Die Rezeption des Wunders von Bern durch Printmedien in England, Frankreich, Österreich und der Schweiz - ein Beitrag zu einem der Gründungsmythen der Bundesrepublik auf Quellenbasis ausgewählter Tages- und Wochenzeitungen

Abstract

The miracle of Berne ( Wunder von Bern ), which means the highly surprising victory of the Western German football team at the world cup 1954 in Switzerland, has become a fixed term in German historiography. Beyond the event in sports the circumstances around the world cup final at the fourth of july 1954 between the German team and the huge favorite Hungary, who had been unbeaten in four years, have created a myth around the formation of the German Federal Republic. This thesis claims to widen up the German view, which has already been part of much research, by integrating the international perspective by analysing contemporary daily and weekly newspapers from England, France, Austria and Switzerland during the tournament. Because of the situation at the outset of the tournament in 1954 the second world cup after World War II some scepticism towards Germany can be expected from the side of these four countries. Only nine years after the war, that Germany had begun, this new Germany already triumphed at the global competition in the most popular sport of the world. In Germany this victory has mostly been interpreted as superhuman, represented by eleven modest and unknown players who succeeded mainly by their highly developed comradeship, their will and their manager Sepp Herberger. But analysing international press shows that this German perception of the miracle of Berne goes a lot too far in the mythological sense. In England, France, Austria and Switzerland the perception of the event mostly does not go beyond aspects of sports. The international press rather uses the German victory in football to show how far the German political system, economy and society had already developed without combining this perspective with sports. The myth of the team that had no chance to succed in any way during the tournament and became world champion out of nothing furthermore cannot be maintained after analysing 18 newspapers from four european countries. Instead even before the beginning of the world cup the German team was regarded as one of the dark horses for the world cup title. Additionally the players around Fritz Walter were far away from unknown in the international perspective, which can be read in many articles that mainly deal with the G! erman team before the first kick-off of the tournament. Manager Herberger furthermore was regarded as one of the most clever strategists and tactical experts in world football, who was also able to get his teams in the best physical shape possible. This thesis therefore tries to add a more rational approach to the highly mythological view of the miracle of Berne in Germany. Through one footballmatch, it appears, the rise of the new German state to wealth and worldwide respect has been symbolised over decades by the team of 1954. The international perspective shows that this is only partially right.