tamsaha dergisi ekim 2008 sayısından dağhan ırağın yazısından alıntıdır;
ukrayna, savaş sırasında nazi işgaline uğramıştı. alman ordusu wehrmacht'ın hava kuvvetleri luftwaffe'nin uçakları kiev semalarında sortiler yapıyordu.dinamo kiev'in oyuncuları ise ülkeyi bu işgale karşı savunmak için kızıl ordu saflarındaydı. savaş sırasında pek çoğu esir düşen oyunculardan kurtulabilenler,demiryolu takımı lokomotif kiev'den takviye alarak fc start'ı kurdu. start, macaristan ve romanya'nın garnizon takımlarını farklı yendikten sonra alman işgal kuvvetleri ekiplerini sıraya dizmişti. 1942 temmuz'unda oynadıkları ve tamamını kazandıkları beş maçtan sonra ağustos başında flakelf'le oynadılar ve bu maçı da 5-1 galip tamamladılar. alman takımı rövanş istedi. 9 ağustos'ta tarihe geçecek bu rövanş maçı oynanacaktı.
nazilere boyun eğmediler. o gün, luftwaffe'nin takımı flakelf, zenit stadyumu'nun çimlerindeydi. maçı bir ss subayı yönetecekti. start takımının oyuncuları maçtan önce nazi selamı vermeleri konusunda uyarılmıştı. start oyuncuları sahaya çıkıp, kendilerine söylendiği gibi seremonide yerlerini aldı ancak sıra selama geldiğinde ellerini havaya değil, göğüslerine kadar kaldırdılar ve aynı sloganı haykırdılar: "çok yaşa spor."
start, boyun eğmeyecekti.maçın başlamasıyla beraber alman takımı, sahalarda eşi görülmemiş bir vahşet örneğini sergilemeye başladı.takımın lideri kaleci nikolay truseviç'in yüzü, yere düştüğü sırada alman oyuncular tarafından tekmelenirken flakelf ilk golü kaydetmişti. hakem, sahadaki korkunç oyunun sessiz bir parçası olmaktan ileri gitmiyordu. buna karşın fc start geri döndü ve ilk yarıyı 3-1 önde kapamayı başardı. devre arasında start takımına olası bir galibiyetin sonlarını getirebileceği naziler tarafından hatırlatıldı. ancak start durmayacaktı. maçın sonuna 5-3'lük ukrayna takımı üstünlüğüyle girildi. bu dakikalarda inanılmaz bir olay yaşandı. defans oyuncusu alexey klimenko, topu aldı, tüm defansı ve kaleciyi geçtikten sonra topu gol çizgisine getirdi.herkes altıncı golü beklerken klimenko kaleye sırtını döndü ve topu orta sahaya vurdu. bu alman takımı için aşağılanmanın doruk noktasıydı. ss subayı hakem maçı erkenden bitirdi. bu hikâye daha sonra meşhur "zafere kaçış" filmine ilham verecekti. ancak hayat film değildi ve hep mutlu sonla bitmiyordu. maçtan sonra start oyuncuları toplama kamplarına atıldı. alexey klimenko, nikolay truseviç ve takımın liderlerinden ivan kuzmenko vahşice infaz edildi. start oyuncuları, utanç rejimini altetmenin bedelini hayatlarıyla ödedi. ancak onlar artık halk kahramanı olarak ölümsüzleşmişti.
escape to victory (zafere kaçış), yönetmenliğini john huston'ın yaptığı ve oyuncu kadrosunda sylvester stallone ve michael caine'in yanısıra yaşayan futbol efsanesi pelé'ninde yer aldığı unutulmaz bir filmdir. pele bu filmde onbaşı luis fernandez rolündedir.
filmde 2.dünya savaşı sırasında esir düşen bir gurup müttefik askerin işgal kuvvetlerinin ellerinden kaçma planları konu edilmiştir. nazi subaylarının propaganda amaçlı düzenledikleri bir futbol maçını müttefikler her türlü olumsuzluklara rağmen bir mucize yaratarak alman milli takımına karşı maçı kazanmıştır. maçın devre arasında ki kaçış imkânlarına rağmen askerlerin var olma içgüdüsü ile karşılaşmanın 2.yarısına çıkması ve ortaya koydukları müthiş mücadele sonunda alman seyircilerin bile sahaya inip müttefikleri omuzlara alıp stadyumda kaçırmaları filmin en dokunaklı final sahnesidir.
aktörler:
michael caine yüzbaşı - john colby sylvester stallone - yüzbaşı robert hatch max von sydow - binbaşı karl von steiner anton diffring - radyo anonscusu carole laure - renee gary waldhorn - mueller benoît ferreux - jean paul clive merrison - the forger maurice roëves - pyrie michael cochrane - farrell zoltán gera - victor tim pigott-smith - rose daniel massey - albay waldron jean-françois - stévenin claude
futbolcular:
pele - onbaşı luis fernandez (santos fc, new york cosmos) - dünya kupası kazandı bobby moore - terry brady (west ham united, fulham fc) - dünya kupası kazandı john wark - arthur hayes (ıpswich town) osvaldo ardiles - carlos rey (tottenham hotspur) -dünya kupası kazandı- kazimierz deyna - paul wolchek (manchester city, legia warsaw) søren lindsted - erik ball (fc twente) paul van himst - michel fileu (anderlecht) werner roth - baumann (german team captain) (new york cosmos) mike summerbee - sid harmor (manchester city) hallvar thoresen - gunnar hilsson (fc twente) russell osman - doug clure (ıpswich town) kevin o'callaghan - tony lewis (ıpswich town) co prins - pieter van beck (ajax) laurie sivell - schmidt (german goalkeeper) (ıpswich town) robin turner - german player (ıpswich town) kevin beattie - stand-in for michael caine (ıpswich town) paul cooper - stand-in for sylvester stallone (ıpswich town)
hikayemiz sovyetler birliği’nde geçiyor. 1930’lara yolculuk ediyoruz. futbol, o dönem sovyetler birliği’nde en popüler spor. birliğin önemli ülkelerinden ukrayna’da ise bugün olduğu gibi dinamo kiev fırtınası esiyor. dinamo kiev, 1927 yılında ticaret birliklerinin, polis teşkilatının ve kızıl ordu’nun güçlerini birleştirmeleriyle kuruluyor.
