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3:7Mommsenstadion

Waldschulallee 34

By the 1920s Tennis Borussia had developed into a state-of-the-art football club.

Tennis Borussia was founded in 1902 as a recreational club and soon after that added a football section. In the 1920s, TeBe developed into one of Berlin’s leading teams and competed against Hertha BSC for preeminence. The state-of-the-art club was the first one in Germany to hire a business manager, and its trainers, Richard Girulatis and Otto Nerz, put findings of sports science into practice. Starting in 1926, Sepp Herberger became the club’s most important player, and after the end of his career as player, he took over the role of trainer. In the years of the Weimar Republic, Tennis Borussia had a socially and culturally unusually diverse membership. Jewish members played an important role, and their exclusion immediately after the establishment of the Nazi dictatorship in 1933 left a lasting void in TeBe.

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In the “Hans Rosenthal Team” celebrities played for charity.

In 1950, the entertainer Hans Rosenthal joined with colleagues from show business and established a celebrity league for playing recreational football. Among the team’s other founders were Wolfgang Gruner, Heinrich Riethmüller, and Wolfgang Neuss. Not long thereafter, the amateur team attached itself to Tennis Borussia. The team consisted of artists, scientists, and business people — all of them enthusiastic football fans — who played in friendly matches for charitable causes. Outstanding athletes and world stars of football, such as Pele, Uwe Seeler, and Fritz Walter reinforced the celebrity players. After the death of Rosenthal, a TV host who at various times had also served as TeBe’s president, the team was renamed “Hans-Rosenthal-Elf” (Hans Rosenthal Team) in 1987; the revenues from the charity matches support the foundation he created.

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In 1974, Karl-Heinz Schnellinger, one of the first German players in the Italian league, transferred from AC Milan to Tennis Borussia, a team then just promoted to the Bundesliga. The sensational transfer was made possible by Jack White, a former professional footballer and producer of hit songs. However, despite adding such a renowned celebrity — who had not played in a Bundesliga match before — the team could not prevent being immediately relegated again.

Foto von Karl-Heinz Schnellinger

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In 2002, on the occasion of the 100th birthday of Tennis Borussia, a benefit single was issued under the label “E-Blox”; for the record the song “TeBe rocks!” was set to the melody of “Blitzkrieg Bop” by the Ramones.

 
 
After establishment of the Nazi dictatorship, Jewish athletes were expelled.

Jewish athletes and officials played an important role in the development of football in Germany. However, immediately upon the establishment of the Nazi dictatorship, they were expelled from football clubs and associations and were prohibited from participating in the general operation and organization of matches. The excluded players joined clubs belonging to the Jewish sports movement and organized matches among themselves, even international ones. After the pogroms in November 1938, the Jewish clubs were closed down, and Jews were banned from participating in or attending any cultural or sports events. These measures of the Nazi regime were part of the crimes that ultimately culminated in the Holocaust.

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Together with Fritz Förderer and Gottfried Fuchs, Julius Hirsch formed the famous trio of the Karlsruher FV in the years before the First World War. The outstanding players were celebrated not only in southern Germany; they enjoyed fame and renown throughout their country and indeed beyond its borders.

Cover von „Süddeutscher Illustrierter Sport“