Ernest Pol
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ernst Pohl (born November 11, 1932 in Ruda, Silesia (now Ruda Śląska), died September 12, 1995 in Hausach in Germany) - was an outstanding Polish player (of German ethnicity) scored 39 goals in 46 international matches for Poland. He is the best scorer in history of Polish First Division with 186 goals, a record standing to this day.
He left for Germany in 1990 where his wife and daughters moved earlier. Since 2004 Górnik Zabrze's stadium is named after him. Pohl scored a rare 5 goals in a 6:1 win against Tunisia during the Summer Olympic Games in Rome in 1960.
Clubs: Slavia Ruda Śląska, Orzeł Łódź between 1952 and 1953, Legia Warszawa between 1953 and 1955 and Górnik Zabrze between 1956 and 1967.
[edit] Name controversy
His name is mostly spelled as Ernest Pol, but to 1952 and from 1990 he was known as Ernst Pohl. This was due because of the politics of the communist government of Poland.
He was born in Ruda Śląska which is located in Upper Silesia and it was part of Germany at the time. Pohl was an ethnic German, but had to change his name to make it sound more Polish. Many ethnic Germans were forced to change their names to more Polish or they were facing the threat of being deported to Germany.
