January 23 – Death of the Paper-man

WHEN Gustav Hartmann broke down the door of his best friend Matthias Sindelar’s apartment today in 1939 he found the legendary Austrian centre-forward lying dead alongside his girlfriend.

The story of the tragic hero Sindelar, Austria’s finest-ever player and a man who stood up to the Nazi Party amidst the chaos of pre-war Europe is one of football’s forgotten chapters.

Born into a poor family of Czech immigrants in 1903, Sindelar joined Hertha Vienna as a 15-year-old and soon earned a move to FK Austria Vienna where he would help the team win five Austrian Cups and become the national team’s most dangerous player under the stewardship of Hugo Meisl.

Due his slight build Sindelar was known as Der Papoerne, or the Paper-man and was described by theatre critic Alfred Polgar as having “brains in his legs and many remarkable and unexpected things occurred to them while they were running.”

The Austrian national team of this era were one of the leading sides in the world, dubbed the ‘Wunderteam’ and a product of the cultural hotbed that had emanated from the Viennese coffee-houses since the latter half of the 19th century, a topic excellently explored in Jonathan Wilson’s superlative book Inverting the Pyramid.

When the Nazi forces annexed Austria in March 1938 Hitler was quick to integrate the Wunderteam into a new united national team. Never keeping his Social Democratic views a secret, Sindelar turned out for Ostmark, the name that the Nazi’s had given Austria, for their celebratory “Reconciliation Match” in April 1938. This PR exercise was supposed to result in a draw and during the first half Sindelar missed a number of easy chances as the Austrians seemed to let Germany control the game.

In the second half both Sindelar and team-mate Karl Sesta scored as the game finished 2-0. Reports suggest that Sindelar celebrated his goal by dancing in front of the watching Nazi dignitaries.
Sindelar was then called up to the Germany team, but steadfastly refused, citing injury and old age as his excuse. He also refused to leave his home country despite the Nazi Party banning professional football.

When Sindelar was found dead in his apartment a myriad of conspiracy theories emerged and still float around to this day. The official cause of death was carbon monoxide poisoning from a faulty heater, a plausible reason as many in his neighbourhood had died that way.

Austrian newspaper Kronen Zeitung had different ideas, claiming that Sindelar, who was a hero to millions had most likely “become the victim of murder though poisoning.” Theories of missing police records and bribes to coroners added fuel to the fire that the Nazi’s had murdered one of the 20th century’s greatest ever players. Suicide was also raised as a possibility, as he was found lying next to his Jewish girlfriend Carmilla Castagnola, as if to suggest that Sindelar could not face living the city he loved that was being downtrodden by the Hitler’s evil empire.

Whatever the cause of the Paper-man’s death it is undeniable that both on and off the pitch Sindelar was one of the most significant men of his generation. See some footage of him in action below and have a look at what else was going on in the world of football today here.

No related posts.

2 Comments

Leave a Comment

Username (required) :
Email (required) :
Web Site :
Comment :