The Fuhrer's First XI

[Dr Zoidberg]

A really interesting article I found online about a little know piece of history:

ADOLF Hitler played cricket. He raised his own cricket team to play some British prisoners of war during the First World War, then declared the sport "unmanly" and tried to rewrite the laws of the game...

"He had come to them one day and asked whether he might watch an eleven of cricket at play so as to become initiated into the mysteries of our national game," writes Locker- Lampson. "They welcomed him, of course, and wrote out the rules for him in the best British sport-loving spirit."

According to Locker-Lampson, Hitler returned a few days later, having assembled his own team, and challenged the British to a "friendly match". As Simpson points out, Locker-Lampson infuriatingly failed to inform his readers who won, but we can assume that the British POWs thrashed Hitler's XI, because he immediately declared the game insufficiently violent for German Fascists.

Hitler, it seems, had an ulterior motive for wanting to play the game: "He desired to study it as a possible medium for the training of troops off duty and in times of peace." He also wanted the game to be Nazified.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news...-1225842369506

[Poach]

So we can now add "And a game of cricket" to the "Two World Wars and One World Cup" song?

Sorry, felt like being cheeky there. In seriousness, it is somewhat interesting. Hitler may well have erased the records of the game when he came to power due to disliking it, we'll never know. Would've been funny though, having cricket as the Nazi German national sport...

[konny]

Any proofs for that?

After being wounded 1916 Hitler recovered in Beelitz (Brandenburg) not Bavaria. After being wounded a second time in 1918 he was in Pasewalk (Pommerania).

[alhoon]

British POWs were allowed to play cricket in Nazi Germany? Russians were left to die out of sickness and hunger.

[Yorkshireman]

British POWs were allowed to play cricket in Nazi Germany? Russians were left to die out of sickness and hunger.

It was in 1923, they were ex-prisoners of war.

[Dr. Croccer]

British POWs were allowed to play cricket in Nazi Germany? Russians were left to die out of sickness and hunger.

''During WWI''

[Seleucos of Olympia]

Hitler, it seems, had an ulterior motive for wanting to play the game: "He desired to study it as a possible medium for the training of troops off duty and in times of peace." He also wanted the game to be Nazified.

When he was a corporal in WWI he was already thinking ahead to when he would be the fuhrer of a Nazi Germany? What "German Fascists"? Fascism hadn't been invented yet...

[konny]

When he was a corporal in WWI he was already thinking ahead to when he would be the fuhrer of a Nazi Germany? What "German Fascists"? Fascism hadn't been invented yet...

Apart from that, and Hitler being some 800 kilometers away from the place; we also have the questions how a mere Gefreiter could have established longer contact to POW officers. And when and where Hitler should have learned enough English to understand the rules of cricket written down for him.

[wowbanger]

The article says that the cricket game took place place in 1923 when Hitler was recovering from wounds sustained during the attempted Munich Putsch, not during WW1. By that time the idea of Nazism had been created, the Putsch was an attempt to violently overthrow the government and put the Nazis in power.

[konny]

The article says that the cricket game took place place in 1923 when Hitler was recovering from wounds sustained during the attempted Munich Putsch, not during WW1.

Nope:

He raised his own cricket team to play some British prisoners of war during the First World War, then declared the sport "unmanly" and tried to rewrite the laws of the game...


There would also hardly have been any British POWs in 1923.

I guess this is the misleading paragraph:

In it, Locker-Lampson describes how in 1923, shortly after the Munich putsch, he met some British officers who had been prisoners of war in southern Germany during the First World War. By coincidence Hitler, then a lance corporal in the German Army, was recovering from his wounds in a nearby hospital.

It was in 1923 when the author met the ex-POW officers who told him this story.

[Yorkshireman]

Nope:

He raised his own cricket team to play some British prisoners of war during the First World War, then declared the sport "unmanly" and tried to rewrite the laws of the game...


There would also hardly have been any British POWs in 1923.

Read the whole article; (They were ex-prisoners of war) The first line of the piece is misleading.

In it, Locker-Lampson describes how in 1923, shortly after the Munich putsch, he met some British officers who had been prisoners of war in southern Germany during the First World War. By coincidence Hitler, then a lance corporal in the German Army, was recovering from his wounds in a nearby hospital.

"He had come to them one day and asked whether he might watch an eleven of cricket at play so as to become initiated into the mysteries of our national game," writes Locker- Lampson. "They welcomed him, of course, and wrote out the rules for him in the best British sport-loving spirit."

[konny]

In it, Locker-Lampson describes how in 1923, shortly after the Munich putsch, he met some British officers who had been prisoners of war in southern Germany during the First World War. By coincidence Hitler, then a lance corporal in the German Army, was recovering from his wounds in a nearby hospital.

Hitler was not a lance-corporal of the German Army in 1923 but during WWI. And why should British officers meat Hitler in Munich short after the putsch?

[Yorkshireman]

Hitler was not a lance-corporal of the German Army in 1923 but during WWI. And why should British officers meat Hitler in Munich short after the putsch?

I've no idea.

It's just an anecdote related by some old Hitler admiring British MP. Who know's how much truth is in it ?

[Seleucos of Olympia]

In it, Locker-Lampson describes how in 1923, shortly after the Munich putsch, he met some British officers who had been prisoners of war in southern Germany during the First World War. By coincidence Hitler, then a lance corporal in the German Army, was recovering from his wounds in a nearby hospital.

I can see two ways of interpreting that sentence. Either Hitler was recovering from his wounds in 1923 (being a lance-corporal at that time), when he met those British former POWs who all happened to be in southern Germany, or the meeting and cricket match took place during WWI.

[thursgun]

LOL at the misunderstanding of the text.

What I understand is this:
During the WWI (that is, before 1923) there was a POW camp and Hospital nearby. Like the article said, it was coincidence they were so close, but never made contact. Then comes the year 1923: The British are free and Hitler is healed. THEN they meet and talk about cricket.

[DisgruntledGoat]

LOL at the misunderstanding of the text.

What I understand is this:
During the WWI (that is, before 1923) there was a POW camp and Hospital nearby. Like the article said, it was coincidence they were so close, but never made contact. Then comes the year 1923: The British are free and Hitler is healed. THEN they meet and talk about cricket.

Exactly. Its clear as day that it says the Author met some former British POW's in 1923 where they told them of their exploits during the war and playing cricket with Hitler. Why is there so much confusion. Even the first paragraph confirms this reading:

ADOLF Hitler played cricket. He raised his own cricket team to play some British prisoners of war during the First World War

So the POW's were full of crap and so was the author. Or at the very least the story was considerably affected by the times they were written.

[Yoda Twin]

I wonder what a German Cut looks like