Nazi symbols at White Hart Lane 1935

English and German fans crowd outside the turnstiles

White Hart Lane, 1935

History Today

Despite the War To End All Wars/WW1 and despite tension rising between the countries, Brit­ain maintained st­rong links with Germany; visits between sports clubs and societies were common. German-English football has been important since the 2 nations played their first full international in Berlin in 1930. I don’t remember the 1935 game so I have repeated Olive Price’s journal article closely.

In Dec 1935 England played Germany at White Hart Lane Stadium in North London, home of Tottenham Hotspur FC, winning 3-0. The fixture was cont­ent­ious because by late 1935 the Nazi Party had been in power for nearly 3 years; Germ­any was considered in some British govern­mental minis­t­ries as a potent­ial enemy. And weeks be­fore the German team trav­elled to London, the German Reichstag passed the ugly Nuremberg Laws

The British Anti-Nazi Council and Trade Union Congress-TUC lob­bied the Football Association-FA and the gov­ernment to cancel the game. Concerns were heightened because it had the potential to be used as a political de­mon­s­tration by the Nazi government. Unease grew aft­er it was said that thousands of German fans would follow their team to UK. These fans were plan­ning a march through Jewish residential areas in Lo­ndon eg Stamford Hill bef­ore the mat­ch, wearing Nazi badges. The British government av­oided involvement, arguing that it was a private affair organised by private officials. It would not intervene unless the match led to a breach of the peace.

German footballers sing their national anthem and give Nazi salute, 

White Hart Lane London 1935, 

Mirror

In the build-up to the match, England’s Jewish Chronicle regretted that a game would be played against a dangerous country. But the paper was largely alone in its al­arm; much of the popular press we­lcomed the fixture and crit­ic­ised those who wanted it can­celled. The Evening News st­at­ed if German foot­ball enthus­iasts want to cheer on the German team by waving Swastikas, let them wave. Dai­ly Mail warmly welc­om­ed the German team and cr­it­ic­ised the TUC!

In Dec 1935 the German team flew in. German officials explain­ed to waiting journalists that they were not interested in the politics of the game. German coach Otto Nerz informed reporters that they had no ass­ociation with the Ger­man government; they came for the game alone.

Thousands of German fans did follow the team to London, av­oiding troub­le. Before the game, some of them laid a wreath at the Cenotaph to hon­our Britain’s WW1 dead and others were given guided bus tours of Lon­don. Some of the guides were German-Jewish refugees who’d moved to UK.

Before kick-off there were small protests near White Hart Lane, but nei­t­her the rumoured Fascist marches nor large anti-Nazi demonstrations materialised. The only incident came when a spectator climbed onto the West Stand roof and cut down the rope holding a swast­ika flag. He was arrested and the flag was quickly re-raised.

Both national anthems were pl­ayed before the game and the German fans gave the Nazi salute for each. German fans waved hundreds of sm­all swas­tika flags at exciting moments, but the actual game-time gave them very little optim­ism; Eng­land com­f­or­tably won. The German play­ers were am­ateurs, with a butcher, cob­b­ler and some clerks; and German team off­ic­ials had admitted to the British pr­ess that they were cer­tain to lose. Yet the game was played in a good spirit, with the Daily Mirror even remarking: Doesn’t sport reconcile, doesn’t it bring nations toget­her; can’t we kill war with perpetual football?

Post-match, the FA invited their German counterparts to dinner at Lon­d­on’s Victoria Hotel. F.A president Sir George Clegg apolog­is­ed to the German party for pre-match protests and critic­is­ed the TUC for interf­er­ing. Toasts were offered around the room, including to Adolf Hitler.

excited German football fans give Nazi salute, 

White Hart Lane London 1935, 

History Today

The visit may have been used for propaganda purposes by the Nazis. But the swastika probably did not have the same shock value then, and in any case Britain had its own far-right party, The British Union of Fascists/BUF under Fas­cist Oswald Mosley, claimed 50,000 members. The BUF never used the swastika; as an ultra nationalist move­ment, it used the union jack instead. The British Establishment was ready to give Hitler the benefit of the doubt, as seen in appeasement speeches.

**

Now let me, Helen, note that in Sept 1935, Germany’s Nuremberg race laws proh­ib­ited sexual relations between Jews and persons of German/related blood. The first camps were already built, although with no gas chambers yet; the first pol­it­ical and religious protesters were already removed from their families; and minorities groups were al­ready persecuted. Did the British Government and the F.A not know? Or did they not care?

The match had been arranged with­out the British Go­vern­ment's involvement. As for threats to London’s large Jewish community, Tottenham's Weekly Her­ald wrote the extent of the Spurs Jew­ish fans was often overstated. Yet the Herald admitted that horrified let­ters had been sent to Spurs from indiv­idual Jews and Jewish organisat­ions. A boycott was sug­gested and protests threatened. Sp­urs simply forwarded the letters to the FA, re­minding them that it was their respons­ibility to keep order. In­­t­ensive police precaut­ions WERE taken to prev­ent disorder in­ and out of the stadium, but the 1000 police found no­th­ing. In fact Jewish protests in the Weekly Herald won lit­tle sym­p­at­hy from the general British public who resented introducing politics into sport.

But it wasn’t only English supporters in the stadium: c20,000 German support­ers ac­companied the team! Note the invasion by thousands of Ger­man supporters excited the most media in­terest, not the football. Heaps of cross-Chan­nel steam­ers ad­ver­t­ised intensely for German fans, followed by London-bound trains and buses.

While the two teams and officials enjoyed a post-match feast, thou­s­ands of German visitors were hurried back on to trains for the return journey. By late that night they’d van­ished from London, sent on their way by a flood of protests at Vic­toria Station. Yet British fans who were arrested were all work­ing class and mostly socialist demonstrators. Many had all served recent prison sent­ences for anti-Nazi protests eg pinning offensive and in­sulting lit­erature at Victoria Station! Shame Britain shame!