22 haziran1941’de nazi almanyası, sovyetler birliği’ni işgal ediyor. dolayısıyla lig ikinci bir emre kadar tatil ediliyor. tüm halk gibi dinamo kiev’in de birçok futbolcusu cepheye, almanlara karşı savaşmaya gidiyor. almanlar kiev’e yaklaştıkça geride kalan futbolcular kentin sivil savunmasına yardım ediyor. ancak sovyetler birliği’nin en önemli kentlerinden biri olan kiev daha fazla direnemiyor ve düşüyor.
işgal altındaki kentte ne iş, ne de aş var. inanılmaz bir sefalet hüküm sürüyor. hikaye, dynamo’nun kalecisi mykola trusevych’in kente dönüşüyle başlıyor. zira trusevych kiev’in 3 numaralı fırınında yer süpürücü olarak iş buluyor. sıkı bir dynamo taraftarı ve trusevych hayranı olan fırının yeni sahibi iosif kordik (alman köklerinden dolayı bu ayrıcalıklı işe sahip oluyor) yeni yer süpürücüsüne bir “futbol takımı” kurması fikrini aşılıyor. bundan cesaret alan trusevych, tüm kiev’de eski takım arkadaşlarından hayatta kalanları araştırıyor. ilk bulduğu kişi, kiev’in efsanevi sağ kanat oyuncusu makar honcharenko oluyor.
honcharenko, kendisine yapılan daveti şöyle anımsıyor: “kreschatick sokağı’nda kayınvalidemin evinde kaçak olarak yaşıyordum. birgün ansızın kolya, sanki cennetten çıkmış gibi geldi ve bana bir futbol takımı kurduğunu söyledi. diğer çocukları da bulmalıydık. kuzmenko’yu birkaç defa sokakta görmüştüm. ona ulaşmak pek vaktimizi almadı. daha sonra svyridovskiy’e ulaştık. o da diğerleriyle temasa geçti.
birkaç hafta sonra fırıncının takımı fc start kurulmuştu. 8 oyuncusu dynamo kiev’lilerden (mykola trusevych, mikhail svyridovskiy, mykola korotkykh, oleksiy klimenko, fedir tyutchev, mikhail putistin, ıvan kuzmenko, makar honcharenko), üç oyuncusu ise lokomotiv kiev’li (vladimir balakin, vasil sukharev and mikhail melnyk) oyunculardan oluşuyordu.
7 haziran 1942’de fc start yerel ligdeki ilk maçına çıktı. yerel lig, georgi shvetsov adlı bir nazi yardakçısı tarafından yönetiliyordu. start, ilk maçını rukh’a karşı oynadı. yetersiz beslenmelerine ve hatta bazılarının ayakkabı alacak paraları olmadığı için çıplak ayakla oynamalarına rağmen maçı 7-2 kazandılar. bu galibiyetle, sadece rukh’un sahibi shvetsov ‘un değil, naziler’inde dikkatlerini üzerlerine çektiler.
1942 yılında fc start, işgalci güçlerin askerlerinden oluşan ekiplerle maçlar yaptı ve hepsini kazandı.
alman yönetimi bu galibiyetlerden oldukça rahatsızlık duyuyordu. fc start, ukrayna halkına direniş ruhu aşılayabilir ve işgal kuvvetlerinin moralini bozabilirdi. bu almanlar’ın tam da savaş ortasında isteyebilecekleri en son şeydi.
alman havacılarının kurduğu flakelf takımı 9 ağustos’ta bir rövanş maçı istedi. maç zenith stadı’nda oynanacaktı. maça bir ss subayı hakem olarak atandığında aslında olayın nereye varacağı daha en başından belli olmuştu. bazı kaynakların fc start’ı maçı kazanmaları durumunda başlarına gelecekleri konusunda uyardığı da bugün biliniyor.
tüm bu handikaplara rağmen takımın kurucusu ve kaptanı trusevych maç öncesi soyunma odasında takım arkadaşlarına duygusal bir konuşma yapar ve tüm ekip yaşamlarının son 90 dakikası olsa da her zamankinden daha iyi oynayacaklarına dair birbirlerine söz vererek maça çıkar. santra çizgisinde nazi selamı vermezler ve maçı izleyen halktan büyük alkış alırlar.
