Even in times of war: Ukrainians and Russians train together in a Bavarian boxing club - "Everyone is equal" 

Created: 03/12/2022, 08:31

By: Leonie Hudelmaier

Waleri Weinert trains athletes from many countries in Geretsried.

©Oliver Bodmer

Ukrainians and Russians also meet in Waleri Weinert's "Edelweiss" boxing club in Geretsried.

But origin plays no role here - even in times of the Ukraine war.

Geretsried – “Show me.” Waleri Weinert takes 13-year-old Rion's hand and checks his bandages.

"You have to do this right, not hurt yourself," he says with a caring severity.

Rio nods.

What the coach says, that is done.

Weinert, 61, is a trainer and boss at the same time.

24 years ago he founded the sports and youth club "Edelweiss" in Geretsried in the district of Bad Tölz - Wolfratshausen.

The association has 120 members.

It is mainly young people who come here to train, to chill out or simply to "chat", as Weinert explains.

Ukraine conflict: At German-Russians, Ukrainians and Russians train together

People from all over the world train with the German-Russian, including young men with Ukrainian and Russian roots.

The small club is a place without borders, even in these days of war.

Waleri Weinert managed to leave the terrible conflict in front of the club door.

And it should stay that way.

“Everyone is equal – that is my philosophy.

As a coach, I want to teach something.

I don't care if someone is Afghan, Albanian, Ukrainian or Russian,” he says emphatically.

Weinert's concept is integration through sport.

“We have a common denominator – we are sporty.

And sport brings us together,” says the 61-year-old, who is also trained as a social worker.

The war in Ukraine will not change that.

"The boys know what's going on.

It is spoken at school.

But that doesn't mean that a Ukrainian will come and say something against Russians.

That does not exist."

Ukraine: Boxing coach affected by war - "German with Ukrainian roots and born in Russia"

The "Edelweiss" has three rooms.

One is boxing.

The small space fills up quickly.

Two dozen athletes are there today, including a woman and a girl.

Punching bags hang from the low ceiling, and a makeshift boxing ring has been set up in one corner.

As always, the training begins with a warm-up.

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Weinert changes his sweater and comes out of his office, where a poster of boxing legend Muhammad Ali hangs on the door.

"Rottweiler," he calls - and everyone runs as fast as they can on the spot, as if a beefy four-legged friend were chasing them.

Sweat flows, the air becomes stuffy.

The athletes give their all, the coach is in his element.

His euphoria is contagious, the boxers absorb every tip.

Everything else doesn't matter right now, not even the war.

Weinert is more affected by the war than other Geretsrieders.

Because he is "German with Ukrainian roots and born in Russia," as he says.

His ancestors come from Ukraine and Germany, after the Second World War his family was sent to a labor camp in Russia.

Then she went back to Germany.

Weinert followed in 1994 - and ended up in Geretsried, a town where mainly displaced people from the East settled.

476 Geretsrieders now have a Russian passport, 82 a Ukrainian one.

In a boxing club: the trainer does not tolerate hostility because of origin – "There is the exit"

For Weinert, the pass is irrelevant.

He spontaneously asks one of his protégés where his parents were born.

13-year-old Ruslan thinks for a moment.

The mother comes from Ukraine, the father from Kyrgyzstan, says Ruslan.

Kyrgyzstan was once part of the Soviet Union.

"He doesn't care where he comes from, just like me," says the boxing trainer calmly.

By the way: everything from the region is also available in our regular Wolfratshausen-Geretsried newsletter.

Weinert estimates that about 20 percent of the 120 members at Edelweiss have their roots in the former Soviet Union.

However, many of the young people were born in Germany.

Weinert does not tolerate hostilities because of the origin.

He would then immediately say, "There's the exit!"

Outside the club things are different.

Weinert tells of an incident at a gas station.

A driver asked him about the small boxing gloves in Russian colors that he had hanging on his rear-view mirror.

When he talks about it, he seems agitated.

"I didn't even think of anything like that.

They've been hanging there for ten years." Now he has lost them, "before someone scratches my car or punctures the tires," he says with a shrug.

“I was a German in Russia.

I remain a Russian in Germany, although I've been there for 28 years."

Ukraine war: conflict burdens German-Russians - "Both sides are not doing well"

The Ukraine war left its mark on the German-Russian.

"What's next?" he asks.

Suddenly he becomes quiet, folds his hands and symbolically prays to heaven.

"End, end, end," he says loudly.

He has relatives in Russia and acquaintances in Ukraine.

"Both sides are not doing well," he says in a husky voice.

Working in his club makes him forget all that.

He has been boxing since fourth grade.

"I was always the youngest and a German in Russia - I always had to take it at school," he says.

That's why his father sent him to boxing.

In Geretsried, Waleri Weinert initially trained alone on a playground.

"Then a couple of guys came and asked: can we participate?

A month later we were already 30.” This became the “Edelweiss”.

That was 24 years ago and the 61-year-old still sparkles with energy when he puts on his boxing gloves.

How long does he want to stay in the ring?

“As long as health permits,” he says with a smile on his face.

More current news from the region around Wolfratshausen can be found here.