Eddy Hamel

Eddy Hamel (October 21, 1902 – April 30, 1943) was an American football player for Dutch club AFC Ajax. Hamel was the first Jewish player for Ajax. He was murdered by the Nazis in 1943 in Auschwitz concentration camp.

Eddy Hamel
Personal information
Full name Edward Hamel
Date of birth (1902-10-21)October 21, 1902
Place of birth New York City, New York, United States
Date of death April 30, 1943(1943-04-30) (aged 40)
Place of death Auschwitz-Birkenau, German-occupied Poland
Position(s) Right winger
Youth career
1917[1]-1920 AFC
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1920–1922 AFC ? (?)
1922–1930 Ajax 125 (8)
Managerial career
1932–1933 Alcmaria Victrix
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Background

Hamel was born in New York City, New York to Moses Hamel, a diamond polisher, and his wife Eva. They were Jewish immigrants from the Netherlands,[2] who had arrived in the US in 1901. They moved back to Amsterdam with Hamel when he was six months old, in 1903.[3] In 1928, Hamel married Johanna Wijnberg, and in 1938 they had twin boys, Paul and Robert.[4]

Football career

As a youth, he played for Amsterdamsche FC (AFC).[4]

He played for AFC Ajax from 1922 until 1930.[2] He appeared in 125 matches as a right winger, and scoring 8 goals.[2] Die-hard Ajax supporters call themselves "Joden" – Dutch for "Jews" – a nickname that reflects both the team's and the city's Jewish heritage.[5] This nickname for Ajax fans dates back to before World War II, when Amsterdam was home to most of the Netherlands' 140,000 Jews.[5]

Hamel became a first team regular for Ajax. He was the first Jewish player (as well as the first American) to play for first team Ajax.[2][6] To date, only four other Jewish football players have followed in his footsteps – Johnny Roeg, Bennie Muller, Sjaak Swart, and Daniël de Ridder. Hamel was a fan favorite, and was cited by pre-World War II club legend Wim Anderiesen as part of the strongest line-up he ever played with.[4][7] He had his own fan club in the 1920s, which would line up on his side of the field at the beginning of every game, and then switch sides to be on his side of the field in the second half.[8]

After his retirement as a player, Hamel managed Alcmaria Victrix for three years and continued to play in an Ajax veteran squad.

Arrest and killing by the Nazis

Hamel was also the club's only war victim who played for the first team of Ajax.

Local Fascist groups assisted in rounding up Jews after Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands in May 1940.[2] Despite his American citizenship, in late 1942 Hamel was detained by the Nazis because he was a Jew.[2][9] He spent four months doing hard labor at Birkenau.[2][9] After he was found to have a swollen mouth abscess during a Nazi inspection, the Nazis murdered him in the gas chambers in Auschwitz concentration camp on April 30, 1943.[2][10][11][12]

In the TV documentary Auschwitz: The Forgotten Evidence, fellow inmate Leon Greenman said he was in front of Hamel when Hamel told him he had an abscess in his mouth, while in a regular medical selection line, and that while Greenman passed that selection Hamel was sent to the gas chambers because of his abscess.[2] He was one of several Jewish football players – many of whom were Olympians – who were murdered by the Nazis.[6]

See also

References
  1. "Op de ledenlijst bijgeschreven: AFC" (in Dutch). Het Sportblad. Retrieved May 19, 2018.
  2. Grunwald-Spier, Agnes (July 29, 2016). "The tragic fate of Jewish sporting heroes in the Holocaust". Jewish News.
  3. McKnight, Michael (February 12, 2019). "Remember The Ringleader". Sports Illustrated.
  4. Kuper, Simon (2012). Ajax, the Dutch, the War: The Strange Tale of Soccer During Europe's Darkest Hour. ISBN 9781568587233.
  5. Smith, Craig S. (March 28, 2005). "A Dutch Soccer Riddle: Jewish Regalia Without Jews". The New York Times. Retrieved February 2, 2023.
  6. Lebovic, Matt (August 21, 2016). "The Jewish Olympians among Hitler's victims". The Times of Israel.
  7. Bose, Mihir (2012). The Spirit of the Game: How Sport Made the Modern World. ISBN 9781849018265.
  8. Winner, David (2012). Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Football. ISBN 9781408835777.
  9. Grunwald-Spier, Agnes (2016). Who Betrayed the Jews?: The Realities of Nazi Persecution in the Holocaust. ISBN 9780750958011.
  10. Lerner, Gad (October 18, 2010). Tu sei un bastardo. Feltrinelli Editore. ISBN 9788807941603.
  11. Modeo, Sandro (2011). Il Barça: tutti i segreti della squadra più forte del mondo.
  12. "Edward Hamel". Oorlogsgravenstichting. Retrieved March 15, 2021.
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