The history of Jewish gymnastics and sports clubs in Germany goes back to the end of the 19th century. In 1898 the first Jewish gymnastics and sports club Bar Kochba was founded in Berlin. The designation Maccabi for a Jewish gymnastics and sports club in Germany appeared for the first time in 1923 when FC Maccabi Düsseldorf was first founded. The former sports student Mr. Max Loewy led the first local club to the second Maccabiah, until it was dissolved in 1939.
Before the Nazis seized power, there were around 90 Jewish sports clubs throughout Germany.
The reopening of individual Maccabi clubs in Europe after the Shoah was followed in 1961 by the reestablishment of TuS Maccabi Düsseldorf (formerly SC). In the years that followed, I established other local groups in Frankfurt and Munich. A few days after Germany and Israel established diplomatic relations in 1965, the Jewish sports movement in Germany celebrated its re-establishment on May 23, 1965 in Düsseldorf. Mr. Werner Nachmann from Karlsruhe was then appointed President. In 1966 there were already eight clubs with 1.000 members. For the first time in three decades, Jewish athletes from Germany again took part in the Maccabiah in 1969/70.
Milestones:
1898
The philosophy student Wilhelm Lewy from Berlin founded the first Jewish gymnastics club with some former classmates. They name it after the legendary leader of the Jewish rebellion against the Roman conquerors: Bar Kochba.
1903
Eleven Jewish gymnastics clubs responded to Bar Kochba's call to unite to form an umbrella organization. They found the Jewish Gymnastics Association based in Berlin, which represents around 2000 women and men from all over Europe.
1919
From then on, the German part of the Jewish Gymnastics Association referred to itself as the German Makkabi Circle.
1921
Representatives from nine countries found the Maccabi World Association based in Berlin in Karlsbad, Czech Republic, under German leadership (Dr. Heinrich Kuhn).
1924
Unsuccessful contact with the International Olympic Committee in order to be able to take part in the Olympic Games with a Jewish team in the future. The Maccabi emblem, shown for the first time, signals the togetherness of the Jewish gymnasts and athletes. At the Olympic Games in Paris, Elias Katz from Maccabi Turku (in Finland) wins a gold medal and later also becomes a member of Bar Kochba Berlin.
1933
With Hitler's "seizure of power" begins the darkest chapter of German history, which culminates in the Holocaust. German Jews are excluded from non-Jewish sports clubs. The headquarters of the Maccabi World Organization must be moved to London.
1935
2 athletes from 1350 countries take part in the 28nd Maccabiah in Tel Aviv. Despite Nazi terror, the numerically strongest team travels from Germany to "Erez Israel". Many of them take the opportunity to flee and remain in Tel-Aviv despite strict controls by the English mandated power.
1936
The National Socialists prevent the Jewish high jumper Gretel Bergmann from participating in the Olympics, who had broken the German record four weeks before the Games in Berlin with 1,60 m. In 2012, 98-year-old Margaret Lambert-Bergmann was inducted into the German Sports Hall of Fame.
1938
With the so-called Reichsprogromnacht, the Jewish sports movement in Germany is temporarily wiped out. Six million Jews, including numerous talented athletes, fall victim to the Nazi racial fanaticism.
1945-1951
A large number of Shoah survivors find temporary homes in the American and French zones of occupation. The desire and need for physical exercise, a “liberation from the concentration camp psychosis”, prompts established maccabins such as Maximilian Landau, B. Friedman, H. Rosenholz and S. Shapiro to found sports clubs, which operate under the banner “Mercas HaSport ” come together under the direction of Maximilian Landau and develop a lively activity, especially in the American zone.
1961
Almost 20 years after the Shoah, TuS Maccabi Düsseldorf (formerly SC) is founded again. Other local clubs in Frankfurt and Munich will follow.
1965
Establishment of diplomatic relations between Israel and the Federal Republic of Germany. Foundation of a Jewish sports association under the name "Makkabi - Jewish Gymnastics and Sports Association in Germany eV" in Düsseldorf.
1969
For the first time in 34 years, a German team took part in the Maccabiad in Israel.
1972
Palestinian terrorist attack on the Israeli team in the Munich Olympic Village. A failed rescue attempt costs the lives of eleven Israeli athletes and a German policeman. 60.000 people commemorate the victims at a funeral service in the Olympic Stadium.
1982
The EMC Congress will be held in Düsseldorf, Germany.
2015
From July 27th to August 05th, 2015, MD was extremely proud to host the 14th European Maccabi Games (EMG) in Berlin. The EMG took place in Germany for the first time - exactly 70 years after the end of the Shoah. As the organizer, MD also celebrated its 2015th anniversary in 50 since it was re-established after the war. The EMG took place in the very place where German Jews were forbidden to take part in the 1936 Olympic Games - in the Berlin Olympic Park. More than 2.000 athletes, trainers and supervisors from 30 European countries, EU partner countries and all over the world flocked to the Olympic Park grounds of the capital not only to crown their sporting successes with precious metals, but also to create friendships through competition in competition - friendship that goes far beyond national borders and has endured to this day (Friedländer, memorial ceremony. Speech by Margot Friedländer, 2017).