menu Home chevron_right
WEIRD

WWII Nazi Becomes Beloved Star | Tales From the Bottle

Qxir | December 14, 2025



He was a Nazi. After the war he joined an English football club and went on to be regarded as one of the most beloved players of his time. How?

“Bernhard Carl “Bert” Trautmann EK OBE (22 October 1923 – 19 July 2013) was a German professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper for Manchester City from 1949 to 1964.
In August 1933, he joined the Jungvolk, the junior section of the Hitler Youth. Trautmann joined the Luftwaffe early in the Second World War, and then served as a paratrooper. He served first in Occupied Poland. He fought on the Eastern Front for three years, earning five medals, including an Iron Cross. Later in the war, he was transferred to the Western Front, where he was captured by the British as the war drew to a close. As a volunteer soldier, he was classified a category “C” prisoner by the authorities, meaning he was regarded as a Nazi. One of only 90 of his original 1,000-man regiment to survive the war, he was transferred to a prisoner-of-war camp in Ashton-in-Makerfield, Lancashire. Trautmann refused an offer of repatriation, and following his release in 1948, settled in Lancashire, combining farm work with playing goalkeeper for a local football team, St Helens Town.
Performances for St Helens gained Trautmann a reputation as an outstanding goalkeeper, resulting in interest from Football League clubs. In October 1949, he signed for Manchester City, a club playing in the country’s highest level of football, the First Division. The club’s decision to sign a former Axis paratrooper sparked protests, and 20,000 people attended a demonstration. Over time, he gained acceptance through his performances in the City goal, playing in all but five of the club’s next 250 matches.
Named FWA Footballer of the Year for 1956, Trautmann entered football folklore with his performance in the 1956 FA Cup Final. With 17 minutes of the match remaining, Trautmann suffered a serious injury while diving at the feet of Birmingham City’s Peter Murphy. Despite his injury, he continued to play, making crucial saves to preserve his team’s 3–1 lead. His neck was noticeably crooked as he collected his winner’s medal; three days later an X-ray revealed it to be broken.
Trautmann played for Manchester City until 1964, making 545 appearances. After his playing career, he moved into management, first with lower-division sides in England and Germany, and later as part of a German Football Association development scheme that took him to several countries, including Burma, Tanzania, and Pakistan. In 2004, he was appointed an honorary Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for promoting Anglo-German understanding through football. Trautmann died at home near Valencia, Spain, in 2013, aged 89″

More on Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bert_Trautmann

Second Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt93hxFmjppL5nLRAX94UrA
Merch: https://teespring.com/stores/qxir
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/qxir
Twitter: https://twitter.com/QxirYT
Discord: https://discord.gg/jZzvvwJ
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/qxiryt/
Subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Qxir/

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Written by Qxir

Comments

This post currently has 44 comments.

  15. @Moakmeister

    December 14, 2025 at 1:07 pm

    And last year there was a convicted child rapist in an Olympic volleyball team. Van de Velde. And people were angrier over suspicions that a female boxer might be trans (she is not).

  26. @siddharthkumar2313

    December 14, 2025 at 1:07 pm

    Small note: The correct term for the Nazi symbol is Hakenkreuz, or Hooked Cross.. The Swastika, looks quite similar, but is actually different if you get into the specifics. More importantly, it is a positive symbol of peace and happiness in Hindu culture and has been so long before Hitler's ancestors existed..

  33. @neuroisis85

    December 14, 2025 at 1:07 pm

    Just needed to say, that I think you’re a hot lil piece of ass, Qxir. As a lady….I would date ye. It would be tough since I’m a Yank. Ew, I mean I’m from the states. It just sounds wrong….like a Fanny Pack. I love your vids, I was just checking out some I jhave yet to see from long ago. I hope you see this.

  35. @FreeBird75

    December 14, 2025 at 1:07 pm

    What a fucking incredible story, I’m glad this man found peace, because for everything that happened, I can almost guarantee he was harder on himself then all those people yelling at his signing

  37. @lukelee7967

    December 14, 2025 at 1:07 pm

    Um, no, we have record of German soldiers refusing to take part in massacres. They were not punished for refusing. Please stop trying to white wash the German Army from WWII.

  38. @barneyboyle6933

    December 14, 2025 at 1:07 pm

    It’s just depressing listening to people ramble about Nazi germany, carpet-bombing every other sentence with the mandated rhetoric of historical revisionism. The official story of WWII has to be the biggest lie ever told and the Stockholm syndrome that its victims have for the victors is enough to make you not care that the bad guys won

  39. @rompevuevitos222

    December 14, 2025 at 1:07 pm

    This is why prisons should be about reforming people, not just about punishment.
    Even the worst person could not only turn their life around, but improve other's with proper education and social treatment

  43. @fadew55

    December 14, 2025 at 1:07 pm

    I mean he was indoctrinated at 10. U can't fault him for that. You can only fault him if he continued on that path after receiving new information. But he received new information and left that path. So good on him. I think it's the same as religious indocrinization from childhood. It's so hard to escape

Comments are closed.

Related
KILLDOZER: How a Man Made His Own Tank | Tales From the Bottle
Qxir | April 25, 2026
Related
HOW CAN SHE SLAP!? – Tales From the Internet
Whang! | April 25, 2026
Related
What Did Roman Soldiers Eat?
Weird History | April 25, 2026

This area can contain widgets, menus, shortcodes and custom content. You can manage it from the Customizer, in the Second layer section.

 

 

 

Go to album
  • play_circle_filled

    92.9 : The Torch

  • play_circle_filled

    AGGRO
    'Til Deaf Do Us Part...

  • play_circle_filled

    SLACK!
    The Music That Made Gen-X

  • play_circle_filled

    KUDZU
    The Northwoods' Alt-Country & Americana

  • play_circle_filled

    BOOZHOO
    Indigenous Radio

  • play_circle_filled

    THE FLOW
    The Northwoods' Hip Hop and R&B

play_arrow skip_previous skip_next volume_down
playlist_play