20 Facts About Ernst Wilimowski

Ernst Wilimowski occasionally played ice hockey for the team Pogon Katowice.

Ernst Wilimowski's mother sent him to a German kindergarten, a German primary school and, when he was nine years old, to the German football team 1.

Ernst Wilimowski, who had six toes on his right foot, played on the left side as a forward and showed himself to be a very skilled dribbler as well as a natural goalscorer.

Ernst Wilimowski began his career with the ethnically German club 1.

Ernst Wilimowski played 86 games for Ruch, scoring 112 goals, and was the league's top scorer in 1934 and 1936.

Ernst Wilimowski led the league in scoring in 1939 until the German invasion of Poland.

Ernst Wilimowski's continued attacks on the opposition net drew a penalty as he was fouled to the ground by Brazilian keeper Batatais, which led to Poland's fifth goal scored from the spot by German-born Fritz Scherfke, from Poznan.

Ernst Wilimowski's record was later equalled by other players, but was bettered only 56 years later, when Oleg Salenko scored five goals against Cameroon during the 1994 FIFA World Cup.

Ernst Wilimowski put on another memorable display on 27 August 1939 in Warsaw in an international friendly against what was then one of the best teams in the world - Hungary, the 1938 World Cup runner-up.

Ernst Wilimowski scored three goals and again drew a penalty through his attacking play which was converted by teammate Leonard Piatek, giving Poland a 4:2 win.

Allegedly, Joschke threatened that Ernst Wilimowski would have to wear the letter "P" on his clothes.

Ernst Wilimowski's mother was incarcerated because she got engaged in an intimate relationship with a Russian Jew, which was regarded as Rassenschande in Nazi Germany.

The only international match Ernst Wilimowski ever played in his native Upper Silesia, whether wearing a Polish or German jersey, was on 16 August 1942 versus the Romanian side.

Ernst Wilimowski was capped a total of eight times for Germany, scoring 13 goals.

At the 1974 FIFA World Cup in Germany, Ernst Wilimowski allegedly wanted to pay a visit to the Poland national team that stayed in Murrhardt near Stuttgart, but was refused permission by PZPN officials.

Ernst Wilimowski, according to his oldest daughter, Sylvia Haarke, wanted to come to Poland, saying that had it not been for the war, he would never have left Katowice.

Ernst Wilimowski died in Karlsruhe, Germany, leaving behind four children - three daughters and a son, Rainer.

Ernst Wilimowski said that Wilimowski was a devout Roman Catholic, always emphasizing the role of religion in his life.

Ernst Wilimowski had signed a preliminary contract, but it did not work out.

Gorski immediately recognized Ezi, because in the interbellum period, Ernst Wilimowski was one of his idols.