tahmin edildiği üzere bir nazi subayı olan hakem, flakelf’in yaptığı faulleri görmezden gelir. zaten ilk gol de oldukça şaibeli olur. kaleci trusevich kafasına tekme atan alman futbolcu, trusevich yerde kıvranırken ve takım arkadaşları başına toplanmışken topu kaleye yuvarlayarak ilk “golü” kaydeder. hakem, fc start’a yapılan faulleri görmezden gelmeye devam etmektedir. ukraynalı oyuncular almanlar’ın sahadaki saldırganlığı karşısında ne yapacaklarını şaşırmışlardır. tüm kirli oyunları yapan almanlar topa değil, rakibe gitmekte, forma parçalamakta, rakibi arkadan müdahelelerle sakatlamaya çalışmaktadır. tüm olanlara rağmen kuzmenko, 30 metreden muhteşem gol atar ve skoru eşitler. daha sonra honcharenko tüm flakelf defansını ipe dizer gibi çalımlayarak skoru 2-1’e taşır. ilk yarının son dakikasında skor 3-1 olur. ikinci yarı, sinirler tavana vurmuştur artık. her iki takım da ikişer gol atar ve skor 5-3’e gelir. son dakikalarda klimenko topu alır, yine tüm alman defansını, kaleci de dahil olmak üzere çalımlar, kale çizgisine kadar gelir, almanlara döner, kahkalarla güler ve topu gol yapmak yerine santra noktasına doğru şutlar. bunun üzerine alman hakem, daha maçın bitimine 15 dakika varken son düdüğü çalar ve maçı bitirir.
maçtan bir hafta sonra fc start oyuncuları teker teker evlerinden alınır ve gestapo işkencesine maruz kalır. hepsi yeraltı örgütü üyesi olmakla suçlanmaktadır. suçlamanın temeli ise dinamo kiev’in kurucuları arasında polis departmanı’nın da bulunmasıdır. korotkykh işkencede ölür. diğer oyuncular syrets çalışma kampı’na gönderilir. burada galibiyetin başrol oyuncuları kuzmenko, klimenko ve hikayemizin kahramanı trusevich şubat 1943’te öldürülürler.
cehennemden sağ kurtulan fedir tyutchev, mikhail sviridovskiy ve makar honcharenko ise savaştan sonra sovyet halk kahramanı ünvanı alırlar ve bu hikayenin efsaneleşmesini sağlarlar.
fc start, ölüme gittiklerini bile bile halkın umudunu hep canlı tutmaya çalışan halk kahramanlarının hikayesidir... bu hikaye, dünya döndükçe, insan yaşadıkça ve umut varoldukça ağızdan ağıza anlatılmaya devam edecektir...
crowd control at the zenit stadium was in keeping with the tense atmosphere. armed nazi guards and their german shepherd dogs patrolled the touchline. ukrainian police kept the civilian crowd back by waving pick-axe handles. the german spectators and their ukrainian sympathisers had the seats in the grandstand. the ukrainian supporters made do with the grassed edges of the football pitch. as the ukrainian players were getting ready in the fc start dressing room, an ss officer entered unannounced. according to goncharenko, he addressed the team in perfect russian:
ı am the referee of today's game. ı know you are a very good team. please follow the rules, do not break any of the rules, and before the game, greet your opponents in our fashion.
goncharenko knew immediately what this meant. they had a nazi fanatic as referee. and fc start were expected to give the nazi salute before the start of the game. after the ss man left, there was pandemonium in the dressing room. some players wanted to pull out altogether. others wanted to play hard and win hard. a rukh player, who was a ring-in for fc start, suggested it was best if they throw the match. meanwhile a rumanian delegation appeared with followers and fruit and wished fc start good luck. other visitors just brought their advice, which was mainly along the lines of deliberately losing the match. ın all this hubbub, the team decided to just go out there and play football.
the minutes before kick-off did little to reduce the tension. the burly and well-fed flakelf team lined up and gave the nazi salute. 'heil hitler!' they chorused. the german spectators roared approval. the fc start players stood with heads down. ıt was their turn. they slowly raised their arms. ıt looked as if they were going along with their instructions from the 'referee'. but instead of giving a nazi salute, the fc start players brought their arms back to their chests and, in unison, shouted a soviet slogan, 'fizculthura!' (physical culture hooray!)
the chant was a public rejection of the nazi regime. to make matters worse 'hurrah!' was the battle cry of red army soldiers, a sound that the german soldiers present would have known only too well. then the game began.
just as the fc start players forecast, the nazi referee ignored flakelf fouls and the german team quickly targeted trusevich, the goalkeeper who, after a sustained campaign of physical challenges, was kicked in the head by a flakelf forward and left groggy. while trusevich was recovering, flakelf went one goal up.
the referee continued to ignore fc start appeals against their opponents' violence. the flakelf team went on with their war of intimidation using all the tactics of a dirty team, going for the man not the ball, shirt-holding, and tackling from behind, as well as going over the ball. despite this fc start scored with a long shot from a free kick by kuzmenko. then goncharenko, against the run of play, dribbled the ball around almost the entire flakelf defence and tapped it into in the german net. 2-1! by half-time, fc start were yet another goal up.
ın the jubilant fc start dressing room, the team received two unwanted visitors. the collaborator shvetsov turned up and told them that it would be in their best interests to protect themselves. he left.
shvetsov was then followed by yet another ss officer. this ss man explained calmly and politely, again in perfect russian, that although the ukrainians had played very well in the first half, there was no way they could win the game. they should be aware of the consequences of their actions, he said. he turned and left.
the second half was almost an anti-climax. the flakelf players seemed to be terrified of the ukrainian fans and were far less physical. each side scored twice. towards the end of the match, with fc start in an almost unbeatable position at 5-3, klimenko, a defender, got the ball, beat the entire german rearguard and walked around the german goalkeeper. then, instead of letting it cross the goal line, he turned around and kicked the ball back towards the centre circle.
