World Cup Stories, 1938: The Polish star who was erased from history
There are no statues of Ernest Wilimowski. His name isn’t sung from the terraces, and it doesn’t grace hospitality suites at the national stadium. He scored four goals against Brazil in a first-round tie at the 1938 World Cup, and 21 goals in 22 games for Poland, but Wilimowski has been virtually erased from his country’s sporting history.
Born Ernest Otto Pradella in 1916 in Katowice, which was then part of the German Empire, he grew into a pacy, agile and inventive striker with prominent ears, bright red hair and six toes on his right foot — which he believed brought him luck.
He had the misfortune, though, to be born into a turbulent era in European history. He never met his father, who died fighting for Germany in the First World War. When the war ended, his hometown became part of Poland, and so young Ernest became a Polish citizen, taking the name Wilimowski from his stepfather.
He was prolific from the start of his career, banging in goals with his more powerful right (probably aided by that extra toe), but scoring more with his left. He played for Ruch Chorzow, who won the Ekstraklasa, Poland’s top league, four years a row in the 1930s. Wilimowski was the league’s top scorer in 1934 and 1936.
His international career started at 17 and, by the time of the 1938 World Cup in France, he was a key member of the squad — despite serving a one-year international ban in 1935 for turning up to a league game drunk after he received a bonus (meaning he missed the 1936 Olympics).
Wilimowski scored three in his first four internationals, including one in a friendly against Germany. But his finest moment for Poland came in their first and only game at the 1938 World Cup. The White Eagles were trailing 3–1 against Brazil at half time in Strasbourg, but he knocked in a second-half hat-trick to make it 4–4 after 90 minutes. His fourth, in extra time, was a something of a consolation goal, as a jaw-dropping game ended 6–5 to Brazil.
He scored his last three goals for Poland in a shock 4–2 win over World Cup finalists Hungary in 1939. Polish fans call it ‘The Last Game’, because four days later German troops advanced on the country.
For most of Wilimowski’s teammates, this meant an end to high-level football as the Ekstraklasa was disbanded. But because of his parentage, he was able to sign up for German citizenship. He spoke the language at home, and had always considered himself Upper Silesian (the Polish-German borderland) rather than Polish or German. It allowed him to keep doing what he loved. But in the eyes of the Polish people, his decision to play for the German national team was a betrayal. They were ashamed of their star player’s defection, and of the propaganda matches he played for his new country. However, Wilimowski’s co-operation did help save his mother from Auschwitz, after she was sent there for having a relationship with a Russian Jew.
Wilimowski scored 13 goals in eight games with the Black Eagle on his shirt, but his international career ended in 1942, as Germany’s aggressive military expansion meant they simply ran out of teams to play.
After the war, Wilimowski wanted to return home. But his homeland now saw him as a traitor, and he was denied by the Communist government. He never returned to Poland, instead settling in southwest Germany — where he died in 1997.
When Poland went to the 1974 World Cup in West Germany, he was denied a meeting with the squad. The White Eagles finished third, losing 1–0 to the hosts in the semi finals. The only player to have scored for both teams looked on, the ostracised and forgotten four-goal hero.
This is the third in a series of World Cup Stories that were first published in Sport magazine in the run-up to the 2014 tournament in Brazil.
I’ll be re-posting one a week until the tournament — there’s also an ebook if you just can’t wait.
Sources: ‘Legend Profile: Ernest Wilimowski’ by Ryan Hubbard, Ekstraklasa Magazine issue 3 — online at ekstraklasareview.co.uk
