Der FC Bayern München im „Dritten Reich“. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichtspolitik des deutschen Rekordmeisters

Since 1945, FC Bayern Munich has presented its role in the Third Reich as that of a victim of the National Socialist dictatorship. In contrast to many other football clubs, the club claims to have resisted the regime’s numerous expectations. Because of this allegedly courageous behavior, FC Bayern purports to have been “systematically discriminated against”. But since May 2016 have considerable doubts arisen. There is now evidence that FC Bayern’s self-image is a historical football myth that cannot withstand critical scrutiny. What is still missing, however, is a detailed description and critical analysis of the individual components of the historical myth. It is precisely this task that this article undertakes. Beginning with a brief historical overview of the current state of research on football clubs in the Third Reich, it then focuses on the various stages of the emergence of the historical myth from 1945 to the present day. It covers the arguments with which FC Bayern justified its alleged victim role. The most comprehensive section then goes through previously unknown archive sources, which prove that FC Bayern did not play the role of victim or even hero under the dictatorship. The penultimate section classifies FC Bayern’s history policy, insofar as it relates to the Nazi era, in the changing periods of the German culture of remembrance. The final section shows FC Bayern’s self-image in the Third Reich as a historical-political anachronism, and it also identifies future directions for research.