Ajax, de Joden, Nederland

The opponents' supporters used to arrive at Weesperpoort Station, an area in which a lot of Jewish street-hawkers were working. That's why people started saying, 'We're going to the Jews.' But the club itself did not have a Jewish culture at all before the Second World War.

This quote from historian Evert Vermeer opens Simon Kuper's compelling history, Ajax, de Joden, Nederland (republished in English as: Ajax, the Dutch, the War: Football in Europe During the Second World War). Ajax USA is grateful to Simon Kuper for granting permission to translate and publish these chapters from his book.

Simon Kuper published an updated, English-language version of this book in 2003. It's excellent, and available now from Amazon.

"Kuper punctures those myths, finding explanations of these paradoxes in the history of Dutch football, and of the war. His writing combines scholarly craft, a feel for political complexity, and quiet but powerful wit." - Independent, UK