Wilhelm Góra
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Wilhelm Antoni Góra | ||
Date of birth | 18 January 1916 | ||
Place of birth | Szarlej, Poland | ||
Date of death | 21 May 1975 | (aged 59)||
Place of death | Homberg, Germany | ||
Position(s) | Midfielder | ||
International career | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
Poland |
Wilhelm Antoni Góra (18 January 1916 – 21 May 1975) was a Polish midfield soccer player.
His career started in Szarlej (Scharley O/S) - a small hamlet located near Bytom -Beuthen O/S. After some years, he moved to Pogon Katowice (which no longer exists) and then changed to Cracovia - one of the best teams of interwar Poland.
His debut in the Polish Soccer League took place in 1934, and until 1939 Gora participated in 134 Cracovia's games, winning the 1937 Championship of Poland title. In 1935 he debuted in the Poland national team and in 1936 was a participant in Berlin, Germany Olympic Games,[1] where Poland was placed on the 4th location. Also, he took part in the legendary 1938 FIFA World Cup game Poland - Brazil 5-6 (the match took place on 5 June 1938 in Strasbourg, France).
Until 1939 Góra was a key midfield player of the Poland national team and by then he had played in 16 games. After the beginning of World War II, he signed the Volksliste (German nationality list), which allowed him to continue the career. Gora remained in Kraków, playing in a German-only team DTSG Krakau (one of the sponsors of this club was Oskar Schindler).[2] Called up to the Wehrmacht, he was taken with his unit to Italy, where he was captured by Allied soldiers. There, Góra joined the 2nd Corps of the Polish army under General Władysław Anders.
After 1945, Góra wanted to return to Upper Silesia. However, this proved to be impossible and thus he remained in West Germany, where he died.
References
- ^ "Wilhelm Góra". Olympedia. Retrieved 22 September 2021.
- ^ Thomas Urban, “Football ‘Only for Germans’, in the Underground and in Auschwitz: Championships in Occupied Poland“, in European Football During the Second World War. Ed. M. Herzog/F. Brändle. Oxford 2018, p. 368.
See also
- 1916 births
- 1975 deaths
- Footballers from Bytom
- Polish men's footballers
- Poland men's international footballers
- MKS Cracovia players
- Olympic footballers for Poland
- Footballers at the 1936 Summer Olympics
- 1938 FIFA World Cup players
- German prisoners of war in World War II
- Polish military personnel of World War II
- Sportspeople from the Province of Silesia
- Men's association football midfielders
- German Army personnel of World War II
- Polish emigrants to Germany
- Volksdeutsche
- Polish football midfielder stubs