Trautmanns Journey: From Hitler Youth to FA Cup Legend

This book should carry a warning: "Trautmann's Journey can seriously damage the mental and emotional health of Manchester City fans who.
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But a truly remarkable story — uncovered with immense skill by Catrine Clay and told in the authentic accents of this tough, driven, fierce-tempered sportsman — lies behind it.

A tough, blond, blue-eyed boy, he seems never to have spotted the resemblance between himself and his handsome, quick-fisted father. Dutifully, young Trautmann went to school; loyally, he helped his mother with her heavy housework. Meanwhile, in his spare time, the boy made a discovery that would transform his life. He possessed huge hands, a quick eye and a passion for handball — ideal qualities for a goalkeeper. In , the year that Hitler came to power, Trautmann was 10 years old.


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He belonged to the first generation of Hitler Youth, the eager children who had drummed into them that sport mattered more than learning — and that loyalty to Hitler might demand reporting their parents to the local Gauleiter Nazi Party leader. At the age of 13, Trautmann witnessed the Berlin Olympics. He watched 60, of the Hitler Youth marching; he admired the breathtakingly handsome boy, chosen as the Olympic torchbearer, who appeared to embody the heights of German athleticism. Clay, doing a marvellously unobtrusive job of filling in the gaps, points out that Sigfried Eifrig was picked for his Nordic good looks, not his modest sporting skills.

Trautmann was perplexed, however, when 18 black Americans took home 14 medals, including eight golds. Sitting around a radio, Trautmann and his chums heard about Kristallnacht and thought nothing of it.

But they don't understand, we had no mind of our own. Growing up under Hitler, you had no mind of your own. This plea of "knowing no better" is a comparatively rare direct quote.

Trautmann's Journey – From Hitler Youth to FA Cup legend | Football | The Guardian

The dilemma for any biographer who, like Clay, has had extensive access to their subject is how much to quote. Too much, and it becomes a first-person stream of consciousness. Clay's sober, detailed, well-told account perhaps errs a little the other way. It is expressed mostly in the third person, with most of the quotes coming from people recorded as having spoken to Trautmann.

There are times when one would like to hear a little more directly from him about his feelings and reactions, such as when he and a comrade on the Russian front see a massacre of Jews, or when he is buried for three days in a bombed building. His powers of detailed recall are evidently still formidable well into his 80s, but here again there is a hint of a lack of reflectiveness.

Perhaps, though, this is an attribute one is better off without when serving Nazism or in an era when goalkeepers dived headlong in crowded goalmouths. Huw Richards is the author of The Red and the White: Order by newest oldest recommendations. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem?

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Catrine Clay's 'Trautmann's Journey' from , is a very interesting biography that highlights Bert's early family life in Bremen, just as Hitler's machtergreifung began. Clay has written a well researched and at times quite graphic account of Trautmann's passage through the Hitler Youth movement, which he joined at the a Quite unlike the many football biogs that I have read, so included this one into my WWII shelf. Clay has written a well researched and at times quite graphic account of Trautmann's passage through the Hitler Youth movement, which he joined at the age of ten, and at seventeen spent three years on the Russian Front.

Not quite as horrific as Guy Sager's 'Forgotten Soldier', but it certainly has it's moments. Finally in northern France after D. Day, our hero is captured by the British in , and at the age of 22 finds himself in a P. It seems quite amazing today, but up to this point in his story, B. It was only through friendship with the locals that he played amateur football for St.

Hitler Youth - WWII Documentary

Helens before signing for Manchester City in He became the first German to appear in a Wembley Cup Final in , before appearing again the following year in the legendary final where he broke his neck and played on for the last fifteen minutes. He was born in , same year as my mother, and both are still kicking. Sep 01, Toby Turner rated it liked it. A departure from my usual reading but as a local hero to my neck of the woods although football wise as a Spurs fan not particularly a hero of mine.

The life of the goalkeeper with the broken neck is truly inspiring.

Trautmann's Journey: from Hitler Youth to FA Cup Legend by Catrine Clay: review

To have gone through the times that this man did and be able to both get through and be as regarded as he was for his humility and talent is amazing. As a read I found it a little slow and gained a knowledge of "Bert" but didn't feel like I'd heard this from his voice. For footbal A departure from my usual reading but as a local hero to my neck of the woods although football wise as a Spurs fan not particularly a hero of mine.