Honour for Leeds United fan Heinz Skyte who fled Nazis Published duration 14 December 2019

image caption Heinz Skyte was presented with gifts by Leeds United chairman Andrea Radrizzani

A man who went to see Leeds United play after fleeing Nazi Germany has been honoured by the club.

Heinz Skyte, 99, fled Hamburg weeks after Jewish businesses and synagogues were ransacked on Kristallnacht, the night of broken glass in November 1938.

Arriving in Leeds in February 1939 Mr Skyte and his brother went straight to Elland Road to see Leeds play Everton.

Mr Skyte has supported the club for 80 years and was given a club shirt and scarf at Elland Road on Saturday.

The club's chairman Andrea Radrizzani presented Mr Skyte with the gifts in a pitch-side ceremony before the Cardiff City match.

Remembering his first time at Elland Road in 1939 Mr Skyte said he flew from Germany to Croydon and was met in London by his brother Frank.

image caption Heinz Skyte went straight to Elland Road to watch Leeds United after fleeing Nazi Germany in 1939

They travelled to Leeds by train to work in the tailoring industry and when they arrived they left their luggage at a City Square underground cloakroom and went to the match.

Mr Skyte, who still lives in Leeds, supported the club every season after that first visit where he stood on the Kop to watch the Whites tackle their Merseyside rivals.

He went to all the home games for 40 years but stopped in the 1990s when he said things began to get "rough".

Speaking about his first day in the UK having fled Germany he said: "I arrived in Leeds at lunchtime on the Saturday.

"We dropped my case off in City Square. They had underground toilets then and a cloakroom.

"We dropped my case there and went straight to Elland Road.

"I thought I knew English but I didn't understand a word because of course they spoke with a Yorkshire accent, much more so than today.

"It felt great to watch Leeds United.

"They were for a time top of the table, they were winning matches. They still do sometimes."

During the ceremony Mr Skyte said it was "cold but nostalgic" to be back at Elland Road.

His son, Peter, said: "I feel very proud that he is being honoured and the club have done him proud and hopefully he has done the club proud too."

image caption Mr Skyte went to watch Leeds United in 1939. The ground, seen here in 1969, looked very different to the modern stadium

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