fish5133
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Joined: 13 Sep 2006
Posts: 2568
Location: One breath from Glory
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 Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2012 10:32 pm Post subject: England Manager Exploits Holocaust Survivors |
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Seems cynical exploitation of holocaust survivors just to boost the team spirit.. Help to stir racial hatred against those nasty Germans 
| Quote: | Holocaust Survivors Talk To England Stars
England manager Roy Hodgson has said a talk given to his squad by survivors of the Holocaust provided him with "everything" he "wanted to know' on the eve of Euro 2012.
Hodgson, captain Steven Gerrard and many more of England's players, staff and executives will visit Auschwitz I and Birkenau - mass killing camps established by the Germans during Second World War.
At the same time, other members of the squad will visit Oskar Schindler's Factory next Friday in Krakow, the Polish city the Football Association FA has chosen as England's base.
Gerrard - who has visited Auschwitz before - talked of a "mind-blowing speech" given to the squad on Thursday by Zigi Shipper and fellow Holocaust survivor Ben Holfgott MBE.
"It was very inspirational," said the Liverpool and England skipper, who will lead his country against France in their first Group D game on June 11 in Donetsk.
"It was very quiet and focused during the talk. It was a mind-blowing speech they did; their experience, what they went through.
"The guys enjoyed it. It was very brave, and it showed great character to talk about their own personal experience. It gave everyone a big lift."
Manager Hodgson said the talk from Shipper and Holfgott came towards the end of an extended session in England's meeting room at their Hertfordshire base.
"What interested me", said Hodgson, "is that at the end of a long meeting, it was fascinating to see that none of the players had left the room".
"They all came forward to shake hands with Zigi and Ben. I think that told me everything I wanted to know.
"I thought the two men who spoke two us were brilliant. I liked the way they portrayed their stories, they don't need embellishment.
"The players will be a lot more interested when going to Auschwitz now - than maybe they would have been when they read on a piece of paper that that is what they're doing."
Shipper, 82, was sent to the Auschwitz death camp in 1944 before being sent on a march to the German town of Neustadt, where he was freed as a 15-year-old in 1945.
Holfgott, also 82, was born in Poland and in 1944 was sent with his father to the Buchenwald concentration camp.
After being separated from his father he was transported to Czechoslovakia before being liberated by Russian troops.
He came to the UK in 1947 to be reunited with his sister and went on to represent Britain in the 1956 and 1960 Olympic Games as a weightlifter.
The FA and the Holocaust Educational Trust will produce a DVD for schools featuring England players talking about combating prejudice |
http://web.orange.co.uk/article/news/holocaust_survivors_talk_to_engla nd_stars
_________________
JO911B.
"for we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers, against rulers of the darkness of this world, against wicked spirits in high places " Eph.6 v 12 |
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fish5133
Site Admin
Joined: 13 Sep 2006
Posts: 2568
Location: One breath from Glory
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| Posted: Fri Jun 08, 2012 9:03 pm Post subject: |
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Knowing the level of "racist" and "anti semitic" feelings amongst large numbers of Polish and Ukranian football hooligans is this just waving the red flag at the bull are the England team and supporters being set up for the backlash. Poltical cannon fodder??
| Quote: | Football squad visits Auschwitz
The European Championship was put into perspective for the England team after the squad visited Auschwitz and Oskar Schindler's factory in Krakow.
Football would have been the last thing on Roy Hodgson and his players' minds as they were given lessons in one of the darkest episodes in Europe's history.
After a light training session at their Hutnik base, the squad split into two groups.
One, led by Wayne Rooney, Hodgson, and Football Association chairman David Bernstein, headed to former Nazi death camp Auschwitz.
The other, headed by captain Steven Gerrard, coach Gary Neville and FA director of football development Sir Trevor Brooking, visited the Schindler factory museum.
It was at Auschwitz that an estimated one million Jews, including a minimum of 232,000 children, lost their lives during the Second World War.
Schindler was a German who saved hundreds of Jews during the Holocaust by employing them at his enamelware and munitions factory.
Defender Joleon Lescott was one of 14 players to visit and said: "Days like today you tend to look back on as much as the tournament itself in years to come, the things you have done, the people you have met.
"I am sure, in years to come, the tournament will be a highlight but so will visiting places like this. It is fresh in my mind at the moment so it might take a while for it to sink in. I will go back to the hotel and think about what has been said to us by the guide."
The visits continued England's open-doors policy towards their Euro 2012 quest following a public training session at their base on the outskirts of Krakow .
The absence of nine players from the main session, in addition to Jermain Defoe who yesterday returned to England following the death of his father, spoiled it slightly for the 3,500 invited guests.
However, John Terry and Gerrard, who were amongst those who did pool and gym work, came out at the end to sign autographs.
The session was part of a concerted effort to be "good tourists" and avoid the negativity that followed England's World Cup exit in South Africa, when they were based at a remote location in Rustenburg.
The locals lapped up Rooney lashing home the goals, although as he is suspended for England's opening two games and was paired with Manchester United team-mate Danny Welbeck, that could indicate Hodgson is edging towards partnering Ashley Young with Andy Carroll in the opening Group D game with France on Monday.
That Stewart Downing was curling over crosses from the left, with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain operating in a deeper position, may also be a pointer towards the Liverpool winger starting against the French, although such is the subterfuge involved in top-level football these days, nothing can be taken for granted.
The nine players who missed the main session - eight of whom who could well start on Monday - included Ashley Cole, who was said to be a fitness doubt.
However, the FA were at pains to stress all the absences were planned after a tough session behind closed doors yesterday and were part of the individual players' rehabilitation programmes.
There appeared to be no repeat of the racist abuse UEFA today acknowledged Holland's black players suffered during their own open training session on Wednesday.
England will train behind closed doors again tomorrow as they refocus on Monday's game in Donetsk.
Lescott said: "We have met a lot of children, been to parades and parties, but the football is what we are here for. We are here to win." |
http://web.orange.co.uk/article/news/football_squad_visits_auschwitz
_________________
JO911B.
"for we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers, against rulers of the darkness of this world, against wicked spirits in high places " Eph.6 v 12 |
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