
Maccabi Berlin
Posted by Asaf Peled on
Sports Association Maccabi Berlin Founded in 1898 as "Bar Kochba Berlin" and was one of the largest Jewish sports organizations in the world in 1930 when it numbered 40,000 members from 24 countries.
The association also included a football department that competed in the Berlin municipal leagues from 1911–1929 until the movement merged with the Berlin power movement to found the Bar Kochba-power movement. The team was relatively established when it managed to compete in the lower leagues of the German championship and was considered a fairly successful professional football club in the years 1925-1927.
In the 1930s, with the rise of the Nazi Party, Jewish football teams were rejected by sports associations for participating in general competitions and restricted to tournaments and restricted leagues, until 1938 when Jewish teams were completely eliminated. Some of the members of Bar Kochba immigrated to Eretz Israel in 1933 and settled in Rehovot, where they joined Maccabi Rehovot.
After World War II and the renewal of the Jewish community in Berlin, Jewish sports associations were re-established. In the 1970s and 1980s the team played in the lower leagues until 1978 when it merged with the FV Wannsee team. The team has progressed over the years and has established itself well in the Berlin League - the Berlin City Championship.
Today an association Maccabi Berlin has over 500 members and is one of the largest sports associations in Germany and generates an extensive dialogue between Jews and non-Jews.