German team hit back at Auschwitz visit criticism

The Germany football team on Tuesday hit back at criticism from senior Jewish leader Dieter Graumann over the handling of their recent visit to former Nazi death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau. On Friday, a delegation from the German Football Federation (DFB) including coach Joachim Loew and captain Philipp Lahm visited the site of the former camp where an estimated 1.3 million people were murdered, 1.1 million of them Jews. Poland-born players Lukas Podolski and Miroslav Klose, plus team manager Oliver Bierhoff and DFB president Wolfgang Niersbach also attended the sombre visit to the camp, prior to Euro 2012 to be hosted by Poland and Ukraine. Niersbach revealed German Chancellor Angela Merkel sent him a positive text message in the wake of the visit, praising the DFB for their initiative in being the first team involved in the European championship to go to Auschwitz. But despite praising the DFB's visit generally as "a good sign", Graumann, president of Germany's Central Committee of Jews, on Monday criticised the DFB for not taking the entire 23-man to visit the camp, 70km west of Krakow. "More would have been better," Graumann had told AFP. "These people are football...