Among the people who stand in front of the rotteck street 2, many members and supporters of Eintracht Frankfurt. This is because in the house that used to stand at this point, once the Jewish sports and a local journalist Max Behrens lived. The Concord was Behrens, who wrote, among other things, for the “Frankfurter Zeitung”, time life closely connected, in Frankfurt, he was called admiringly “the walking football encyclopedia” or simply “thickness Max”. The Nazis persecuted and imprisoned him in the prison suffered damage to health have led probably to his early death. A total of 26 stumbling blocks that remind us of the victims of the Nazi regime, were revealed last weekend in Frankfurt.
The Concord Museum has to bear things to know about Behrens’ story together. In front of the rotteck street 2 Museum Director Matthias Thoma presents to the audience the life and services of sports journalists. Behrens was born in 1897, served as a war volunteer in the First world war and moved to a job in the “Hamburger Anzeiger” in 1920 from the Elbe to the Main. Since the twenties he was a member of the Concord, in 1929, he received the needle of honour of the Association.
$ 50,000 for tribune of the Concord
After the “seizure of power” Hitler Behrens suffered from the persecution by the national socialists. In 1936, he was imprisoned for two and a half years because of “racial shame in two cases”. Then he managed to escape with the assistance of the Consulate of the United States. After his arrival in America he was as a laborer, from 1945 on, he worked as a sports reporter. In 1949, he was again awarded the badge of honor of the Concord.
From 1950 to organized Behrens tours of German football teams by America. The first team, the Want for a “Good Tour” in the United States traveled, was the Hamburger SV. A year later, the Eintracht Frankfurt followed. At the time of their trip through America, the Concord received a donation in the amount of $ 50,000 for the construction of a new grandstand at the Ried forest.
“stones against Forgetting”
On 12. November 1952, died Behrens in New York of a heart attack. The F. A. Z. reported at the time in a short message: “Max Behrens, and ,from 1920 up to the power sports takeover Rapporteur of the Frankfurter Zeitung, is in new York at the age of 55 of a heart attack and succumbed.” The Doctors suspected that his death was in connection with prosecution and imprisonment.
Almost seventy years later, mayor Uwe Becker (CDU), representatives of the Concord, two employees of the US Consulate, witnesses, and interested members of the front of the property to the rotteck street now. It rolls out a Banner on the “stones against Forgetting” is, and before speaking about the “big Max”, you hear a violin piece.
