Kurt Landauer, born into a Jewish trading family on 28 July 1884 in Planegg, played for Bayern as a youth from 1901, but soon left Munich to train as a banker in Lausanne. Landauer concluded his apprenticeship in Florence, before returning to Munich in 1905. He was elected FCB President for the first time in 1913, but the outbreak of hostilities in World War I forced him to quit the position.
After returning from active service, Landauer served a second spell as FCB President from spring 1919 until March 1933, with a one-year break in 1922. Fuelled by Landauer's ideas and energy, Bayern grew into an internationally renowned club. The pioneering President, who favoured investment in the team rather than the construction of a stadium demanded by a section of the membership, rates to this day as one of the founding fathers of the club's widely-admired youth policy. FCB won the German championship for the first time in 1932 during Landauer’s period in office.
With the rise of National Socialism, Bayern were hit hard by the Nazi policy of 're-amateurising' German football, which had been moving towards professionalism in the preceding period. FCB were one of the driving forces behind the development, but the Nazis condemned professional football as "a Jewish plot". The Nazi authorities branded Bayern a "Jewish club”, even though only a small proportion of the membership hailed from a Jewish background.
In the changed political circumstances, Landauer felt obliged to resign on 22 March 1933. Shortly afterwards, he was forced out of his job as a department head with publisher Knorr & Hirth, finding menial employment elsewhere with the Jewish-owned Rosa Klauber laundry firm.
On the day after Kristallnacht, Landauer was arrested and sent to a concentration camp. He was registered at Dachau as prisoner number 20009. However, because he fought in the First World War, he was released 33 days later. Landauer emigrated to Switzerland on 15 March 1939. In June 1947, he moved back to Munich and was re-elected to the Bayern presidency in the same year. His final term of office ended in 1951. Ten years later, on 21 December 1961, Landauer passed away in Munich at the age of 77.
Today you can find a life-size statue of Landauer on the FC Bayern training ground at the Säbenerstraße. This statue was initiated and implemented by the Kurt-Landauer-Foundation. On their website you can get more information about themselves and their projects. Klick here to get to the foundation´s website.