Overview

• The DFB is addressing its Nazi-era ties, including leadership roles held by former NSDAP members like Peco Bauwens and Hermann Gösmann, who faced little scrutiny after the war.
• Artifacts like the Tschammerpokal trophy, with a concealed swastika under the DFB emblem, symbolize decades of unexamined continuity in football governance.
• Only 1.4% of Germans were classified as main culprits during Allied denazification, enabling many former Nazis to reintegrate into influential positions, including in football.
• Since the early 2000s, initiatives like the Julius Hirsch prize and fan-led remembrance projects have shifted focus to uncovering the Nazi affiliations of football officials.
• Ongoing research by historian Pascal Trees and planned updates to the Deutsches Fußballmuseum aim to provide a deeper reckoning with the sport's Nazi-era entanglements by 2026.