Fund set up by Bayern Munich stars donates $80,000 to Auschwitz museum

German soccer players’ charity gives funds after museum asks for public contributions in the wake of the pandemic, which has paralyzed tourism

By Cnaan Liphshiz 15 August 2020, 12:11 pm

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Cnaan Liphshiz was a Jewish World reporter at The Times of Israel

Joshua Kimmich, left, and Leon Goretzka of FC Bayern Munich celebrate after winning the DFB Cup at the Olympiastadion in Berlin, July 4, 2020. (Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images via JTA)

JTA — A German organization that two professional soccer players established to fight the coronavirus has donated approximately $80,000 to the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in Poland.

The WeKickCorona Initiative, established this year by Bayern Munich players Leon Goretzka and Joshua Kimmich, gave the money after the museum asked for public contributions in the wake of the pandemic, which has paralyzed tourism.

“Auschwitz is part of our history and its memory is omnipresent 75 years after the end of the war. We are all challenged to ensure that one of the darkest chapters in human history does not repeat itself. It is a matter close to our hearts to help ensure that the culture of remembrance is upheld even in the corona pandemic,” the WeKickCorona Initiative said in a statement.

Kimmich and Goretzka, both 25, each play for the German national team as well.

More than 1.5 million people, most of them Jews, were murdered at Auschwitz, a concentration and labor camp that the Nazis built in occupied Poland.