Jewish memories in Hamburg: Otto and Paul Lang

The - sometimes strong - connection between national socialism and sport, especially in the case of the big sport associations is not yet fully explored. One of such cases is the famous and extremely popular FC Pauli in Hamburg. In the 1930s, many players of Jewish origin were either dismissed from their sport clubs or simply encouraged to do so by themselves.

One such a case are the brothers Lang, Otto and Paul, in whose honour a memorial stone was inaugurated a couple of years ago. The memorial stays at the entrance to the stadium. 

Both of them had an important contribution to the development of the local rugby. They left FC Pauli in 1933, the clear conditions of the departure not being documented in full details. 

Otto left shortly after Germany via Antwerp, from where he moved in the United States where he died in 2003. His brother, Paul, stayed in Germany and was deported to KZ Theresienstadt in 1945. He survived and returned to Hamburg after the war, where he died in 2003.