Bernhard Trautmann

Feldwebel **Bernhard Carl "Bert" Trautmann** was a soldier of the Heer. He had previously served as a Fallschirmjäger in the Luftwaffe before joining the 35th Infantry Division in October 1941 seeing action in Ukraine. Whilst there he played football with some other soldiers and when a young Ukrainian boy asks for his ball back, as a Feldwebel had taken it from him. The Feldwebel tells the boy if he can get the ball and run away with it in ten seconds he can have it back, so the boy grabs it and runs. The Feldwebel counts to ten and then shoots the boy in the back and then retrieves the ball. During that encounter Trautmann just stood there in shock and did nothing. This would haunt him for the rest of his life and he would often see the dead boy and his ball. He took a small carved wooden eagle from the boy which he kept around his neck.

By early 1945 he was serving in Kleve, northwestern Germany near the Dutch border. He and other soldiers were patrolling the woods when British shells started to rain down and they came under fire. One of the soldiers was shot in the throat and fell on top of Trautmann and that was how he was found by British soldiers who took him prisoner.

Transferred to a British P.O.W. in Ashton-in-Makerfield in Lancashire, he and his comrades are kept under strict conditions and made to work to repair the damage their country has caused to the surrounding area. Jack Friar, a local tradesman and manager of non-league side St Helens Town, spots Trautmann keeping goal against other P.O.W.s during a trip to deliver treats to the camp commander and bribes the commander into allowing Trautmann to be allowed out of the camp, whereupon he recruits him to play as goalkeeper for his relegation-threatened side. Although the war has recently ended with the defeat of Nazi Germany, the other players are angered to be asked to play alongside a German, but with little other option they agree to take to the field. A string of strong performances see the players slowly come to accept Trautmann's place in the team. As a condition of his continuing appearances Friar agrees to let Bert help work in his shop, leading Friar's daughter Margaret to soften her initially-hostile stance, and the pair begin an unlikely romance.

As St Helens Town come to their crunch relegation-deciding match at the end of the season, it is announced that the war's end has led to an offer for the German P.O.W.s to be repatriated. Although Trautmann is free to return to his home in Bremen, he instead chooses to stay to support his side. After the match, Manchester City manager Jock Thomson, who has come on a scouting mission, approaches Bert and offers him a place in his City team to replace the retiring Frank Swift. At their end-of-season party his teammates present him with a hamper to take home to his family, but Bert's growing connection with Margaret leads him instead to stay, and in due course they are married.

In 1949, Bert travels to Manchester to sign for City. The press conference for his arrival rapidly turns hostile as the Manchester press - representing a city with a large Jewish population - demand Bert answer questions on his military background. Protesting crowds form outside Maine Road and the City supporters barrage him with booing but Thomson and his City side refuse to join them, instead stating "there's no war in this dressing room". At an acrimonious meeting with season ticket holders Thomson and the City board struggle to contain the fury of the city's residents but a passionate plea by Margaret strikes home with the influential Rabbi Altmann, who writes an open letter to the city published in a local paper asking them to examine all men individually without national bias. Following Altmann's letter, and with continuing fine performances on the field of play, the mood shifts and soon Trautmann is even being welcomed by players of other teams around the country.

By 1956 Bert and Margaret are living an idyllic existence with their young son John, while Manchester City's strong run has led them to the FA Cup Final. As City take a strong 3–1 lead Bert is again winning plaudits for his masterful goalkeeping, when a dangerous collision with Birmingham City player shatters a vertebra in his neck and almost costs him his life. With 20 minutes of the game left to go, and clearly in a bad state, Trautmann refuses to leave the field and continues to make several brave saves, stopping Birmingham City from scoring any further goals and thus winning City the cup.

Whilst recuperating in hospital he calls home as he has been dreaming of the boy he never tried to save and feels it's time he told his wife the story. He hears his five year old son, John, asking Margaret for an ice-cream and tells her not be so strict and let him go and get one. He tries to tell her why he called but it cut short by her leaving the phone and he hears her screams because his son had been hit and killed by a car whilst getting the ice-cream. He puts the phone down as he once again sees the Ukrainian boy and his ball once again.

Their heartbreak causes Margaret to grow more distant with Bert, while he himself becomes convinced that his loss is a karmic consequence of his inaction when witnessing the death of the boy in Ukraine.

Trautmann eventually returns to football and he and his wife went on to have another two children. He retired in 1964 and died in 2013.

## Awards

* Iron Cross 1st Class
* Iron Cross 2nd Class
* Eastern Front Medal

## Notes

* His is a fictional portrayal of the real Bernhard Carl "Bert" Trautmann. [1]