Bert Trautmann was born October 22, 1923 inBremen, Germany. Blue-eyed and blond haired, Trautmann wasthe product of a stormy political environment within the post-World War I country. He grew up surrounded by Nazi-ideology, includingblaming the Jews for “the two countries ” fiscal problems and believing particular Germans, suchas himself, were members of the master race. So its not surprising that he affiliated whatwould become the Hitler Youth when he was ten years old. He later said of this, At that age youjust want adventure. It most like the boy scouts. It was fun play, boast, sport. The mind that we were Nazis at the time isnonsense. The brainwashing came last-minute. And, imbued he was.Although you didnt know it, your judgment wasinfluenced by the Nazi propaganda. You listened to the political communications. I would be lying if I said I wasnt affected. People have an affinity towards their ownand the Nazis were telling us that German people were suffering apparent atrocitiesin Poland or wherever. We didnt realise the dominance of publicity Hitler grabbed his likelihood in a country in turmoil. He said: If you were in favour of me Ill getyou this and Ill do that. Beings had no idea that he was preparing himselffor conflict and to occupy Europe. They just wanted nutrient and prospects for theirfamilies. When the war end, he eagerly volunteeredfor the Germany army. Most of your best friend did too, we didnt thinkwhy or for what. Hitler had forced the education systemto such a limited extent that we didnt form opinions. We were indoctrinated.There was peer adversity to join the HitlerYouth and then the forces proper People say why ?, but when you are ayoung boy war seems like an adventure. Then, when youre involved in fighting itsvery different, you watch all the unpleasant things that happen, the fatality, the bodies, the scariness. You cant domination yourself. Your totality figure is shaking and youre makinga mess in your pants.While he initially experienced training to becomea radio operator, he proved less than adept at the tasks involved and switched gears tobecome a paratrooper instead. As such, Trautmann, only a month out of paratroopertraining, connected other German soldiers in conquering Russia in June of 1941. He later stated, We just followed seeks, we didnt know that Moscow was the ultimate target and we seldom had face-to-face contactwith the enemy. You could hear the artilleries but you never sawpeople die. However, that October commemorated the eighteenyear olds first know with the savagery of Hitlers ideology, and the experienceleft a mark on him. Trautmann and another soldier set out to investigategunshots listen in a nearby timber when they stumbled upon a mass execution conducted bythe notorious Einsatzgruppen, also known as the SS. It was hard to take in.There were trenches dug in the ground aboutthree metres deep and fifty meters long, and beings were being herded into them and orderedto lie face down, gentlemen, women and children. Einsatzgruppen police stood above, legsastride, exclaiming; a firing squad was lined up at the edge of the cuts, shooting intothem. For a while everything moved quiet, then anothergroup was said forward and the firing squad shot another salvo into the trench After evidencing this, the pair very carefullycrawled away from the locate. Had they been discovered by the SS, they wouldhave wound up in the gutter more. After spend practically three years on the Easternfront, including being captured by the Russians and later escaping, Trautmanns regimentwas moved west. At this site, he was among about 100 soldiersleft in his regiment which was 6,000 strong when it penetrated Russia. Then in March of 1945, he decided that hehad enough. Nearly everyone in his unit was dead anyway, so he deserted from the German army. This was no small-minded decision. He territory last-minute, I realised that war wasntgood. You couldnt desert though because the SSwould pick you up if you strayed too far.They would shoot you or send you to the frontwith the youngest soldiers. Nevertheless, with no newspapers conceding leave, he decided to risk it and head for his home in Bremen, attempting to avoid soldiers fromboth sides of the fight. I wandered through battlegrounds until darknes fell. I found myself close to a village. It was unerringly placid. Something didnt quite seem right and Iwent into a farmhouse for shelter. From nowhere, Americans jump-start on me. They soon uttered him is turning with his armsabove his head.Then I see their guns sounds. They were about to shoot me. But they didnt. Ive no plan why, but the man justtold me to clear off. So I did. I feed and ran away, over fences and through fieldsIran straight-out into six camouflaged British soldiers. They were less forgiving. The young soldier who had been awarded fivemedals, one of which was the Iron Cross( and all of which he would later toss in the garbage ), for his acts during the fighting was carried to England to the POW camp at Kempton racecourse, and then transferred to Camp 180 in Northwich, Cheshire. However, a problem arose in the tent , notso much from the POWs towards their captors, or vice-versa, but rather between the Germans. Many of the captivated POWs were fervent anti-Nazis, while others were Nazi to the core, and then there were those in-between.Needless to say, these groups didnt getalong well and things came to blows regularly. Thus, the British had to divide them up, separatingthem based on political ruling. The radicals were, Group A: anti-Nazis; GroupsB: those who were more or less politically neutral; and Group C: those who were thoroughlyindoctrinated with Nazi dogmata. Having been raised on Nazi propaganda, despitebeing somewhat disillusioned at this degree, Trautmann still held to these doctrines andwas placed in Group C.He later stated, When people ask questions about life, I say my educationbegan when I got to get England. I learnt about humanity, tolerance and forgiveness. His reeducation began by being forced to watcha film about the Holocaust and were informed of the internment camp. My first thought was: How can my countrymendo things like that ?’ He was then made to work as a operator for aJewish officer, Sergeant Hermann Bloch, to which he, soon came to see Bloch, andevery other Jew, as human being. At first I sometimes lost my temper with him, but, in time, I talked to him as if he was just another English soldier. I liked him. At the same time he was learning to let goof Nazi ideology, he likewise represented football in his free time, a hobby he had since childhoodwhere hed formerly been given a certificate of sporting excellence signed by the presidenthimself. The twenty-two year old-time swiftly became a staron the field at the clique. He toy as a centre-half until his teammatesconvinced him to switch to goalkeeper after he suffered an injury.After being released from the POW camp in1 948, Trautmann decided against returning to Germany, instead remaining in Great Britain, working for the government disposing rockets. He too continued to play goalkeeper on thesemi-professional St. Helens Town team. Word speedily spread of his talent, and theprofessional football crew of Manchester City Football Club offered him a position in 1949. But having a former most embellished Germansoldier on the team didnt sit well with the public so shortly after the crusade, particularlyamong the Jewish populace. A multitude of more than 20,000 people protestedoutside of the field and symbols arrived that scoffed the team for ratifying a formermember of the Luftwaffe. However, Manchesters Communal Rabbi, Dr.Alexander Altman, wrote a character which was issued in the Manchester Evening Chroniclearguing against such cloak abhor against the countrys former foes. He territory, Despite the horrid crueltieswe suffered at the entrusts of the Germans, we would not try to punish an individual German, who is unconnected with these crimes, out of hatred.If this footballer is a decent fellow, I wouldsay there is no harm in it. Each client must be judged on its own merits As Trautmanns conduct at the time was exemplary, he eventually won over the followers. Thanks to Altmann, after a month it wasall forgotten Later, I went into the Jewish community andtried to explain things. I tried to give them an understanding of thesituation for people in Germany in the 1930 s and their bad environments Of trend, it cured that he was exceptionalat his position. For example, in his first equal in London, he was initially booed and called all manner of names by the crowd. However, after meeting various truly outstandingsaves during the match, at the end of the game he received a standing ovation, evenfrom the defend team who applauded him along with the crowd as he moved off the degree. He went on to play in over 500 games for theorganization over the next fifteen years and is generally considered one of the greatestgoalkeepers in the history of the sport, and the first of that position to ever earn theFWA Footballer of the Year Award, which he achieved by 1956 – the same year perhapsthe most well-remembered event of his career took place.The incident in question took place on May5, 1956, during the FA Cup Final between Manchester City and Birmingham City. In the second half of the game, the scorestood 3-1 Manchester City. Trautmann was guarding the goal when an opposingplayer, Peter Murphy, attempted to score. Trautmann dove for the projectile and intent up withMurphys knee relate behind his hearing. The immediate cause was simply that he sawstars and experienced substantial hurting in his head and cervix. But due to a rule at the time that did notallow players to be substituted, he continued to play the last sixteen minutes of the gamein a kind of fog. Despite this overcast, he managed to makeseveral critical saves in the last minutes of the pair, saving the game for ManchesterCity. During the medal rite after the game, Prince Philip mentioned to Trautmann that his cervix looked crooked, but Trautmann leaved littlethought to the matter and even attended the banquet after, despite the sorenes in his neckand that he couldnt turn his head.The next day, he did go to see a physician, who told him it was nothing to worry about, and time a crick in his neck that would resolveitself in time. But the anguish continued and was so severe thatthree days later he decided to get a second opinion. Thats when an X-ray revealed that he hadfive dislocated vertebrae, one of which had entirely cracked in two. The only reason he had avoided being paralyzedand possibly killed after the initial kicking and as he dove around later in the game wasthat one of the other dislocated vertebrae had wedged itself tightly against the brokenone, preventing the two broken bits from moving.Trautmann continued to play after healingfrom the harm, finally retiring as a actor in 1964. Among other awardings he received in his lifetime, the significant role he played in normalizing British and German ties-in after World WarII led to Queen Elizabeth II appointing him an Honorary Officer of the Order of theBritish Empire in 2005. He died eight years later at persons under the age of 89 at his house in Spain ..
