GERMANY AND SPORTS IN WORLD WAR II
by
Arnd Kriiger
University of Gottingen
Jack Rollin in his book Soccer a t War has argued that British Associatic
football has never been quite as good as during World War 11. It "not on
survived hostilities but became a morale-stimulating, therapeutic pastime an
even increased i t s popularity as a spectator sport."' The story of sport durin
the Second World War in Germany has not been written, but Iassume that th
impact of sports in Germany during the war was somewhat different. Sport i
Britain had developed out of a veritable tradition which had passed things 011
genuinely along the generations. The Nazis, on the other hand, had bee
masters in inventing new rituals and symbols t o convey the impression that i
system was the highlight of Aryan history*, that Hitler was the man all thc
past had waited for, standing in a very old tradition, reaching back t o Gree
antiquity. The National Socialists h.ad created a system which was supposed t
last one thousand years. Yet all of these symbols o f the thousand years
Reich-manipulatable from the beginning-became hollow during the wa
Many o f the 'invented traditions'3 such as the Jahn cult4 or the emphasis o
Sparta as the classical Greek role models were well accepted in all of Germany
But-although these traditions invented by the Ministry o f Propaganda wer
supposed t o bring about certainty and stability-the
population fe
increasingly threatened as they could no longer control their own destin
under the conditions o f a totalitarian state and even less during the war.6
Just like in the post-modern era people realized that they need a cente
for their life and that the state which has promised just that is becomin
unreal. The bigger the differences between reality and propaganda, th
German and the 'enemy' news o n the radio, the more Germans felt more an
more uncentered.7
In this situation the sports clubs and the spo
competitions increased their importance as a place of bonding, a simple hom
in a complex world. Here, everything went along established rules, ther
were winners and losers, b u t both were friends. One could be fouled but no
shot at. It was a place were friendships o f long standing often counted mor
than Party loyalty. Although the language o f sports reporting became mor
and more militaristic, associating sport with battle, for the athletes themselve
their training group or even their sports club remained an oasis8 in wha
seemed t o be--and very often was--a hostile world. It was n o t the flags an
the symbols which counted, b u t the simplicity o f the workout, the outings
the mountain sports meetings (Bergturnfeste)g, the friendships of ol
standing, the certainty that words t o an old club mate would n o t be passe
along to the Gestapo, the assurance that went with the rituals of athletic
contests.10
Although the period 1933-1938 is one of the best researched in
German sport historiographyll, the following war years are poorly
documented.12 Most sport history books simply conclude like Joch in
Euberhont 's World History that the war was what everybody had trained
for113 but do not say what actually took place. Yet the physical educators
themselves realized that preparing young men for war was far more complex
than ordinary school physical education or club sports could expect to achieve.
It was demanded, therefore, at the time that more research should be done
on how to stress the courage forming elements in each sport.14 Many
histories of various sports clubs-usually written at the occasion of the later
centenary or other jubilees-even concluded that the clubs ceased to exist
during the war years.15
Teichler, in the most recent book on sport in the Third Reich, describes
the international sport politics during the Nazi period including the war years
as well, but he next to ignores the basis of all sports politics in the sports clubs
and schools at home.16 There have been few attempts to analyse the
invented symbolism and ritual of sport in the national-socialist periodl7.
None has dealt with the reaction of the sportsmen and women during the
Nazi period to these symbols, nor during the war period in particular, when
their belief in the political system gradually disintegrated.
One of the reasons for this lack of research can be seen in the diversity
of the situations in Germany in the war years. While in the Nazi period prior
to the war-just like in most totalitarian systems---a considerable degree of
uniformity was attempted and often achievedl*, the way the war hit a
particular city or town decided how sports could continue there. The age and
sex of sport builders and coaches decided their availability. The distance from
the coast and thus from the bomber planes, determined how many
undestroyed and usable facilities were there. These were more important
than any decree from Berlin trying to regulate sports. In addition local sports
traditions played an important role, as very often sports facilities, like gym
halls or stadia were used t o house refugees or t o store important goods. If
sports played an important role locally, however, the sports clubs often found
ways and means to avoid the confiscating of their property for the war effort.
In this paper I will try t o explain the situation in German sport during
the Second World War as much as generalizations are possible. The city of
Hannover, as a case study,19 will show how such a system worked concretely. I
am not sure whether one may really call this already the beginning of
postmodernism as some of the facts may suggest. Synthia Slowikowski has
argued that the Olympic flame ceremony and the torch relay, so cleverly
invented by the Goebbels ' propaganda ministery, are good examples of
postmodern tradition in sports.20 One may well suggest, however, that
Coubertin himself invented so many traditions and symbols on purpose t o
make the modern Olympic Games look ancient and venerable, that much of
This Great Symbol has not been real from the very beginning. Coubertin
based his actions o n the theories o f John Ruskin who recommended t o
beautify events otherwise very common.
