Borussia Dortmund football club take a stand against antisemitism in football
German football club Borussia Dortmund has hosted a conference aimed at tackling antisemitism in world football.
The club organised the event in collaboration with the German Football League, the Central Council of Jews in Germany and the World Jewish Congress.
Problems with the far-right loom large in Borussia Dortmund’s history. Though it does not distinguish the club from many other German organisations at the time, the club’s chairman in the 1930s was a member of the Nazi Party. During the 1980s, the club’s fanbase included the Borussenfront, a far-right faction who would regularly target Dortmund’s Turkish population and sing songs about sending fans of arch-rivals Schalke to Auschwitz.
During a 2013 Champions League match with Ukraine’s Shaktar Donetsk, a group of far-right Dortmund fans launched themselves at fan representative Jens Volke and Thilo Danielsmeyer, the leader of the Dortmund Fan Project, a group founded in 1988 to combat xenophobia and racism and promote tolerance and inclusion. Mr Volke was struck in the face when he confronted three neo-Nazis chanting far-right slogans. Mr Danielsmeyer was followed into a toilet and then beaten.
For some time, Borussia Dortmund appeared reluctant to recognise the problem of far-right activism and antisemitism among a minority of its fans.
Recently, however, the club has made strenuous efforts to challenge this culture, and reach out to the Jewish community. The club’s Head of Corporate Responsibility, Daniel Lörcher, said that making “clear statements against antisemitism” had a huge impact on the city’s Jews, who now feel that their home town is “against antisemitism and is open for Jewish people.”
Tottenham Hotspur also hosted a conference this week that includes tackling antisemitism on its agenda, after the event was moved from Chelsea Football Club in light of recent events.
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