©National Archives at College Park, Maryland
From professional footballer to witness
On 12 April 1945, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe, Dwight D. Eisenhower, visited the former Buchenwald
Feldmann came from Przemyśl in what is now Poland, where he was born into a Jewish family in 1901. He moved to Vienna in the early 1920s. From 1926, he earned his living as a professional footballer for the Jewish club Hakoah Wien. After winning the first Austrian championship title under professional conditions in 1925, Hakoah had a great reputation. As a tough but fair defender, Feldmann quickly became a crowd favourite. He led his team onto the pitch as captain for many years. However, he was denied a major title. Injuries set him back in the mid-thirties. The German invasion of Austria in 1938 spelt the end for Hakoah.
Feldmann fled to the Netherlands, where he was accommodated in the Westerbork refugee camp. There he fell into the clutches of the German occupying forces, who turned the refugee camp into a transit camp for deportations in 1942 - this is where his odyssey through several camps began in September 1944. He arrived in Ohrdruf from Auschwitz in November 1944. After returning to Vienna after liberation, he learnt that his wife and two children had been murdered. Until his death in 1964, Ignaz Feldmann tried to build a new life for himself, including as a football coach at Hakoah Vienna.
"Feldmann organises everything, including setting up the teams. The planned championship is cancelled because the departments cannot form their own teams due to shift work and staff changes. There are no opportunities to train, the workload is too great. The spectators say that, considering the primitive conditions, they don't play badly at all."
In the Westerbork transit camp, the SS allowed football matches in order to maintain the appearance of normality. Ignaz Feldmann organised the games. His fellow prisoner Fred Schwarz later reported on this. (Trains on the wrong track, Vienna 1996)
"Over there is the scoundrel who has just kicked the man in the back. He's a Unterscharführer and he's checking whether we're all exposing our bald heads. He sees Feldmann and snaps at him! 'Step forward, names!' 'Ignaz Feldmann. 'Profession!' 'Footballer. Suddenly the sadist is a different person. Back in Vienna, he had played with Feldmann in the championship and in the selection. He was with Austria, Feldmann with Hakoah, the Jewish football club that was one of the best in Austria in 1930/1935. Feldmann should make himself known when we get to the barracks."
Fred Schwarz was deported from Theresienstadt to Auschwitz together with Ignaz Feldmann at the end of September 1944. He later reported how an SS man recognised Feldmann on arrival. Feldmann was later assigned as "parlour duty", responsible for keeping order in the barracks. (Trains on the wrong track, Vienna 1996)
