Germany goalkeeper Robert Enke left suicide note; wife says he suffered from depression

Germany goalkeeper hit by train left suicide note

HANNOVER, Germany — The German goalkeeper who was struck and killed by a train left a suicide note, police said, and Robert Enke’s widow says he had been suffering from depression.

Speaking at a news conference called by his club, Teresa Enke said her 32-year-old husband was afraid their adopted daughter would be taken away from the family if his illness became public knowledge. The couple’s biological daughter died three years ago from a heart problem when she was 2.

“I tried to be there for him,” Teresa Enke said Wednesday, choking back tears. “When he was acutely depressive, it was a difficult time. We thought we’d manage everything. We thought with love, we could do it. But you can’t.”

Mrs. Enke said her husband had been afraid that he would lose “his sport, our private life,” if his illness had become known. In May, the couple adopted a girl who is now 8 months old.

Enke died Tuesday evening when he threw himself before a train near his Hannover home. Police said Wednesday they had found a suicide note.

Enke had a good chance of being Germany’s top goalkeeper at next year’s World Cup in South Africa.

Valentin Markser, a doctor who treated Enke, said the goalkeeper first sought treatment in 2003, when he lost his starting place at Barcelona and developed anxieties and fear of failure.

Enke again sought treatment in early October, after developing a mysterious illness. Doctors took several weeks to determine that he had been suffering from a bacterial intestinal infection.

In a suicide note, Enke apologized to his family and the staff treating him for deliberately misleading them into believing he was better, “which was necessary in order to carry out the suicide plans,” Markser said.

“Despite daily treatment, we did not succeed in preventing his suicide,” the doctor said of Enke, who declined to stay at a clinic.

The German soccer federation announced Wednesday it had called off the national team’s exhibition against Chile on Saturday.

Enke had not been selected for Saturday’s exhibition and Wednesday’s game against Ivory Coast in Gelsenkirchen because he had only recently returned from the intestinal infection and played only two Bundesliga games.

The illness had kept him sidelined for nine weeks and forced him to miss four Germany games.

Germany coach Joachim Loew said the team could not go back to business as usual.

“We lost a friend, we deeply mourn Robert Enke,” Loew said. “I feel completely empty. He was a great guy. He had incredible respect for others. We will miss him, as a top-class sportsman and an extraordinary man.”

Enke’s death shocked his Germany teammates.

“I’m stunned. I don’t know what to say,” captain Michael Ballack told the Bild daily.

National team manager Oliver Bierhoff said the federation’s psychiatrist had never suspected Enke had depression.

Hundreds of Hannover fans paid tribute to Enke at the stadium Wednesday. Hannover set up a condolence book outside the AWD Arena, and some supporters lit candles and left scarves and shirts in tribute to the goalkeeper.

A service was scheduled in the evening, to be followed by a silent march to the stadium.

Chancellor Angela Merkel sent a “very personal” note to Enke’s widow to convey her “consternation and compassion,” government spokesman Christoph Steegmans said.

German Football League president Reinhard Rauball, whose organization runs the Bundesliga, said there would be minute’s silence before the next round in the top two divisions on Nov. 21-22 and all players would wear black armbands.

Enke made his national team debut in a 1-0 loss to Denmark in March 2007. His last game was a 2-0 win over Azerbaijan on Aug. 12. He also played 196 Bundesliga games.

After Jens Lehmann retired following last year’s European Championship, Enke was promoted to No. 1 for Germany but was slowed by a broken hand.

Enke first sought help in 2003 when he was blamed for Barcelona’s loss to a second-division team in his debut and was dropped from the first team by then-coach Louis van Gaal, now in charge at Bayern Munich.

Enke, who was born in the former East German city of Jena and started his career there. He also played for Borussia Moenchengladbach, Benfica, Tenerife and Fenerbahce, which he left after one game because of a hostile reaction by fans to a poor performance. He joined Hannover in 2004.