Ajax Past and Present

Founded in 1900, Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax,  known simply as "Ajax", is one of the most famous clubs in Europe, if not the world.  I of course knew of the legendary Johan Cruyff and Rinus Michels and of the Ajax rivalries with Feyenoord and PSV Eindhoven.  But I was not aware of the support for the team among Amsterdam's Jewish population.

Sports Illustrated  recently ran an article about Eddy Hamel a Dutch Jew born in New York, who became the first Jewish player for Ajax and later died at Auschwitz.  The story describes the Ajax-Jewish connection.  It is a sobering piece about life in Nazi-controlled areas in World War II.  Hamel was apparently arrested because he was not wearing his "Judenstern" or Jewish star that Jews were required to wear.  The story took me back to my visit to the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam and the time I saw Dachau, a concentration camp in Bavaria.

Fast forward to 2019.  Rory Smith wrote an article in The New York Times a few weeks ago about how Ajax uses its history and tradition to retain star players who might otherwise transfer to another European side for more Euros.