Schalke fans unveil plaque to Jews deported from local area

By CIARÁN FAHEY
AP Sports Writer

BERLIN (AP) — Fans of German soccer club Schalke have unveiled a memorial to commemorate the deportation of more than 500 Jews from the local area to a ghetto in Riga, Latvia, 80 years ago. The fans have been working with the club, the city of Gelsenkirchen, local historians and the local Jewish community to bring attention to the atrocity and remember its victims.  Early on Jan. 27, 1942, Nazis forced their Jewish compatriots onto an eastbound train in Gelsenkirchen and brought them on a five-day journey in freezing conditions to Riga, Latvia, which was occupied by Germany at the time. Schalke says, “The murders began immediately upon arrival.”