Dynamo: Triumph and Tragedy in Nazi-Occupied Kiev

When Hitler initiated Operation Barbarossa in June 1941, he caught the Soviet Union completely by surprise. At breathtaking speed, his armies swept east, slaughtering the ill-prepared Soviet forces. His greatest military gains in all of World War II were made in these few short months, and the largest single country that he conquered was the Ukraine. Ukraine’s capital, Kiev, was circled, assaulted, and overrun. Among the city’s defenders who were captured and incarcerated were many of the members of the 1939 Dynamo Kiev football team, arguably the best squad in Europe before the war. Captured Kiev was a starving city whose population was deported in vast numbers as slave labor. However, one man was determined not just to save the surviving players of the Dynamo squad, but other athletes as well. He offered them shelter and - most valuable - bread, as workers in his bakery.

Inspired by the charismatic goalkeeper Trusevich, the Dynamo squad was re-formed as Start FC, and a series of matches were arranged, all of which the team won handsomely, and to such an extent that they inspired Kievan spirits. The final match, however, against the Luftwaffe, was arranged by the German authorities. A well-fed team from the Fatherland would vanquish the upstart Ukrainians, especially since an S.S. officer would referee the game. The match itself was an allegory of resistance, and its consequences were brutal.