Poland loses to Germany in Euro, as 1939 Nazi conquest again makes headlines - Haaretz

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Thu., June 19, 2008 Sivan 16, 5768

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		Austrian policeman arresting a German fan after violent clashes with Polish fans during the Euro soccer match. (Reuters)

Last update - 11:48 10/06/2008

Poland loses to Germany in Euro, as 1939 Nazi conquest again makes headlines

By Lily Galili, Haaretz Correspondent

Tags: Poland, Euro 2008, soccer

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk had an important message for his countrymen on the eve of Sunday's Euro 2008 game against Germany, played in Austria. It was just sport, not war, Tusk said.

Naturally, this only further convinced Poles that this, indeed, was war.

It was war not merely over honor on the field, after 15 games and 75 years without one Polish victory. For both European Union member states, this was an opportunity to dredge up memories from the real war, the Nazis' occupation of Poland.

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Polish honor was not restored. The Germans won 2-0, with both goals scored by Polish-born striker Lucas Podolski.

"It was faster than in 1939," said a person who identified himself as a German on a Polish talkback site. The Polish media bitterly noted that the Poles' last victory over the Germans was at the Battle of Grunwald in 1410.

All Poland's energies were focused in an effort to reenact that victory, which was even turned into the logo 0:1410 in Poland.

A large group of Polish-speakers gathered at the home of Polish Ambassador to Israel Agnieszka Magdziak-Miszewska to see the game. They all knew the logo did not describe a real result, but believed that victory was a reasonable possibility. A young embassy employee ultimately paid the defeat's price when she was thrown into the water for daring to bet on a German victory.

"After all it's only a game," the ambassador tried to console herself, two red-and-white Polish flags painted on her cheeks. The German ambassador to Israel, Dr. Harald Kindermann, had been invited to watch the game with her, but he was a no-show.

There's nothing new in soccer raising nationalist tempers, but the Polish-German enmity of the past week went far beyond that. In a week of sports frenzy, these Europeans wallowed in murky waves of nationalism and hatred that briefly swamped the European Union's ideals. World War II was back in the center of public debate. Neo-Nazi cries that "all Poles should wear yellow patches" didn't come out of nowhere.

The war erupted in the tabloid press in both countries well before the confrontation reached the stadium in Klagenfurt, Austria. The cover of the Polish newspaper Super Express featured a photomontage of the Polish team's coach, the Dutchman Leo Beenhakker, holding the decapitated heads of Germany's head coach Joachim Loew and Germany's captain Michael Ballack. The headline screams: "Leo, bring us their heads." Beside it, in smaller letters, was the beginning of a sentence, "A good German is..."

Beenhakker's apology to the Germans did not help matters. The cover was immediately copied in the German tabloid Bild, which made a list of 50 reasons to "love" the Poles. One of them was the Polish origin of German porn queen Teresa Orlowski. If the Germans love us so much, Poles said in response, why don't they pay us compensation for destroying Warsaw in the war?

That unfinished war returned like an old refrain. Days before the game a seemingly amusing trailer to the game was released on the Internet in Germany, showing a team of especially repulsive Germans stopping by the roadside to relieve themselves, while humming the German national anthem. As they finish with a look of relief, they see that their car was stolen. To Germans it is clear that a Pole stole the car.

Polish honor generated a few amusing parodies on the broadcast, which were displayed on Polish television and YouTube. One of them shows the Germans relieving themselves against a backdrop of gunfire, bombardments, collapsing buildings and corpses.

Despite the Polish hopes, the goalkeeper failed to stop the Germans and commentators predict that the team will come home after the tournament's early stage. All the Poles can do - much like a small Middle Eastern country at the Eurovision contest - is moan sadly: "They don't like us here."

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1.	But the Poles take the EU subsidies!	11:18	\|	Paul Henzen	10/06/08

2.	@1	12:00	\|	Pat	10/06/08

3.	# 1 to paul henzen; a case in point!	12:12	\|	eric	10/06/08

4.	One of the reasons not to forgive Germany...	12:23	\|	dyinglikeflies	10/06/08

5.	# 2 Pat - Talking about history...	13:16	\|	Paul Henzen	10/06/08

6.	# 4 Dyinglikeflies - Yet another germanophobic remark	13:22	\|	Paul Henzen	10/06/08

7.	# 5 Paul	13:56	\|	Pat	10/06/08

8.	Soccer and beer bring it up again	14:47	\|	Jonathan S	10/06/08

9.	polish hypocrisy	15:23	\|	european	10/06/08

10.	# 4 dyinglikeflies	15:34	\|	Axel	10/06/08

11.	Poland should join Germany	15:35	\|	Fritz T.	10/06/08

12.	Hello from the City of Evil!	15:36	\|	ChrisBerlin	10/06/08

13.	# 2 EU structure funds is a right not a handout	15:40	\|	CM	10/06/08

14.	#4 Yes! But what is a "German"??	15:44	\|	Fritz T.	10/06/08

15.	# 9 Polish hypocricy	15:48	\|	Pat	10/06/08

16.	Jonathans German "Nazi anthem" is older	15:51	\|	Fritz T.	10/06/08

17.	# 13 I do	15:57	\|	Pat	10/06/08

18.	# 13 CM	16:28	\|	Axel	10/06/08

19.	Poland between Russia and Germany	16:44	\|	Jonathan S	10/06/08

20.	# 16 fritz	16:48	\|	Axel	10/06/08

21.	Germany EU champions already	16:57	\|	Jonathan S	10/06/08

22.	#15 pat	17:12	\|	european	10/06/08

23.	refocus! 2nd try...	17:19	\|	Anna	10/06/08

24.	Polish, You Act as NAZI as Well	17:36	\|	Sumanto	10/06/08

25.	#5 Paul Henzen, The level of banality reached in this exchanges	18:15	\|	Max Zinger,P.Chimist	10/06/08

26.	German soccer and Nazi ideology	18:51	\|	Jonathan S	10/06/08

27.	Paul Henzen - Germany has taken BILLIONS from the US	19:26	\|	Post war	10/06/08

28.	Paul (#6), I think dyinglikeflies is quite right	19:27	\|	christoph	10/06/08

29.	Don`t forgive for our sake, not Germany`s	19:35	\|	dyinglikeflies	10/06/08

30.	# 29 dyinglikeflies	21:03	\|	Axel	10/06/08

31.	# 27 post war	21:35	\|	Axel	10/06/08

32.	31, Axel-chip on shoulder and bad math too	23:15	\|	dyinglikeflies	10/06/08

33.	re 15, Pat	06:33	\|	Greg	11/06/08

34.	re 22, European	06:50	\|	Greg	11/06/08

35.	WHY does this piece appear under "DIPLOMACY" ?	08:00	\|	Fortuna Benmayor	11/06/08

36.	# 32 dyinglikeflies	14:17	\|	Axel	11/06/08

37.	# 28 Be proud to be German!	19:38	\|	Paul Henzen	11/06/08

38.	D / Pl / Rus	22:19	\|	marius	11/06/08

39.	ok	22:23	\|	marius	11/06/08

40.	Isn`t it about time to let go of that old baggage?	00:39	\|	antred	12/06/08

41.	to Paul Henzen	01:32	\|	Justine	12/06/08

42.	to Sumanto	01:37	\|	Justine	12/06/08

43.	to antred	03:45	\|	Justine	12/06/08

44.	Poland has still occupied	14:21	\|	Habakuk	18/06/08

45.	Polish myths	14:27	\|	Gregor	18/06/08

46.	Paul Henzen from Erasmus???	23:30	\|	Anja	19/06/08

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