Purging the Past before the World Cup

This is a dimension, as reported in the NYT, to the upcoming World Cup probably most people had not even thought of.

"Hoping to cleanse themselves of their Nazi past before the World Cup starts, German soccer leaders have broadened their examination of their shameful history in the Third Reich and embraced their critics.

The German soccer federation (DFB), now eager to come to terms with its enthusiastic support of the Nazis during the Hitler era after covering it up for six decades, has thrown open its soul, and archives, to try to purge that nightmare past".

As the article in the NYT [read it here] reveals - and it is worth reading what the Germans are attempting to do, even if somewhat belatedly, before the forthcoming World Cup:

"There were some 40,000 Jews in German sport clubs -- or about one-tenth of pre-war Jewish population of 400,000. By 1945, there were only a few thousand Jews alive in Germany."

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Mahler's Prodigal Son

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