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A Dutch Soccer Riddle: Jewish Regalia Without Jews

An article in today’s New York Times that
discusses why Ajax fans are called Jews, how some members of the community feel
that’s bad, and how the team is trying to find something to do about
it.

Ajax, the Amsterdam professional league soccer
(or football) team, is often called a Jewish club. Before World War II and
during the start of the occupation, there were Jews on the board and on the
teams (back then, Ajax was an athletic club offering cricket, track and field
and other sports in addition to soccer). I happened to find a read a book on
Ajax during World War II and found an article in today’s Times about
it:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/28/international/europe/28ajax.html?

The article and the book agree on many
points. Its also interesting how fans of rival teams taunt the Ajax fans with
expressions that are very hurtful to Jews that remember the Holocaust. Here’s
a link to the book, which I read during my last stay in
Amsterdam
:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0752842749/qid=1106845407/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-5199987-5973613?v=glance&s=books

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