#everynamecounts: SC Freiburg is in!
SC Freiburg is supporting #everynamecounts for Holocaust Remembrance Day 2024 – and their enthusiasm is catching!
The first “!Never Again Day of Remembrance in German Football” took place on January 27th, International Holocaust Remembrance Day, exactly 20 years ago. For this year’s campaign, Bundesliga club SC Freiburg is making a special commitment to respect, diversity, and democracy by supporting the #everynamecounts initiative of the Arolsen Archives. By taking part in #everynamecounts, SC Freiburg is commemorating people who were marginalized, persecuted, tortured, and murdered in Germany and other European countries during the Nazi era.
Football as a role model for positive human interaction
However, the initiative is not just focused on the past – it’s about the future, too. “Because football clubs have such a huge influence on society and can reach such a wide range of target audiences, they also have a special responsibility,” explains Dorinja Weizel, who is responsible for solidarity, regional projects, and anti-discrimination work at SC Freiburg. Highlighting an important lesson that can be learnt on the football pitch, she adds: “Is there anywhere else where it is so obvious that positive human interaction and inclusivity are essential to the success of the whole group?”
» Is there anywhere else where it is so obvious that positive human interaction and inclusivity are essential to the success of the whole group? «
Dorinja Weizel, marketing and sustainability, SC Freiburg
At the Bundesliga match against TSG Hoffenheim on January 20, the club’s players wasted no time in getting their message across and ran onto the pitch wearing #everynamecounts sweatshirts. There was also a pre-match, on-pitch interview with Floriane Azoulay, the Director of the Arolsen Archives, and Sonja Pösel, Project Manager for #everynamecounts. They told the fans in the stadium all about #everynamecounts and encouraged them to take part in the initiative
Details of our cooperation with SC Freiburg
A photo of professional footballers Maximilian Eggestein (left in the photo) and Kiliann Sildillia (right) wearing #everynamecounts sweatshirts was projected onto the scoreboard and all the monitors.
SC Freiburg’s women’s Bundesliga team are set to follow suit on January 27 – the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau. The team’s captain, Hasret Kayikçi, gave the Arolsen Archives an advance interview where she spoke about her own stance and the role football can play in promoting respect, diversity, and democracy. The Arolsen Archives and SC Freiburg published the interview on Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Hasret Kayıkçı, captain of the women’s team.
We want to thank SC Freiburg and the club’s players for this important gesture of support! And our special thanks go to Dorinja Weizel for the smooth organization. We would also like to thank the SC’s sponsors (JobRad, badenova and Lexware), who honored the memory of the victims of Nazism by refraining from showing their logos when the two teams ran onto the pitch in favor of an appeal for participation in #everynamecounts.
Read an interview between Dorinja Weizel and Sonja Pösel that appeared in the stadium magazine “Heimspiel” (in German).