ıt was total humiliation for flakelf. an fc start defender choosing not to score against them. the ss referee blew the final whistle before the ninety minutes were up.
start fc: nikolai trusevich, mikhail sviridovsky, alexei klimenko, nikolai korotkykh, makar goncharenko, vladimir balakin, nikolai makhinya, ivan kuzmenko + three from mikhail melnik, mikhail putistin, vasil sukharev, and fedir tyutchev,
scorers: kuzmenko, goncharenko (2)
manager: grigory osinyuk
flakelf: -
scorers: -
manager: -
why you should watch this match: you won't be able to, but it's a monument to bravery and resistance in desperate times
this is a very different entry, and i am concerned that i'm trivialising tragedy by including it here. on the other hand more people should know the story of start fc. it's not a match that was filmed, although a greek documentary features apparently features footage of the 1930s dynamo kiev team, many of whom featured for start fc. the greek documentary available in three sections starting here appears to be sound only accompanied by photographs. much of the information in the article comes from andy dougan's excellent book dynamo, sadly out of print, but currently available for one pence plus postage at amazon and thoroughly recommended.
it's difficult to sort exaggeration from truth as far as this story goes. the nazis buried it and the soviet union mythologised what survived. in the late 1930s, as now, dynamo kiev was the most successful football team in ukraine, then part of the soviet union. the soviet pact with germany meant that life in the soviet union during world war ii continued as normal until the german invasion of 1941.
male residents of kiev signed up for the army to defend their city, but the battle of kiev was short and brutal, and the smallest reckoning of prisoners taken numbers them at over 500,000. a fair percentage were murdered, and the remainder processed in a prison camp. those deemed unlikely to hinder nazi plans were released back into a city stripped of all resources. among them were the dynamo kiev footballers.
the dynamo prefix requires an explanation. in the old soviet union and satellite states it indicated a team associated with state departments, most often the police, who employed . many kiev players. for individual players it wasn't necessarily indicative of any political sensibilities, as joining the police and by extension the dynamo sporting club enabled access to the top training facilities of the era and the soviets always encouraged sports. any police activity on the part of the players was likely to have been minimal, as they concentrated on their football. it's strange and fortunate, then, that despite holding identity papers identifying their trade, the kiev team were released back into society.
although czech by birth, iosif kordik spoke fluent german and convinced the nazis he was austrian with a ukrainian wife. he was permitted to run the baking factory re-opened to provide food for the german army, with any leftovers distributed to the local population. kordik filled his staff with sportsmen, chancing across dynamo goalkeeper nikolai trusevich half starving in the street. trusevich located other footballers to be employed, eventually gathering seven of his former team mates, and four players once of city rivals lokomotiv kiev. start was an ordinary name commonly given to new organisations at the time, and apolitical in nature, distancing the team from any previous or current state sanctioned activity.
when the germans re-introduced football, the former kiev players discussed whether participating equated to collaboration and implicit sanction of nazi policy. they concluded a morale-boosting winning team outweighed any other notions, and duly beat their first opponents 7-2 on june 7th 1942. six further victories followed, largely against teams from nearby garrisons, as popular resistance unified behind start. this was manifestly apparent when start defeated flakelf from the local luftwaffe base on august 6th 1942 overcoming deliberately brutal tactics ignored by a biased referee to win 5-1.
flakelf demanded a re-match take place three days later, and there was no doubt that this was to quell popular support for start. aryan supremacy had been proved hollow by a team of half-starved factory workers, and the posters promoting the match heavily featured the word 'revenge'. on arriving, locals were greeted by a large contingent of german soldiers among the spectators, leaving no doubt as to the type of display the germans intended.
much of the available information regarding start comes from former dynamo and start winger makar goncharenko much later in his life. he related the dressing room door opening and a man in an ss uniform informing the start players he would be refereeing, he expected no rules to be broken and that the game would start with their opponents being greeted in the nazi fashion. this was understood to mean a nazi salute accompanied by an exclamation of 'heil hitler.' goncharenko was also under no illusions that the match was expected to serve as a propaganda victory for the germans. he was explicit in stating, though, that start were never instructed by officials to lose before the match, and the decision made by the players was that whatever the consequences they would try to win, but perhaps not by a great margin.
start refused to give a nazi salute and instead shouted 'fixculhura', a phrase that roughly means 'long live sport'. they played the w formation pioneered in austria during the 1930s, but the early stages of the match didn't follow their plan. they weren't up against professionals, but the best of the area had been drafted into the flakelf team whose brutal tactics were repeated, with trusevich in goal coming in for a particular battering. after ten minutes he was kicked unconscious as he dived at the feet of an attacking german. with no substitutes, he had to carry on when he came round, and the germans took full advantage to open the scoring. the fouling was more blatant than in the first game, with no attempt made to play the ball, but the ss referee ignored it all. centre forward ivan kuzmenko's solution was to rid himself of the ball before any tackle could be made, and shooting from distance he equalised.
goncharenko ran down the wing evading all tackles, cut inside and put start ahead, and the half time score was completed when kuzmenko sent a pass over the defence to goncharenko who waited for it to drop and scored on the volley. the joy in the dressing room was tempered by the visit of another ss officer who congratulated them on their skill, but pointed out that they couldn't possibly expect to win, and that the should consider the consequences before the second half.
the mood had changed in the stadium during half time. while trusevich in goal had to put up with german fans behind him, there was palpable unease among the germans regarding the vociferously belligerent nature of the kiev crowd. the physical side of their game diminished, and there appears to be no record of the second half scorers. alexei klimenko added the final defiant touch by rounding several flakelf players and stopping the ball on the goal line before kicking upfield again rather than into the net.
