207: David Bolchover's new book, Digging Deep: what eleven murdered footballers in the Holocaust tells us about identity, belonging and Israel.

Ever wondered why Europe looks the way it does today? What it might have looked like without World War II. What might have been had the holocaust not happened? What incalculable loss to the continent has the murder of 6 million Jews left? Scientists, artists, business people, industrialists – and sportsmen. There were many remarkable Jewish footballers who helped build the European game before the Holocaust—and how thoroughly their names had been erased from our collective memory. History remembers those who win. Totalitarianism tries to ensure it forgets those it destroys. The Nazis didn’t simply murder millions of Jews; they attempted to extinguish every trace of the lives they had lived, the communities they had built and the contributions they had made. David Bolchover’s extraordinary new book, Digging Deep, is an act of defiance against that erasure. With the instincts of a detective and the compassion of a storyteller, David has painstakingly reconstructed the lives of eleven outstanding Jewish football figures whose brilliance once filled stadiums across Europe before hatred consumed their world. He restores not just their statistics or medals, but their humanity. This conversation isn’t only about football, although football is the thread that runs through it. It’s about memory. It’s about identity. It’s about belonging. It’s about what Europe lost when it lost its Jews—and why remembering these men matters just as much today as it did eighty years ago. I think you’ll find this a fascinating, moving and, at times, deeply sobering conversation. You can buy David's book here. Jonny Gould's Jewish State is supported by Dangoor Education and UK Toremet, promoting philanthropy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices