Erwin Peter Nytz or Edward Piotr Nyc (24 May 1914 – 1 May 1988) was an interwar Polish football

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. Nytz was born 24 May 1914 in Kattowitz (Katowice), German Empire (now

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

). In the late 1930s, Nyc played for

Polonia Warszawa Polonia Warsaw ( pl, Polonia Warszawa, ), founded on 19 November 1911, is the oldest existing Varsovian sports club, best known for its football and basketball teams. It also has track and field, swimming, chess, mountain biking, and contract ...

, and also represented the

Polish national football team The Poland national football team ( pl, Reprezentacja Polski w piłce nożnej) has represented Poland in men's international tournaments football competitions since their first match in 1921. The team is controlled by the Polish Football Assoc ...

. He participated in the legendary

1938 FIFA World Cup The 1938 FIFA World Cup was the third edition of the World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams and was held in France from 4 June until 19 June 1938. Italy defended its title in the final, bea ...

game Poland -

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

5-6 (5 June 1938 in Strasbourg,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

). During the Second World War, Nyc returned to Upper Silesia, where for a while played for a German minority team

1. FC Katowice The 1. FC Katowice is a Polish football club from Katowice, Silesian Voivodeship and was founded in 2007 as a reactivation by the Silesian Autonomy Movement of the 1945 dissolved 1. FC Kattowitz. Men's football team The club was reactivated i ...

. Called up to the German Army, continued his career in the military teams of the

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

and the garrison of

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

. After the war Nyc unlike many of his fellow Silesian-German soccer players remained in his homeland under Communist Poland. Initially, he had many problems with the Communist government, which regarded him as a traitor. However, a group of players from

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 ...

and

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

claimed that he had never betrayed Poland and had actively supported Polish underground organizations.

Name

Born Erwin Nytz, after the restoration of Poland's sovereignty he changed his last name back to its Polish version. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

his last name was again Germanized. After the war this change was annulled.

References

1914 births 1988 deaths Polish footballers Polonia Warsaw players 1938 FIFA World Cup players Sportspeople from Katowice Poland international footballers People from the Province of Silesia German Army personnel of World War II Association football midfielders Luftwaffe personnel of World War II {{Poland-footy-midfielder-stub

Name

See also

References