Edward Jan (or Ewald Oskar) Dytko (18 October 1914 – 13 June 1993) was a Polish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player, who, when his home country became Poland by

Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles (french: Traité de Versailles; german: Versailler Vertrag, ) was the most important of the peace treaties of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June ...

represented the no longer existing team of

Dąb Katowice Dąb Katowice was a Polish sports club from Upper Silesian capital of Katowice. Founded in 1911 as SV Eiche (Sport Verein Eiche) (Katowice was then located in German Empire, its German name was Kattowitz), the club existed until September 9, 19 ...

, also in 1935-39 he played in the Polish National Team. He was born in Zalenze (now a district of

Katowice Katowice ( , , ; szl, Katowicy; german: Kattowitz, yi, קאַטעוויץ, Kattevitz) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Upper Silesian metropolitan area. It is the 11th most popul ...

) and since early childhood played soccer. In 1931 he became a player of Dab, where he spent his all career. In 1936, his team was promoted to the Polish Soccer League, but due to Dąb's disqualification, the club was relegated in the middle of the 1937 season. His national debut occurred on 18 August 1935 in Katowice, against

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

. Soon Dytko became a key midfield, participating in 25 games. He played in the 1936 Olympic Games in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

(in all four games of the Polish Team), also in a legendary World Cup Soccer 1938 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,

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

). On 27 August 1939 Dytko took part in the last (and one of the best) match of interwar Polish National Team - at

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 ...

, vs.

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

(4-2) Dytko is regarded as the co-author of the biggest successes of Polish soccer in the interwar period. 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 opposin ...

, he signed the

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nationality list (

Volksliste The Deutsche Volksliste (German People's List), a Nazi Party institution, aimed to classify inhabitants of Nazi-occupied territories (1939-1945) into categories of desirability according to criteria systematised by ''Reichsführer-SS'' Heinrich H ...

) and in 1942 was drafted into the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previous ...

. In 1944 he was captured by the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

and for a while was kept at a

POW A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war ...

camp in

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. After the war he returned to Silesia and his beloved team, representing Dab until 1950. Like many other inhabitants of Upper Silesia, he had problems with the communist government, which initially treated him as a traitor. He was cleared, but only after signing the declaration of loyalty to the Polish state. After 1950 he worked as a coach in several Silesian teams, but without major successes. He died in Katowice.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dytko, Ewald 1914 births 1993 deaths Sportspeople from Katowice Polish footballers Olympic footballers of Poland Footballers at the 1936 Summer Olympics 1938 FIFA World Cup players Poland international footballers People from the Province of Silesia German prisoners of war in World War II held by the United States Association football midfielders German Army personnel of World War II Volksdeutsche

See also

References