!Never Again – 17th ‘day of commemoration in German football’
27 January 2021 – Today, it will be 76 years to the day since the survivors at the Auschwitz concentration camp were freed from captivity. In remembrance of the victims of Nazism, the DFL and the DFL Foundation are once again supporting the ‘day of commemoration in German football’ – an action by the ‘!Nie Wieder’ (!Never Again) initiative – during the 2020-21 season of the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2.
On the 17th ‘day of commemoration in German football’, the focus will be on the people who were stigmatised, brutally persecuted and murdered because of their sexual and gender identity during Nazi rule. Thousands were sentenced to imprisonment or transported to concentration camps. There, stigmatised by the ‘pink triangle’ – a pink fabric triangle on their prisoner’s clothing – they had virtually no chance of survival. ‘Totgeschlagen, totgeschwiegen’ (beaten to death, hushed up) – today, triangular memorial plaques bearing these two words at various locations in Germany remind us of their fate.
There is no place for discrimination in football
The ability to express your sexual and gender identity freely is one of the incontrovertible human rights. German football emphatically champions these values and ideas. There is no place for any form of discrimination, racism or anti-Semitism in our society or in football.
Together with the Federal Foundation Magnus Hirschfeld, the DFL and the DFL Foundation have been advocating tolerance in professional football for many years with the slogan ‘Fußball für Vielfalt’ (football for diversity). In 2013, what was then known as the ‘Ligaverband’ – today’s DFL e.V. – signed the ‘Berlin declaration’, a commitment to actively champion the acceptance of sexual diversity.
PFiFF supports projects promoting tolerance and tackling discrimination in football
In addition, the DFL is in communication with the ‘Queer Football Fanclubs’ (QFF) network and organises joint events for exchanging experiences and good practices for the clubs in the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2. As part of PFiFF, the Pool for the Promotion of Innovative Football and Fan Culture, the DFL also supports projects that campaign for tolerance and tackle discrimination in football. You can find out more about this at dfl.de under ‘PFiFF – Projects and Support’ (in German).
!Never Again – day of commemoration in German football
The day of commemoration was brought into being in 2004 by the ‘!Nie Wieder’ ‘!Never Again’ initiative, which has embraced the message of the survivors of the former Dachau concentration camp. The initiative has been supported by the DFL and DFL Foundation for years. The joint goal of the ‘day of commemoration in German football’ is to contribute to a living culture of remembrance and to stand up for a respectful and considerate society.