Where is bert trautmann now

On the Russian front, as the Nazi forces retreated, Trautmann was blown up but survived. In France, he was buried in rubble for three days after being bombed again.

He was captured by the Russians and the French but escaped both times. In , he was one of the few survivors of the Allied bombing of Kleve , and was trying to get home to Bremen when he was caught by two American soldiers in a barn in France. The soldiers decided Trautmann had no useful information to give them so marched him out of the barn with his hands held up. He thought he was going to be shot, so he fled, jumping over a fence.

Trautmann was one of only 90 survivors from a regiment of 1, men. He became a prisoner of British forces and ended up in a PoW camp in Lancashire. At the camp, he played as a goalkeeper for the first time. He had been a centre half, but got injured in one match and typically refused to go off so they stuck him between the sticks, where he remained for ever after.

There were three categories of prisoner at the camp: white for anti-Nazis, grey for unsure and black for unrepentant Nazis. All this, and he was still only It is a big task for me. I am normally nice! Trautmann and Kularz crawled away on their bellies, then ran for their lives. They believed that if they had been spotted, they would have been shot on the spot because the Einsatzgruppen wanted no witnesses. Years later, Trautmann admitted he was still haunted by what he saw.

It is the mix of guilt and anger that makes Trautmann fascinating. He had none of the humility you might expect from a man tortured by what he did and saw. As a prisoner of war, he could not understand why a Jewish officer might be abusive to him. And yet this complex, contrary man unwittingly became a messenger of peace.

The astonishing thing is that so little is known about Trautmann in Germany. Kross admits he had never heard of him before being offered the part. The actor hopes that the film, which is largely funded with European money, will make the keeper famous in his home country. He was making a film with the producer Robert Marciniak, who told him about the German goalkeeper who broke his neck playing for an English team in the FA Cup final.

Both men became obsessed with Trautmann — and turning his life into a movie. Live news. Search by image. Search for images Search for stock images, vectors and videos. Search with an image file or link to find similar images. File size: Open your image file to the full size using image processing software.

Releases: Model - no Property - no Do I need a release? Dimensions: x px The war had affected everyone across the globe, some in more ways than one, the City dressing room was no different. Across from Trautmann sat Eric Westwood, the club captain and Normandy veteran. The significance of this was huge - in an alternate scenario these two could have come face to face on the battlefield had Trautmann's unit made it to Normany.

Instead, a dressing room leader was squashing conflict before it could arise. The dressing room were on-side and the City supporters soon followed after a Mancunian rabbi pleaded with the Moss Side faithful to accept the keeper. City started slowly and Trautmann's inaugural season at City didn't go as planned for the sky blues, even conceding seven against Derby when the boos got too much for him.

Whilst the amount of boos ranged from city to city, they tended to be more pronounced in the harbour and port-side cities where German bombs had fallen. Trautmann's biggest test of character was yet to come in the form of a trip to London, where in January , City's next fixture came at White Hart Lane.

The decision to host that match at White Hart Lane was intriguing as Tottenham, more than anyone else in the league, had a Jewish fanbase and the stood firmly against the Nazi party and their views. Prior to kick off a swastica was raised above the evergreen and Germany's captain Fritz Szepan led the side in a Nazi salute. The swastica reportedly didn't last long as Spurs fan Ernie Wooley climbed a drain pipe to cut the flag down. Come January, Trautmann entered the pitch to cauldren of boos.

London had been hit hard during the Blitz and claimed thousands of lives with thousands more being injured. For many of the fas in attendance, the war had claimed their childhood - forced to spend evenings in bomb shelters fearing for what they may reemerge to in the morning.

The Spurs fans could now see someone that they thought was responsible for the disasters and treated him as such. Amid the course of boos was a sense of expectation, the expectation of victory, a big one at that. And yet as Tottenham unleashed attack after attack at the City goal to no avail, something strange happened The boos died and worry set in - this should have been an easy three points for Spurs but Trautmann had other ideas with an inspired performance.

Spurs eventually scored and order was resumed, but that wasn't to be the story. At the end of the game, Trautmann received a standing ovation from all around the ground. Trautmann never represented his country, with the German national team coach citing distance and the current political problem between England and Germany as stumbling blocks. City began to gain stability with the introduction of the 'Revie Plan'. Before Don Revie became an icon in Leeds as their manager, taking them all the way to the European Cup final, he was a marauding forward for a plethora of clubs in the North.

The Revie Plan was based on the Hungarian national side, in particular, the role Nandor Hidegkuti undertook in the 'Match of the Century' where Hungary crushed England's view on football in the historic victory at Wembley. The tactic took City to two consecutive FA Cup finals in and City lost the '55 final but it's in '56, a City legend was born. As Trautmann followed the City players onto the pitch he wore a sombre grin, making a bit of history in being the first German to play in the FA Cup final.

Surely though, his mind drifted to his childhood friends, friends that barely made it to 20 - victims of the war. After disappointment in the previous year's final, Trautmann was desperate to taste victory this time around, not just for him but everybody that had helped him restart life in England and repay the Manchester faithful for the forgiveness they showed him.

As the game rumbled into the second half, City were up and their name was already being etched onto the cup. Birmingham City striker Peter Murphey found himself through on goal and an onrushing Trautmann rushed off his goalline to sweep up the ball. He dived at the Englishman's feet with all intentions to wrap his hands around the ball and curtail another Brum attack all but securing the trophy.

As a goalkeeper, Trautmann had seen this situation play out a million times before, and they always ended the same with him picking himself, and the ball, up off the turf. However, this time was different. When Trautmann tried to get his feet he couldn't, the ball wasn't in is grasp and he couldn't see it. In fact, he couldn't see anything - it was all a blur, a haze. The medical staff were soon with Trautmann and he was soon back on his feet, City were permitted no substitutes for the game and so Trautmann had to continue, unsteady and almost out of it.

City held their nerve and went onto claim the trophy. When collecting his winner's medal, Prince Phillip commented on how crooked Trautmann's neck was. The pain hadn't subsided since the collision and so the next day Trautmann went to the hospital only to be told he was fine. But the pain wouldn't go away and so three days later he was back.