August 9, 1942: The Kyiv Death Match

August 9, 1942: The Kyiv Death Match takes place. This time, people who say a sporting event is "only a game" were wrong -- dead wrong.

In the Soviet Union, of which Ukraine was a part from 1922 to 1991, sports clubs were tied to various industries. Clubs with "CSKA" in their name were made up of soldiers in the Central Red Army, "Dynamo" with the secret police, "Lokomotiv" with the railroads, "Torpedo" in the automotive industry, and so on.

But when Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union in World War II, Ukraine was between them and Russia proper. When people say the Soviet Union suffered more than any other country during the war, the worst of it was in Ukraine. The capital of Kyiv (formerly written in English as "Kiev") looked in 1941 like Berlin would end up looking in 1945.

Dynamo Kyiv is Ukraine's greatest sports team, and already was in 1941. But the war meant that the Soviet league could not continue playing. By 1942, most of Dynamo's players, and most of Lokomotiv Kyiv's players, were working in a bakery, which sponsored a team called FC Start. And on August 6, they played a team of German soldiers, named Flakelf. "Flak Elf," means "Anti-aircraft Eleven." Start won, 5-1.

Flakelf wanted a rematch. Three days later, at the Zenit Stadium in Kyiv, they played again. Apparently, Flakelf had improved their side with what Americans would call "ringers." Flakelf scored first, but, at the half, it was 3-1 to Start.

This is where accounts begin to differ. The official postwar Soviet record said that a German official told the Start players to lose, or else. But those players who were still alive and were interviewed on the 50th Anniversary of the match, right after the fall of the Soviet Union, said that this did not happen. At any rate, Start won, 5-3.

There was a photograph taken of players from both teams. All agreed that the photo was real, which, in the Soviet Union, could never be assumed. What is in dispute is when it was taken: Before the game, or after.

Start played one more game, on August 16, beating Rukh, 8-0. Two days later, the Gestapo arrested 6 Start players in the bakery. Two days after that, 2 more were arrested, so that 8 of the 14 official Start players were in Nazi custody.

Apparently, Rukh trainer Georgi Shvetsov was a collaborator, and told the Gestapo that the former Dynamo players on Start were official members of the NKVD. (Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, or The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs, essentially the Soviet version of the FBI, but with extrajudicial power. After the war, they became the MVD, the Ministry of Internal Affairs.) Current Ukrainian historians believe this, rather than defeating (or even humiliating) the German players in the matches, was the reason for the arrests.

Olexander Tkachenko was the 1st Start player to die. He played in the August 9 match, and was arrested. He tried to escape, and was shot by an SS officer. Mikola Korotkyhk apparently was an NKVD agent, and was betrayed by his own sister. He was tortured to death.

Kept in Gestapo custody for 3 weeks, 8 of the remaining Dynamo players from Start were deported to the Syrets concentration camp outside Kyiv. On February 24, 1943, Nikolai Trusevich, Olexi Klimenko and Ivan Kuzmenko were executed. So 5 of the Start players were executed -- but not, apparently, for having won what Soviet propaganda later called "The Death Match."

The match inspired the 1981 film Escape to Victory, even though no escape attempt was made in the real match. The idea of Michael Caine playing an English footballer is fine. The idea of English football legends Bobby Moore, Mike Summerbee and John Wark acting in a film is tolerable.

The idea of Brazil's Pelé playing a black player from the Portuguese colony of Angola, and Argentina's Osvaldo Ardiles playing a Spanish player, when both Iberian nations were neutral in World War II, is bad even if you accept that they could act. The idea of Sylvester Stallone playing an American who had enlisted in the Canadian Army before Pearl Harbor and having a role in helping Allied prisoners of war escape is understandable; the idea of him playing as a goalkeeper in soccer is ridiculous.

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August 9, 1942 was a Sunday. Comedian, actor and TV director David Steinberg was born on this day. This was also the day the Nazis executed Edith Stein, the nun who became known as Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. I have a separate entry for that event.

These baseball games were played:

* The New York Giants swept a doubleheader from the Philadelphia Phillies at Shibe Park in Philadelphia, 3-2 and 2-0. Mel Ott went 1-for-8 with an RBI over the 2 games, and won the 1st game with a suicide squeeze bunt, belying his status as the National League's all-time home run leader (until surpassed by Willie Mays in 1966). Bill McGee pitched a 5-hit shutout in the 2nd game.

* The St. Louis Cardinals swept the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-3 and 2-1 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Rookie Stan Musial went 4-for-6 with 2 RBIs. The 2nd game was shortened to 8 innings, because of Pennsylvania's curfew for Sunday sports (long since repealed). 

* A doubleheader was split at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. The Chicago Cubs beat the Cincinnati Reds in the opener, 10-8 -- in 18 innings. Stan Hack went 5-for-5 with and an RBI for the Cubs in this game, Phil Cavarretta went 2-for-5 with 2 RBIs, and both of them drew 4 walks. For the Reds, Eddie Joost went 4-for-9 with 4 RBIs, and Bert Haas went 5-for-9 (but no RBIs). The Cubs led 4-0 going to the bottom of the 9th, and blew it. Both teams scored 2 runs in the 12th inning. Dom Dallessandro doubled home the winning run for the Cubs in the top of the 18th. The nightcap was shortened to 5 innings by a Sunday curfew. At that point, the Reds led, 2-1.

* The Chicago White Sox swept a doubleheader from the Cleveland Indians at Comiskey Park in Chicago, 11-1 and 3-2.

* The Detroit Tigers swept a doubleheader from the St. Louis Browns at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis, 9-3 and 3-1.

* The New York Yankees were supposed to play the Philadelphia Athletics at Yankee Stadium, but got rained out. It was made up as part of a doubleheader the next day. The A's won the 1st game, 4-1. The Yankees won the 2nd game, 3-2. Joe DiMaggio went 1-for-4 in each game.

* The Boston Red Sox were supposed to play the Washington Senators at Griffith Stadium in Washington, but got rained out. It was made up on September 8, and the Senators won, 15-11. Jake Early had 5 RBIs for the Senators, Jimmy Pofahl 4, and Bobby Estallela 3. Ted Williams went 1-for-4 with an RBI.

* The Brooklyn Dodgers were supposed to play the Boston Braves at Braves Field, but got rained out. The game was rescheduled for September 24, and the Dodgers won, 5-3.