„What matters is what happens on the pitch. And in the stands.“

“Some things are just important.” When Sandra Fuhge talks about BVB and being a member of the Heinrich Czerkus fan club there is no doubt that she means what she says. “We fan club members are against any sort of racism, anti-Semitism and discrimination! And if there is something we can do to promote this within the stadium, then we get the job done.”

The fan club, which was formed in 2009, is dedicated to the team, the club’s tradition and remembrance of Heinrich Czerkus. Czerkus was a Borussia Dortmund groundsman and a member of the resistance movement against Hitler when he was murdered by the Nazis in April 1945 and was buried together with 300 foreign labourers and Nazi opponents in Dortmund’s Bittermark district.

This is why the Heinrich Czerkus Memorial Run is organised every year, involving more than 1,000 participants and leading from the Stadion Rote Erde stadium to the City of Dortmund’s memorial event in Bittermark. The event is intended as a powerful signal, helping to promote peace and harmony both in- and outside of the stadium. The event is organised by the Heinrich Czerkus fan club, Fan-Projekt Dortmund e.V. and the nature conservation group Naturfreunde Dortmund-Kreuzviertel with the support of BVB and BVB‘s Department of Fan Affairs.

“We are a fantastic community and, like most people in the stadium, we have no time for vulgar insults and slogans. We want to encourage people to think instead of just joining in.”