contrary to the myth there were no immediate consequences. start played again the following week, recording another victory, but in the days after, using the names on the handbill advertising the second match, the gestapo arrested the start players, tortured them in the hope they would admit to being saboteurs, and dispatched them to labour camps.
again, for the full fascinating and tragic story read andy dougan's book. the film escape to victory is surely based on some half-baked version of the start fc story, and the players are commemorated with a monument erected outside the dynamo kiev stadium in 1981.
man of the match: klimenko. for a man to do what he did near the end of the game knowing full well the possible consequences can't just be attributed to the bravado of youth. he eventually paid with his life for an act of bravery inconceivable to most today.
the death match (russian: Матч смерти, ukrainian: Матч смерті, match smerti – match of death) is a name for an exhibition association football game in the summer of 1942 between the team of a local bakery employees "start" (cyrillic: Старт) — former professional footballers from dynamo kyiv and lokomotyv kyiv — and soldiers of air defense artillery, pilots and airfield support personnel "flakelf" (german: flakelf) (according to james riordan the nazi wehrmacht). note that flakelf is an abbreviated combination of the german words flak (fliegerabwehrkanone – air defense artillery) and elf – eleven which was used to denote an association football team (such as london xi). the importance of the game lays in the soviet propaganda that promotes the unshakable will of soviet players who sacrificed their lives facing an ultimate adversity. later most of the players received the medal "for courage".
the soviet footballers defeated the germans and, according to the players, on 18 august ten of the players were sent to a german concentration camp. later six escaped and four were killed. the expression "match of death" has appeared in a kiev newspaper "stalinskoye plemya" (stalin's tribe) on august 24, 1946 (#164, page 3) where a film novel of aleksandr borshchagovsky was published. the claims that the name was first used by lev kassil in 1943 cannot find a physical support.
in 1974 a case about the "death match" was opened by the prosecution office of hamburg and was finally closed by the investigation commission in february 2005. the investigation commission was not able to find any connections between the game and the execution of people who participated in it. in 2005, the prosecution office of the city of hamburg closed the case file about the "legendary" death match after over 30 years. the german verdict indicated there was no evidence that the kievan footballers were shot for being victorious over their german opponents.
background
football had become very popular in the soviet union in the 1930s, particularly in ukraine. ukraine's strongest team at that time was dynamo kyiv, which was part of the dynamo sports society and funded by the police (including the nkvd). in 1938, dynamo kyiv came in fourth in the national league, but performed poorly in 1939 and 1940.
the 1941 season was never completed, as germany invaded the soviet union on 22 june 1941. several dynamo kyiv players joined the military and went off to fight. as the germans approached kyiv, the others who had stayed behind helped out with civil defense in the city. the initial success of the wehrmacht allowed it to capture the city from the red army. several of the dynamo kyiv players who had survived the onslaught found themselves in prisoner-of-war camps.
many were prisoners in the darnytsia camp. the darnitsa camp was a makeshift camp for prisoners of war. in taking kiev the germans captured over 600,000 soviet soldiers. the germans "categorized" and "processed" the captured soldiers; many were executed, others were sent to germany as slave labour, and others were sent to death camps. those prisoners categorized as most harmless were released into the general population of occupied kiev. it was in this group that kolya trusevych, oleksiy klymenko, ivan kuzmenko, mykola makhinya, pavlo komarov, makar honcharenko, fedir tyutchev, mykhailo sviridovsky and mykhailo putsin found themselves, homeless and starving.
team of a kiev city bakery
it was at kiev's bakery number 3 that the players eventually gathered to work. this began when mykola trusevych, dynamo's goalkeeper returned to the city after being released from the darnitsa camp. trusevych was given a job as a sweeper in the bakery by otto schmidt, a german born in kiev who was also a dynamo fan. otto schmidt was the bakery's manager, who held his privileged position there because of his german origins. schmidt then hit on the idea of setting up a bakery football team and in the spring of 1942, trusevych began a search of kiev, looking for his former teammates. his first find was winger makar honcharenko. honcharenko remembers the invitation:
mykola came to me at khreshchatyck street where i was living illegally at my former mother-in-law's house. he came to me to have a chat about this idea and to find some of the other boys. we got in touch with kuzmenko and svyridovskiy and they contacted some of the others.
over the next few weeks, start was formed, comprising eight players from dynamo (mykola trusevych, mykhailo svyridovskiy, mykola korotkykh, oleksiy klymenko, fedir tyutchev, mykhailo putistin, ivan kuzmenko, makar honcharenko) and three players from lokomotiv kyiv (volodymyr balakin, vasyl sukharev and mykhailo melnyk).
season
the inaugural game of the season took place on june 7, 1942. that day, start played its first game in the local league against rukh, a team made up of other ukrainian players. the league itself was run by heorhiy shvetsov, a former footballer and sports instructor, and rukh was shvetsov's team. start won 7–2. all its home games start played at its home stadium "zenit" that was built in 1939 for the petrovsky bread factory.
the decision to play in the league was not easy for the start players. there were those among the players that believed participating in shvetsov’s league was tantamount to collaboration with the nazis, because they were supporting the league as a way to introduce "normality" into the city, pacifying it by winning over the populace. other players believed, however, that playing would help raise the morale of the citizens of kiev.
