When (West) Germany rediscovered itself as a people

I assume it could be a question that arises spontaneously when the World Cup is looming on the horizon. Is there a Rimet Cup or Fifa Cup match that indelibly reveals the historical moment in which it takes place? In other words cIs a World Cup soccer match comparable to the raising of the gloved fist of Tommy Smith and John Carlos? We are therefore not referring to the mere “accommodating” management of a world tournament from a political point of view: to cite the two most striking examples, Italy 1934 and Argentina 1978, in which efforts were made to obtain a certain sporting result, but rather to a game that is a real historical epiphany of the times.

Upon close scrutiny, there is only one, which was so surprising in the result that it deserved the nickname of “Miracle of Bern” and which is nothing but the 1954 world championship final in Switzerland in which West Germany beat Greater Hungary of Puskas, Hidegkuti and Bozsik – the Aranycsapat, the Golden Team – by 3 to 2.

However, it is a bit poor in spirit to limit the epithet of “Miracle of Bern” to the result alone because, if one pauses a little, it seems that history had established a precise appointment on July 4, 1954 on the lawn of the Wankdorf Stadium .

First there was the host country, the Switzerland, specially chosen for the first European edition after the Second World War because its neutrality had accommodated practically everyone: whether they were allies, Jews, collaborators, Nazis and even Communists in exile. Then there was Hungary which had been allied with the Germans and Italians during the invasion of Yugoslavia and Russia in 1941, but which had then been occupied during the counter-offensive by the Red Army marching westward and which ended up in a mass of countries that would shortly thereafter ratify membership of the Warsaw Pact. Finally Germany, readmitted to the official competitions despite the echoes of the epilogue of the Nuremberg Trials and still tormented by the satellite trials concerning war crimes.

All this incredible post-war European scenario was enclosed on July 4, 1954 within the pitch of the Bern stadium.

The progress of the match has relative importance, even if the match was truly beautiful and vibrant, with Toni Turek – the German goalkeeper, great protagonist of the final – who, in imperishable memory, kept in the braincase (and kept it until the death) a mortar shrapnel, stuck there during the great tank battle of Kursk.

Equally of very relative importance are the controversies over the formula of the tournament and the alleged doping of the German team.

What really matters are the testimonies of the fans who arrived from Germany in trickles and sat almost incognito in the stands of the Wankdorf Stadium.

“I will never forget that day. When the referee blew the whistle we looked at each other in amazement. We began to embrace, shout and wave the German flag which they had hidden throughout the game in the narrow gap between our backs and the bleachers. No one was to know that there were German flags in the stadium. As we waved them we looked at each other and couldn’t believe our eyes. The tricolor waved. Nothing like this had happened since the end of the war because no one had the courage to show that they were happy. We were ashamed of what Germany had been. Instead in Bern we seemed crazy and, for the first time, we didn’t feel guilty about showing all our joy despite being German”.

This is the deepest nature of the “Miracle of Bern”: the day in which an entire country, at least for a while, was able to free itself from the most ruthless of guilt.