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FC St. Pauli withdraws anthem – Nazi lyricist scandal uncovered!
On July 2, 2025, FC St. Pauli will discuss the future of its anthem in the context of its controversial history.
FC St. Pauli withdraws anthem – Nazi lyricist scandal uncovered!
The current debate about FC St. Pauli and its iconic stadium anthem “The Heart of St. Pauli” is causing excitement and discussion among fans. The club has decided to stop playing the song before games. This decision is based on new findings about the songwriter Josef Ollig, whose Nazi past has now been examined in more detail. Ollig reportedly engaged in Nazi war propaganda during World War II and dehumanized enemy soldiers in his articles. Such revelations cast a shadow over a song that has played a central role at the stadium since the 1950s and was seen as the successor to "You'll Never Walk Alone" for more than 20 years. Der Spiegel reports in detail on this delicate issue in an article on the topic of the separation of author and work.
On July 2nd, a scientific documentary about the anthem will be presented in the Millerntor ballroom. This event is accessible by prior registration and will also be streamed so that as many fans and interested parties as possible can get information. The club museum team has stressed that the results of their research should not dictate what fans are allowed to sing. Rather, the aim is to initiate a discussion about the past and how to deal with it. The documentation will be published in June to give fans the necessary overview before the event, as reported on Mopo.
Critical reflection on the club's history
The decision to no longer play the anthem is not only a current issue, but also raises fundamental questions about how football clubs deal with their history. The debate is emotional and reflects the difficulties associated with assessing historical figures. While some fans argue for the anthem to be retained, others see the need to consistently shed light on the dark chapters of the lyricist's past.
Josef Ollig's connection to Nazi propaganda makes the discussion about the text and the past associated with it all the more explosive. Fans and historians must address the challenge of how memory and memory can be preserved in a modern, diverse stadium context. The example of St. Pauli shows that football clubs cannot simply separate themselves from their history. Whether one should keep a song or create a new identity remains an open question that will hopefully be further discussed through the upcoming presentation of the documentary, as in Spiegel is discussed.
The reactions to the change have already made it clear that this is not just a material adjustment, but rather represents a cultural change in the field of football. At the presentation in the Millerntor ballroom, it will be interesting to see how the fans and the club management react to the new information and what paths they will take in the future.