned from its yearlong criminal war in Gaza & doesn’t understand the massacre of women, children and civilians cannot hurt the strong structure of Resistance or bring it to its knees. Now they’re testing the same absurd policy in Lebanon.”
“The Zionist criminals need to know that they are far too weak to be able to inflict any significant damage on the solid structure of Lebanon’s Hezbollah. All the Resistance forces in the region stand with and support Hezbollah. The Resistance forces will determine the fate of this region with the honorable Hezbollah leading the way.”
The post Iran’s Khamenei: ‘Zionist Criminals Too Weak to Succeed Again the Resistance’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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