in the end, the decision was made to play. to emphasize the fact that the players were playing for the city, they wore red football jerseys that trusevych and putsin found in an abandoned warehouse. "we do not have weapons," trusevich told them, "but we can fight with our victories on the football pitch...for a while the members of dynamo and zheldor (locomotive) will be playing in one color, the color of our flag. the fascists should know that this color cannot be defeated." start were never defeated.
in 1942, fc start played several matches with teams of soldiers of various occupying garrisons, and won them all:
date...opponent...score (start in bold) june 21...hungarian garrison...6–2 july 5...romanian garrison...11–0 july 12...military railroad workers team...9–1 july 17...pgs (germany)...6–0 july 19...msg.wal (hungary)...5–1 july 21...msg.wal (hungary)...3–2 august 6...flakelf (germany)...5–1 august 9...flakelf (germany)...5–3 (death match) august 16...rukh (ukrainian nationals)...8–0
the german administration soon became aware that the fc start victories might inspire the ukrainians and decrease the morale of the axis troops.
the death match
after their defeat on 6 august 1942, the german luftwaffe team, flakelf, asked for a rematch, which took place on 9 august 1942 at zenit stadium. unlike other games, this game had a heavy presence of police and german troops, who were guarding the event. an ss officer was appointed as referee. before the game the referee visited fc start in their locker room. "i am the referee of today’s game," he said, "i know you are a very good team. please follow all the rules, do not break any of the rules, and before the game greet your opponents in our fashion." "our fashion" being the nazi salute.
although the start players realized that a victory in this game might have grave consequences, they decided to play the game, and play it well. upon entering the pitch, the team also refused to give the nazi salute to the german soldiers and high ranking officials gathered at the game.
as anticipated by fc start, the nazi referee ignored flakelf fouls. the german team quickly pressured the goalkeeper, trusevych who—after repeated physical challenges—was kicked in the head by a flakelf forward and left groggy. while trusevych was recovering, flakelf went one goal up.
the referee continued to ignore fc start appeals against their opponents' violence. the flakelf team reputedly continued to attempt to intimidate fc start, allegedly going for the man not with the ball, shirt-holding, and tackling from behind, as well as going over the ball. despite this fc start scored with a long shot from a free kick by kuzmenko. fc start's honcharenko, against the run of play, is said to have dribbled the ball around almost the entire flakelf defence, finishing by placing the ball into the german net to make the score 2–1. at the half, fc start were up 3–1.
during the half-time break, fc start once again had visitors in their locker room. the first was shvetsov, who asked the players to throw the match. he was followed by an ss officer, who told the start players that the germans were very impressed with their skill but they should understand that they cannot expect to win, and should consider the consequences should they do so.
during the second half, each side scored twice. towards the end of the match, with fc start 5–3 up, klymenko, a defender, got the ball, beat the entire german rearguard and walked around the german goalkeeper. then, instead of letting it cross the goal line, he turned around and kicked the ball back towards the centre circle. the ss referee blew the final whistle before the ninety minutes were up.
post game development
a week later on 16 august, start defeated rukh again, this time 8–0. on 18 august nine of fc start players were arrested and tortured by the gestapo, allegedly for being nkvd members. two more players were arrested later. one of the arrested players, mykola korotkykh, died under torture. the other, oleksander tkachenko, was shot during an alleged escape attempt. the rest were sent to the syrets labour camp, where ivan kuzmenko, oleksiy klymenko, and mykola trusevych were executed in february 1943. the few survivors included fedir tyutchev, mykhailo sviridovskiy and makar honcharenko, who managed to escape from the syrets labour camp and were responsible for the popularisation of this story in soviet popular culture.
popularisation
on 16 november 1943, izvestiya was the first newspaper to report the execution of the sportsmen by the germans in the article "tak bylo v kiyevye" (so it was in kiev) by a special military correspondent ye.kriger. the correspondent however only informed that the former players who tried to evade hunger were discovered by germans at a local bread factory and everyone was executed.
the name match of death or "death match" had really struck the public attention in november 1958, after petro severov published the article "the last duel" in the bi-lingual newspaper of the communist party of ukraine "vechirniy kiev" (evening kiev) that recently in the spring of 1958 was thrashed on anti-semitic grounds by the communist party of the soviet union. in that article severov connected the execution of players with the "revanche" game. the following year fizkultura i sport published a novel of severov together with naum khalemsky with the same name that told the story of start team and its struggle against the nazi occupiers. memoirs by makar honcharenko followed.
the story became romanticized and widely popular in the soviet union, especially in the ukraine area. two movies based on the story – third time (mosfilm, 1964) and the match of death – were released. the story also inspired two non-soviet films: the 1961 hungarian film két félidő a pokolban and the 1981 american film escape to victory.
the 2003 novel match of death by james riordan retells the story.
monuments
in 1971 a sculptural monument to the perished footballers was unveiled at the zenit stadium in kiev by the sculptor ivan horovyi. on the monument are the words of stepan oliynyk in ukrainian:
for our beautiful presence they fell in a fight... for ages your glory won't fade, the fearless hero-athletes.
in 1981 zenit stadium was renamed start stadium. in 2010 the state property fund of ukraine sold the start stadium to a private owner.
disclosing the myth
numerous other interviews were held with the participants of the match and related events, and as time has passed, their stories have changed from extremely revolutionary into a more realistic story.
prematch
the german magazine der spiegel stated: "when the footballers of "start" were still in the dressing room, they were visited by a young german in black uniform and in a good russian introduced himself as a referee. he was a member of the schutzstaffel (ss) and requested that the ukrainians would greet their opponents "in our manner". on the field the players of "flakelf" raised their right hand and yelled "heil hitler!" ukrainians answered: "da zdravstvuyet sport!" (hail sport!).
