60th anniversary of the Munich air disaster (6 February 1958)

6 February 2018 – It was an impressive and eventful day.

The preparations for that day started in April 2017. Steve Donoguhe contacted us to help them with a project. The supporters of ManU wanted to honour the doctors and nurses who saved the lives of the Busby Babes by collecting money for artwork, which should be exhibited in the Klinikum Rechts der Isar and so we got in contact with the clinic. Several e-mails were needed, but the idea was warmly welcomed at the Klinikum Rechts der Isar.

Finally and with our sincere thanks to Prof. Markus Schwaiger and his team a place for 2 artworks was found. They organised a wonderful event where we saw movies and documentaries about the crash and the time after it. We had the pleasure to meet Dr. Lindenmüller and the nurses Katharina Koppe and Elisabeth Weber, who saved and took care of the Busby Babes. It was an honour for us to accompany the supporters of ManU exposing the artworks. It was a very emotional ceremony and everyone could win an impression of the importance for the ManU fans, strong men had tears in their eyes. The artworks were exhibited in a central part of the clinic, so that today’s doctors, medical students and nurses could see that medicine is more than just a job.

The main event took place in Munich-Trudering at the memorial of the Munich air disaster. Over 1,500 ManU supporters met at the Manchester Memorial to commemorate the victims of the crash of the Busby Babes on 6 February 1958 and a lot of emotional speeches were held. Munich’s mayor Dieter Reiter, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (CEO of Bayern Munich FC) and the initiator of the memorial Hermann Memmel presented all the different perspectives of this place and its history. The Red Docs Munich were exceptionally thanked for their care and maintenance of the memorial. Most impressive was the speech of the ManU’s fan representative Tony O’Neill. He showed that the disaster of 6 February 1958 is still in the minds of the ManU fans and that the Busby Babes will always be remembered. “We’ll never die, we’ll never die” was sung by the audience of the commemoration several times. The moment touched everyone and the emotions were overwhelming.

We can be proud of being part of such an important project and to show that football is more than a game. It was impressive to meet so many people who thanked us for our support. New friendships were made and not only the colour “red” connects the Red Devils and Bayern Munich.

And the story is not over. We plan to build a showcase directly next to the Manchester Memorial where we want to show a collection of the memories the ManU supporters left and will leave at the Memorial. We collect and keep them honourably. But everyone should get a chance to feel the emotions and importance of this place and should visit the Memorial.

“We’ll never die, we’ll never die”!