Kurt Landauer

Who was Kurt Landauer?

Kurt Landauer was a German entrepreneur. His profession is officially listed as "merchant", but his claim to fame are his three tenures as the president of the football club FC Bayern Munich. To date he remains the president with the longest time in office.

Landauer was born in Planegg, and joined Bayern in 1901 as a player still in his youth. He had to leave for Lausanne shortly afterwards, but returned to Munich in 1905. In 1913 he was elected president of the club for the first time but World War I ended his tenure already in 1914. When Landauer returned to Munich after the war he was elected for a second tenure as president. This one lasted until 1933 with a one-year intermission in 1921–22. He was the first to take the club to national championship honours, when Bayern defeated Eintracht Frankfurt in the final of 1932. Again Landauer was forced to leave the club due to political events. The rise of the Nazis to power made him resign office on 22 March 1933.

Being Jewish, Landauer was arrested by the Nazis on 10 November 1938 and carried to KZ Dachau. Due to his being a soldier in World War I he was allowed to leave Dachau after 33 days under arrest. He emigrated to Switzerland on 15 March 1939. All but one of his brethren were afterwards murdered by Nazis. In 1940 Bayern Munich went to Geneva for a friendly against the Swiss national team. When the players spotted Landauer, who was amongst the spectators they went to greet their former president. The Gestapo was not amused and threatened that this behaviour would have consequences.