West Germany 1954

This article was generously provided to ClubFootball by the British Council, which operates in China as the Cultural and Education Section of the British Embassy.

"The unifying mission of sport," espoused Gustav Wiederkehr, President of the Swiss FA in 1950, will help West Germany and they should be accepted into FIFA. Ben Lyttleton explores how their consequent victory in the 1954 World Cup helped the rebirth of the nation.
 
In The Sunday I Became World Champion, the German writer Friedrich Christian Delius wrote about his sickly 11-year-old self, a hypochondriac trapped in an ultra-Catholic family, listening to Herbert Zimmermann's radio commentary on the 1954 World Cup final between West Germany and Hungary.
 
"I was in a state of happiness that made me forget my stuttering, the psoriasis and the nose-bleed, where my conscience and God's pincers fell away from me," the child narrator said. "I had never felt that light before."
 
He is using the child as a metaphor for the state. West Germany in 1954 was still the pariah of the world, a country wracked by guilt and self-loathing. But on that day in Berne, the new Bonn republic was validated and the phrase of the time, "Wir sind wieder wer" (meaning, "we are somebody again") was applicable.
 
It was only in 1949 that Fifa permitted West German clubs to compete in friendlies against foreign sides. Although those games often suggested opponents' willingness to forgive and forget the war, it was a different matter with the national side.
 
Belgium strongly opposed West Germany's readmission into the world game, and it was only after intense lobbying from the president of the Swiss FA, Gustav Wiederkehr, who believed in "the unifying mission of sport", that West Germany was accepted into Fifa on September 22, 1950.
 
Germany's infrastructure was ravaged and basic commodities were scarce. Several teams wore red because the only widely available cloth was from redundant Nazi banners. At Hamm, gravestones were used to shore up the terraces.
 
Yet from the devastation a league grew up and the national team qualified for Switzerland after beating Saarland (in its five years of independence) and Norway.
 
West Germany lost 8-3 to Hungary in the group, but still reached the final where they again faced Hungary, unbeaten in over two years. Within eight minutes they were 2-0 down, but then goals from Max Morlock and Helmut Rahn levelled the scores.
 
The modern German side is respected for its battling nature, for its refusal to accept defeat, for its ability to somehow pull off the unlikeliest of victories. They were qualities on show that day in Berne.
 
With 12 minutes remaining, the most famous piece of commentary in German history: "Schaefer nach innen geflankt…[Schaefer puts in the cross] Kopfball [Header]… Abgewehrt [cleared]. Aus dem Hintergrund muesste Rahn shiessen… Rahn schiesst! Tor! Tor! Tor! Tor! [From deep Rahn must shoot… Rahn shoots! Goal! Goal! Goal! Goal!]"
 
Zimmermann fell silent. It was eight seconds before he spoke again. "Tor fuer Deutschland! Drei zu zwei fuehrt Deutschland. Halten Sie mich fuer verrueckt, halten Sie mich fuer uebergeschnappt! [Goal for Germany! Germany lead 3-2. Call me mad, call me crazy!"]
 
Every German fan knows the words. Yet such was Germany's lack of self-esteem at the time that Zimmermann was censured for being over-emotional, and several newspapers condemned overly nationalistic celebrations. In that one Rahn shot, a nation was reborn. They were somebody again.

By Ben Lyttleton, October 2003