The benefactor of Arminia Bielefeld
The square behind the west stand of the SchücoArena, the stadium of DSC Arminia Bielefeld, has been named after Julius Hesse since 2021. Arminia is thus honoring an important personality from the club's early days.
Julius Hesse was born in 1875 in Borgholzhausen in what is now North Rhine-Westphalia. He was almost 30 years old when he settled in nearby Bielefeld. He opened a sports store in the heart of the city. As a successful businessman, he took over the chairmanship of the Arminia club in 1909. The club, which had been founded four years earlier, was in a difficult situation. Because the club had bought a plot of land to build its own stadium, the coffers were empty. Julius Hesse prevented insolvency by making installment payments. He also had Arminia registered as an association. This meant that the members were no longer liable for the club. By the time Julius Hesse stepped down in 1914, Arminia had achieved its first successes. It is not known whether Julius Hesse continued to be involved with the club afterwards
When the National Socialists came to power in 1933, Julius Hesse was hit hard. Because he came from a Jewish family, his store was smeared with anti-Semitic slogans. To escape the terror, he tried to emigrate and sold his business in 1935. However, only his three daughters managed to escape from Germany. After the November pogroms, he was deported to Buchenwald concentration camp for nine days in 1938. Traumatized, he returned to Bielefeld. In May 1943, he and his wife Jenni were deported to the Theresienstadt ghetto. He died there at the beginning of March 1944 and his wife did not survive her imprisonment either.
