Did the Nazis murder Austria’s Greatest Sportsman?
May 18, 2010 by Matt Horner | No Comments
Matthias Sindelar was one of the greatest footballers of his generation. Tall, blond, and athletic, Sindelar could have been a creation of Goebbels’ master race propaganda machine. However, the Austrian’s mysterious death, at the age of just 35, left many people questioning whether the player nicknamed ‘the Paper Man’ had been the victim of a [...]
Dick Seaman: British Motor Racing Driver and Nazi Hero
May 7, 2010 by Diana Horner | No Comments
Dick Seaman, British racing car driver, died during the Belgian Grand Prix, on 25th June 1939, 66 days before Great Britain finally declared war on Germany. Adolf Hitler, a fan of the Mercedes Benz driver who drove with a Swastika on his car, sent a lavish wreath to the funeral.
NFL Hero Jack Lummus: from New York to Iwo Jima
May 4, 2010 by Diana Horner | No Comments
World War II cut short many a promising sports career. Brave men were in great demand for front line duties, and unsurprisingly, the guys who stood tall and strong on the touchline, also formed the core of many a crack fighting team on foreign soil. One such athlete, was Andrew ‘Jack’ Lummus, a Texan, who showed [...]
Cricket, Hitler style.
May 3, 2010 by Diana Horner | No Comments
One chapter in the recently published book ‘Unreliable Sources: How the Twentieth Century was Reported’, by John Simpson, drew the excited attention of journalists around the world. ‘Blue shirts and blitzkrieg? It’s just not cricket’ ran the headline from Ben McIntyre, in the Times Newspaper (18.03.10). Simpson refers in his book, to an incident reported [...]
Bert Trautmann: From Iron Cross to OBE
May 3, 2010 by Matt Horner | 1 Comment
Forget Sylvester Stallone’s dramatic penalty-saving antics in Escape to Victory, the most remarkable prisoner of war goalkeeper story belongs to former Manchester City stopper Bert Trautmann. German Trautmann’s incredible journey took him from Hitler Youth to Wembley, via the Eastern front and a spell in a north of England POW camp. Now aged 87, Trautmann [...]
Moe Berg: Baseball’s Secret Agent
May 2, 2010 by Matt Horner | 1 Comment
In late October 1934, the Empress of Japan set sail from Vancouver heading for Yokohama, Japan. Among the passengers were an All-Star party of Major League baseball players, who—despite strained US-Japan relations—were on a mission to spread the joys of America’s national game. The star of the team was Babe Ruth, but it was a back-up [...]
Tackling Hitler – the book
April 1, 2010 by Matt Horner | 2 Comments
TACKLING HITLER, a new book of stories about sportsmen and sportswomen who faced the Nazis, is due to be published in 2012. The book, written by Matthew Horner, will tell inspiring and remarkable tales of courage, espionage, and rebellion, and incredible stories of appeasement, collaboration and murder.