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This is a photo of the Maccabi soccer team in Brno during the 1930s.
Maccabi Games were held regularly. They were big events, with exercises performed on the soccer field. We had beautiful blue & white uniforms. Many athletes and spectators would show up. The parking lots were full of cars. The leader was Fredy Hirsch, who was later active in Prague. He led the entire Maccabi Games. He was a big athlete that mainly taught us to exercise regularly, and also to do track and field. Alas, he died in Auschwitz. During the winter, we used gymnasiums. I unfortunately don?t remember the names of the rest of the important athletes.
The Maccabi also had a soccer team, and though it didn't ever win, it participated in tournaments every year nevertheless. They didn't play just at the Maccabi, and when they went to play soccer somewhere else, my father would go with them. He?d carry their jerseys and shoes. Sometimes he?d take me with him.
I don?t know if the Maccabi had anything to do with Zionist associations. There were several Zionist organizations in what is today the building of the Jewish Community, where young people but also older ones would meet. I didn't belong to any association, just to the Maccabi.
