German footballer and SS officer (1892–1956)
Otto Fritz Harder (Nickname: Tull Harder; 25 November 1892 – 4 March 1956) was a German footballer and convicted war criminal who played for Eintracht Braunschweig, Hamburger SV, and Victoria Hamburg. He won two German football championships and played 15 times in the Germany national team. Harder was a former SS officer and had been a warder at the Ahlem concentration camp in Hanover.
Career
Harder was born in Braunschweig. He spent most of his career with Hamburger SV, scoring over 378 goals in 211 games.[3] His football fame in Germany was comparable with Uwe Seeler's fame.[4][5]
At the age of 16 he was discovered for football by FC Hohenzollern Braunschweig, and his impact was such that not even twelve months passed before the main club in the city, Eintracht Braunschweig, incorporated him into his ranks. There he received the nickname of "Tull" with which he would be known throughout his career, since his style of play was reminiscent of that of Tottenham Hotspur's center forward at the time, Walter Tull, the first black professional English player who died in action during World War I.
Initially, and since he was barely 17 years old, the young Tull Harder was only called up to play friendly matches with the Eintracht Braunschweig reserve team, which made him nervous, although this situation would not last long, since his quality and his tremendous physique ended up prevailing and he managed to make a career, as they say. At the beginning of 1912 he left for Hamburger SV for a few months. Eintracht Braunschweig fans wanted to avoid the departure of their young star at all costs. For this reason, they did not let him take the train to Hamburg, which he had to do almost secretly 25 kilometers from there, at the station in the neighboring town of Peine. Ultimately, Harder would play one more season with his hometown team before finally committing to Hamburger SV to play on the banks of the Elbe.
After the Great War, Harder soon established himself as the team's great star. Through him, Hamburger SV became one of the great German soccer teams in the 1920s, first reaching the 1922 German football championship against 1.FC Nürnberg, which officially did not have a champion, and finally making up for it. a year later, in 1923, the year in which Hamburger SV lifted its first German championship title after defeating Union Oberschöneweide by a clear 3–0. He would repeat that success in 1928, when he was already 36 years old. That season he established a record for eternity by scoring, on 15 January 1928, Otto scored no less than 12 goals against Wandsbeker FC [de] with the final score was 18–5.[6]
Career in the Nazi Party
Following his football career, Harder ran an insurance agency, and in October 1932, he became a member of the NSDAP, before joining the SS in May 1933. In August 1939, he was drafted into the Waffen-SS, and served shortly at Sachsenhausen concentration camp, then at Neuengamme in Hamburg by the end of that year.[10] On 30 November 1944, Harder became an SS-Hauptscharführer and a commander (Schutzhaftlagerführer) at the Ahlem camp in Hanover.[11] On 30 January 1945, he was promoted to SS-Untersturmführer (equivalent second lieutenant). He also served as a camp commander in Uelzen, a subcamp of Neuengamme, which was evacuated under his leadership on 16–17 April due to British attacks, in which prisoners were transferred to the main camp. In May 1945, he was captured by the British military and was taken to Iserbrook. Due to health issues, he was initially released, but was arrested again.[12]
After World War II, Harder was tried for war crimes by the British military court at the Curio house in Rotherbaum. On 6 May 1947, he was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment.[4] After the trial, Hamburger SV excluded him for a short time. However, his sentence was later reduced to ten years in prison, of which he ended up serving only four years. He was released from Werl Prison before Christmas 1951. Harder later moved to Bendestorf,[13] where he worked as an insurance agent until his death on 4 March 1956 in Hamburg.[12]
The Resistance Man and the Football Hero
In his 2023 book, The Resistance Man and the Football Hero by Frank Krake, the author contrasts the life of SS camp commandant Harder who "created a living hell" (according to Henry Kissinger, one of the US 84th Division which liberated the Ahlen[14] concentration camp), with the life of Gerhard Nijland, a Dutch resistance hero who became a prisoner in Harder's camp. According to The Times, Nijland was captured after his resistance cell raided the De Nederlandsche Bank which was run by a Dutch Nazi and collaborator. (The raid had been approved by the Dutch Government in exile). Sent to Harder's camp at Ahlen, Nijland was a forced labourer alongside Jewish slave workers. Nijland died in April 1945 five days after being liberated by the Americans, and was buried in an unmarked grave.[15]
Death
Harder died in a hospital in Hamburg after surgery in 1956.[4] The Hamburger SV published an obituary
Er war (...) stets ein guter Freund und treuer Kamerad.
— Vereinsnachrichten des Hamburger Sport-Verein, April 1956
'He was (...) always a good friend and loyal comrade.'[13]
For the 1974 FIFA World Cup, the senate of Hamburg published the booklet Hamburg '74. Fußballweltmeisterschaft, which praised among others Josef Posipal, Uwe Seeler and Harder as role models for the young. The sheets mentioning Harder were removed.[13]
Style of play
When Tull had the ball at his feet and off he went racing, he would plough through defenders. Then he took his measurements again and while the opposing goalkeeper stood there, pale and helpless, knowing that he couldn't do anything to stop the shot that was coming. The ball was already in the corner of the goal.[1]
Netherlands
Norway
Sweden
Hungary
Switzerland