Fot. Mareen Meyer
Berger, a fan liaison officer for the club added. He called it an "eye-opener" for many participants.
Many clubs were reluctant to tackle antisemitism for fear of upsetting sections of their fanbase, said Pavel Klymenko, Head of Policy at the fare network: “Football’s reckoning with antisemitism has come late. Clubs find it very difficult to confront their own supporters.” Those that do, however, have found that pointing out the role of Jewish players and supporters in the club’s history has often seen a change of attitude.
All speakers agreed that education, not punishment was key. “Education must be included in the regulatory sanctions framework,” said Chris Gibbons, the London-based director of Inside Inclusion, a consultancy working with clubs, players and federations on equality, diversity and anti-discrimination. “Participants should be encouraged to become agents of change themselves,” he added.
In his speech outlining CtC’s guidelines for the fight against antisemitism, Wagenaar emphasised that supporters’ involvement was crucial. “Fans cause the problem but they are not the problem they are part of the solution,” he said. “Education is not telling supporters what they cannot do, but speaking to them about topics that are of interest to the fan base, that relate to their pride in the club and in their city.”
Daniel Lörcher, the head of Borussia Dortmund’s Corporate Responsibility department, sees football clubs as “social actors”, that can be utilised to bring about change. He expressed the hope that the concluding stage of the CtC project at the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum was only the beginning in that respect.