...during the intermission between periods the schutzstaffel officer appeared in the start's dressing room. "you must not win!" – he declared. "i am asking you think about the consequences".
according to vladlen putistin, a son of one of the match participants: "father never mentioned about that somebody would enter into their dressing room and furthermore threatening to shoot" ("bulvar", august 7, 2002). a greek documentary on the event featured a former player of "flakelf" named willie endelbardt, who stated that prior to the match, an officer entered their dressing room and announced roughly the following: "it is a special game and you have to win it to prove the superiority of the aryan race". endelbardt stated that the germans played normally and respected the other sportsmen.
journalist nikolai dolgopolov wrote: "referees were in the way. judged only germans".
makar honacharenko stated that the german players "thrashed us so that the bones rattled. the referee liked it. the german referee did not allow us near the goalpost".
other witnesses indicated that the matches involving "start" were usually refereed by romanians, who, as well as the hungarian axis allies, were less loyal to hitler. they also claimed that most of the games were refereed by an ober-lieutenant erwin who at the slightest violation would send the player off the field.
at one point in time, much was written about the players of "start" donning red shirts to underline their affiliation with the ussr. in actuality they played in "spartak" red shirts they found.
nikolai dolgopolov: "misha sviridovsky brought the uniform: white shorts, red shirts, red gaiters".
nikolai dolgopolov: "after the game, they understood – the last, quietly dispersed to their homes... in the morning they were arrested".
the son of mykhailo pustinin, vladlen, tells that after the match on august 9, his father, tyutchev, and himself were stopped by a patrol of gendarmerie on the saksahansky street (vulytsia saksahanskoho) late in the evening during a commandant hour. when the germans recognized who they had stopped, they immediately let go with an approving "gut!".
as the myth states, immediately after the match, mykola korotkykh was arrested and perished after several days in the torture chambers of the gestapo, while the other footballers were sent to a camp.
in actuality, mykola korotkykh was arrested on august 6, before the game took place, because he was a member of the communist party, and the germans had found a picture of him in an nkvd uniform. later, he indeed perished in gestapo hands.
on 18 august 1942, trusevych, klymenko, and putistin were arrested at the bakery, and were interrogated by the gestapo on korolenko street (vulytsia korolenka) for 23 days, after which they were sent to the camp at syrets. they were executed at babyn yar.
ölüm maçı: 1942 yazında, aralarında dinamo kiev ve lokomotif kiev'in eski futbolcularının da bulunduğu mahallî ekmek fırınının çalışanlarının kurduğu start takımı ile alman hava savunma askerleri ve havaalanı destek personelinin oluşturduğu flakelf takımları arasında oynanan maçtır. flakelf almanca iki kelimenin birleşiminde oluşmaktadır. flak: fliegerabwehrkanone - hava savunma ağır silahları ve elf: 11.
bu maçın en büyük özelliği sovyet oyuncuların canlarını ortaya koyarak gösterdikleri performans ve sonrasında olayın sovyet propagandasında kullanılmasıdır. sovyetler birliği tarafından oyunculara "cesaret madalyası" verilmiştir.
sovyet oyuncular almanları 5-3 yendikten sonra 18 ağustos'da 10 oyuncu toplama kampına gönderilir. bunlardan altı tanesi kaçarken dört tanesi öldürülür.
"ölüm maçı" ilk kez 24 ağustos 1946'da yayınlanan kiev gazetesi stalinskoye plemya'da (stalin's tribe) kullanılmıştır. fakat 1943'de ilk kez lev kassil tarafından kullanıldığı da iddia edilmektedir.
1974'de ölüm maçı ile ilgili olarak hamburg'da bir soruşturma başlatılmış fakat maç ile sonrasında yaşananlar arasında herhangi bir ilişki bulunamamış. üzerinden 30 yıl geçtikten sonra 2005 şubatında soruşturma komisyonu tarafından dosya kapatılmış. alman yetkililer: "kievli futbolcuların alman rakiplerine karşı aldıkları zaferden sonra öldürüldüklerine dair herhangi bir kanıt bulamadık" diye açıklama yapmış.
iki takım ilk kez 6 ağustos 1942'de karşı karşıya gelirler ve start, flakelf'i 5-1 yener. almanlar 9'unda zenit stadyumunda rövanş oynamak isterler. ama bu sefer daha önce oynanan maçlara nazaran alman polis ve askerler tarafından oluşturulan ağır bir hava vardır. maçı yönetecek olan ss subayı maç öncesi fc start'lıların soyunma odasına gelerek, "bugünkü maçın hakemi benim. biliyorum ki iyi bir takımsınız. lütfen kurallar uyun ve kurallar dışında hiçbir şey yapmayın. oyundan önce de rakiplerinize nazi selamı vermelisiniz" demiştir.
start takımı rövanşı da kazanmaya karar verirler. stadyuma girdiklerinde asker ve subaylara nazi selamı vermeyi reddederler. maçta hakem flakelf faullerini es geçer, özellikle start kalecisi trusevych üzerinde baskı kurarlar. bir pozisyonda kafasına tekme bile atılır. bunun akabinde flakelf golünü atar. ardından start kuzmenko'ın frikikten attığı golle beraberliği yakalar. honcharenko bir pozisyonda topu kapıp topla birlikte flakelf defansına doğru dripling atar ve ardından skor 2-1 yapar. ilk yarı biterken skor 3-1 olur.
devre arasında soyunma odalarına misafirler gelir. shvetsov oyunculardan maçı bırakmalarını ister. ardından ss subayı benzer bir istekte bulunur ama oyuncular ne olursa olsun maçı kazanacaklarını söylerler. ikinci yarıda her iki takım da ikişer gol bulur ve maçı start 5-3 kazanır.
bir hafta sonra 16 ağustos'da start rukh takımına karşı 8-0'lık bir galibiyet aldı. 18 ağustos'da 9 tane start oyuncusu gestapo tarafından tutuklandı ve işkence gördü. daha sonradan 2 tanesi daha tutuklandı. mykola korotkykh işkence sırasında hayatını kaybetti. oleksander tkachenko ise kaçmaya çalışırken vurularak öldürüldü. geri kalanlar streys çalışma kampına gönderildiler. ivan kuzmenko, oleksiy klymenko ve mykola trusevych 1943 şubatında idam edildiler. fedir tyutchev, mykhailo sviridovskiy ve makar honcharenko ise kaçmayı başardılar ve dışarıda anlattıkları sayesinde yaşananlar sovyet popüler kültürü üzerinden herkese ulaştı.
olay ilk kez 16 kasım 1943'de izvestiya'ya konu oldu. fakat sadece eski futbolcuların açlıklarını gidermek isterken mahallî ekmek fabrikasında yakalanıp idam edilmelerini anlatmış. ölüm maçı, kasım 1958'de petro severov'un ukrayna komünist partisi gazetesinde yayınladığı "son düello" adındaki makalesi ile halk tarafından ilgi ile karşılanacaktı.
sonraları hikaye romantik bir hal aldı ve sovyetler birliği ile ukrayna’da büyük ilgi gördü. 1964'de third time ve the match of death adında 2 tane filmi çekildi. aynı zamanda hikaye sovyetler birliği ile ilgisi olmayan 2 filme de ilham kaynağı oldu. 1961'de macar yapımı yapılan két félidő a pokolban (two half time in hell) ve 1981'de amerikan yapımı escape to victory.
1971'de ölen futbolcuların anısına ivan horovyi tarafından kiev'deki zenit stadyumunda bir heykel yapıldı. heykele stepan oliynyk'ın şu sözleri yazıldı: "bizlerin huzuru için onlar kavgada yaşamlarını yitirdiler. kazandığınız zafer asla unutulmayacak, korkusuz kahraman-atletler..."
1981'de zenit stadyumunun adı start stadyumu olarak değiştirdi. 2010'da ukrayna devlet mülkiyet fonu stadı özelleştirdi ve sattı.
bir de hikayenin farklı kaynaklara göre değişik ayrıntıları var. sanki zaman içerisinde hikaye birçok şekilde formunu kaybetmiş durumda.
alman der spiegel dergisi: "start takımı soyunma odasındayken siyah üniformalı, iyi bir ruscayla kendisinin hakem olarak tanıttı. aynı zamanda ss subayı olan hakem ukraynalılardan 'rakiplerinizin beklediği gibi onları selamlayın' dedi. flakelf'liler sahada sağ ellerini kaldırım 'hail hitler!' derken, ukraynalılar: "hail sport!' diye cevap verdiler. (...) devre arasında hakem bir kere daha start soyunma odasında görüldü ve 'kazanmamalısınız! eğer kazanırsanız sonunda neler olacağını düşünüyor musunuz?' dedi." diye yazdı.
mykhailo putistin'in oğlu vladlen putistin 7 ağustos 2002'de bulvar'a, "babam hiçbir zaman birilerinin soyunma odalarına geldiğini ve onları tehdit ettiğinden bahsetmedi" demiştir.
bir yunan belgeselinde flakelf'in eski bir futbolcusu olan willie endelbardt, bir görevlinin soyunma odalarına gelerek, "bu çok özel bir maç. bugün kazanarak ari ırkın gücünü kanıtlamalısınız!" dediğini anlattı. ayrıca endelbardt, maç sırasında alman futbolcuların sahada rakiplerine karşı son derece saygılı davrandıklarını da söyledi.
birçok yerde start'lı oyuncuların sovyetler birliği'ni temsilen kırmızı bir forma giydiği anlatılır ama aslında gerçek olan start'ın buldukları "spartak"ın kırmızı formasını giydikleridir.
nikolai dolgopolov, "misha sviridovsky o gün giydiklerini bana getirdi. kırmızı forma, beyaz şort ve kırmızı tozluk" demiştir.
mite göre, mykola korotkykh'ın maçtan hemen sonra tutuklanmış ve gstapo tarafından gördüğü işkence sonucunda birkaç gün sonra ölmüş ve diğer oyuncular toplama kampına gönderilmiştir. fakat gerçekte, mykola korotkykh, 6 ağustos'ta yani maçtan önce tutuklanmıştır. çünkü komünist partisinin üyesidir ve almanlar parti üniforması giydiği bir fotoğrafını bulmuşlardır. sonrasında gestapo tarafından öldürülmüştür.
18 ağustos 1942'de trusevych, klymenko ve putistin, ekmek fırınında tutuklanmış ve 23 gün boyunca korlenko sokağındaki gestapo tarafından sorguya çekilmişlerdir. sonrasında syrets toplama kampına gönderilmişlerdir. kiev'deki babyn yar dağ geçidinde idam edilmişlerdir.
kaynak: en.wikipedia.com'dan kendimce önemli bilgileri çevirdim
