Angelo Knorr, the first homosexual president of Bayern Munich (EN)
Original text posted in portuguese in March 2021 in Portuguese for FC Bayern München Brasil portal
On January 27 of this year, on the “Remembrance Day” of German football, Bayern Munich used the “Nie Wieder! (“Never Again”) for a different cause than previous years. Focusing mainly on the fight against homophobia and in favor of diversity.
A figure remembered during that campaign was Angelo Knorr, the club’s president from 1906–07, 1908–09 and 1910–13. An extremely important manager for the club and, unfortunately, often overlooked.
Knorr was a locally renowned chemist and was very important to the club at the time, being a manager extremely ahead of his time. He was the first German director to hire an English coach, he also organized friendlies against teams from the queen’s land and was also a mentor to Kurt Landauer, who would later become a president of Bayern. He was admired by everyone at the club and in 1911 he was decorated as an honorary member.
However, in 1913, the then president was arrested by the authorities for “An Unnatural Act Between Males”. Angelo Knorr was a homosexual and, at the time, this was considered a crime within the lands of the German empire.
In the following weeks, several members of the club, including players and directors, were questioned by the police. But all respondents protected Knorr and, contrary to what was expected by the authorities, spoke highly of the man, his achievements and his modernizations within Bayern.
The current president, Hebert Hainer, said even more about Knorr: “He played an important role in the development of our club. We are grateful to him until this day.”
Unfortunately, despite everything, Knorr was arrested, hospitalized and psychologically tested. He was also forced to leave both the club’s command and the city of Munich. Even though he was released in 1914 and his criminal case was interrupted due to a psychiatric report, he was never compensated in any way for persecution or imprisonment by the authorities.
Knorr was humiliated and socially ruined, never regaining his status, whether as a chemist or a football manager. He even had a marriage of convenience to a woman shortly after, but died of depression at the age of 50.
Just as Kurt Landauer was persecuted by the Nazis, Angelo Knorr was persecuted for “being different” from what was considered the standard at the time for his sexual orientation. And, like Landauer, he was hugely important to Bayern’s sporting development, especially at a time when the club was so young.
For this reason, whether to honor him as a manager or, more importantly, to fight against the homophobia that still persists today in the midst of football, we must always remember his achievements and his struggle in life, thus never forgetting him.
