Józef Klotz (2 January 1900 – 1941) was a
Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles
Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...
footballer who played
centre-half.
He scored the first-ever goal for the
Poland national football team. He was killed by the
Nazis
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in N ...
in the
Warsaw Ghetto
The Warsaw Ghetto (german: Warschauer Ghetto, officially , "Jewish Residential District in Warsaw"; pl, getto warszawskie) was the largest of the Nazi ghettos during World War II and the Holocaust. It was established in November 1940 by the G ...
in 1941.
Biography
Klotz was born in
Kraków
Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...
,
southern Poland, and was Jewish.
["Poland honors national soccer player murdered in Holocaust"](_blank)
''Israel HaYom'', June 11, 2019. His father was a shoemaker.
He scored the first-ever goal for the
Poland national football team. He scored it against Sweden in
Stockholm in May 1922, in the team's third international match.
Klotz played for two clubs. He played first for
Jutrzenka Kraków, which he joined as a youth team player and played for from 1912 to 1925, and then for
Maccabi Warszawa from 1925 to 1929 (both teams were Jewish minority teams).
He retired as a player in 1930.
He was imprisoned in the
Warsaw Ghetto
The Warsaw Ghetto (german: Warschauer Ghetto, officially , "Jewish Residential District in Warsaw"; pl, getto warszawskie) was the largest of the Nazi ghettos during World War II and the Holocaust. It was established in November 1940 by the G ...
in 1940. He was murdered there by the
Germans
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in 1941.
In 2019, Klotz was honored by the
Polish Football Association
The Polish Football Association ( pl, Polski Związek Piłki Nożnej; PZPN) is the governing body of association football in Poland. It organizes the Polish football leagues (without the Ekstraklasa), the Polish Cup and the Polish national footb ...
.
Statistics
Club career
* 1910–1925
Jutrzenka Kraków
* 1925–1929
Maccabi Warszawa
International
* 14.5.1922
Kraków
Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...
Poland 0:3 Hungary
* 28.5.1922
Stockholm
Sweden 1:2 Poland
See also
*
Polish soccer (football) in interwar period
*
List of select Jewish football (association; soccer) players
References
Sources
* Andrzej Gowarzewski "FUJI Football Encyclopedia – History of the Polish National Team (1) – White and Red" ; GiA Katowice 1991
{{DEFAULTSORT:Klotz, Jozef
1900 births
1941 deaths
Polish footballers
Jewish footballers
Poland international footballers
Male murder victims
People who died in the Warsaw Ghetto
Footballers from Kraków
Austro-Hungarian Jews
Polish Jews who died in the Holocaust
Jewish Polish sportspeople
Association football central defenders
Polish civilians killed in World War II