When Hitler started the war in 1939 it was considered by physical
educators as much as by sport leaders t o be the true test of their previous
work:
"This struggle is at the same time the test of the nationalsocialist education. It will be a proof of character of the
first order. Who could know in advance that our political
physical education could show its quality so soonW.2l
Sport could show that it was the avant guard of the fascist state. The
Reichssportleader von Tschammer decreed immediately that everybody
should continue t o do their sport... "being an indispensable condition for the
education o f youth for military readinessm.22Of course, this was welcomed by
the coordinated sporting press. After t w o months o f the war Heinz Cavalier
summarized for the track and field clubs: The enemy is surprised about the
amount and quality o f the German sports meets, the clubs are an important
link o f their members at the front with all the correspondence they are
keeping t o encourage the fighting men, and finally the clubs are having more
social meetings than ever before t o keep the good spirit up at home.23
Cachay and Kleindienst-Cachay have analysed 319 letters between fighting
men at the front and their club leaders. They come t o the conclusion that, in
fact, the young fighting men had a high degree o f agreement between their
wording and nazi ideology about the value of the heroic struggle for the
fatherland in their letters.24 From the knowledge of the orders the club
leaders were receiving about what and how they should write about the
home front, and considering the efficiency of German postal censorship, I
doubt, however, the authenticity o f the feelings the young soldiers expressed
in their letters t o an official office holder in a Nazi organization.25 They wrote
what they thought was expected from them about the honor and the glory t o
die for the fatherland. The clubs even exchanged among themselves what
they wrote t o their members at the front as much consisted of pre-fabricated
propaganda jargon.26 Is this the unreal postmodern world in which you just
go through t h e motions, as it is expected from you, both sides knowing that it
is a pure ritual t o encourage each other that, in spite o f the war, everything is
OK? Yet the letters to the members at the front do have their importance as
they keep up a link-no matter what else their purpose and content. The
commercial side of the link can be seen in the journals which encourage them
to pay for extra subscriptions for friends at the front as well. Club journals
kept up the correspondence much more realisticly than the semi-official
letters to the soldiers, as the letters contained a lot of hoodwinking and
disinformation. In these club journals, often only mimeographed from 1943
onward, you can read who lost what in which bombing, who had died in
action, who had died of sorrow-but also which sports meet could still be
organized, how much money the club had collected for The Winter Aid, who
had married.27
The role of women was increasingly becoming more important from
1939 onward in sports as in society. While the Nazis, as an exclusive male
brotherhood, had little else in their theory for women than their biological
destiny, i.e. child bearing; for the fatherland, sporting women were moving
into different roles, at first because of their propaganda value as top athletes
and now as physical educators and coaches for boys-as many able bodied
men were drafted or had volunteered into the military.28
During the war, women 's gymnastics took such an important role that
the Deutsche Turnzeitung, the traditional Turner journal, increased its
coverage about women up to the point that their journal reported more
about women than men. The women themselves demanded more rights as
they assumed that after the war men would not want to have a soft woman
but somebody who had the strength and courage acquired in gymanstics and
sport during the war yearszg.
As of 1936 the Hitler Youth had become the compulsory state youth
organization which was also responsible for the sport of its members. Sport
clubs no longer had male members in the age group of 10-18 and female
members from 10-21. If these youngsters wanted to compete, they had to do
so for the Hitler Youth or i t s female equivalent, the Bund Deutscher Made1
(BDM) and not for their sports club. In practice this meant, however, that the
Hitler Youth and the BDM organized their sports with the help of the clubs,
on the premises of the clubs, normally using the club coaches, now hired as
part-time coaches of the state organizations for the very same job they had
done before for the clubs. It also resulted, however, in a membership drive for
the very young by the sports clubs. Children from age three onward were
recruited for the gymnastic clubs and from 6 onward for most other sports.
Clubs also organized movement education for 'mother and child' for those
children under three years of age. It was in the best interest of the children
but also of the clubs as that way they could reach the children before they
went into the Hitler Youth where they could no longer be drawn into
different sports clubs. For these very young age groups women coaches were
particularly useful. The German notion that children have to start very early in
the sports club was strengthened by these organized membership drives.30
On the elite sport level business as usual was the official decree. The
Minister for Foreign Affairs Von Ribbentrop informed the Minister of the
Interior-who was traditionally responsible for sport in Germany-that he
desired sporting competition with the neutral powers of the war. He
confirmed this in a letter to the Reichssportleader in October 1939 that
German teams should compete abroad and that foreign teams should
compete in Germany as often as possible.31 This approach was successful as
can be seen in table 1.
Table 1
Germany's International Dual Meets
Year
Number
Germany competed against the neutral and occupied countries at a higher
rate during the first war years than during the peaceful period between the
two wars. Among other competitions it was even possible to arrange the
European Boxing Championships in 1942. German championships took place
on a regular basis throughout 1944. After 1942 they were, however, no
longer spread all over Germany, but took place particularly in the German
South-East, outside the reach of Allied bombers.
Although the Nazis had a very ambivalent relation towards
professional sports,32 the relative importance of professional sports meets
increased during the war, as can be seen a t the example o f bicycle races at the
Hannover track (table 2)33. Of course, sport did play a role in the military itself
as well. Not only did the armed forces provide liberal rules for their soldiers t o
participate in competitions for their club-, city-, regional and national teams,
but made it a point that all participants had t o be mentioned with their
current military rank in all newspaper reports and be photographed i n their
uniform. The regional or national sport organization had t o apply for a
particular athlete t o receive extra leave of absence which was generally
granted if the troop was not actively engaged in combat.34 This helped t o
maintain the image that sport and the military went hand in hand.35 In 1944
the traditional DSC Dresden won the German soccer championships in the
Berlin Olympic Stadium in front o f 75,000 spectators 4-0, beating the Airforce
SV Hamburg. It was, however, not only the professional or elite sport which
flourished. Traditional meets attracted many athletes. The Maschseelauf, a
cross country relay, in Hannover, attracted 142 teams totalling over 2000
runners in May 1943.36
Table 2
Bicycle races in Hannover
Year
Number of
races
Participants
Spectators
1939
Professional
Amateur
5
2
210
160
3 1,000
1,800
1940
Professional
Amateur
6
2
180
210
34,000
2,200
1941
Professional
Amateur
6
2
520
480
41,500
2,300
1942
Professional
Amateur
5
2
360
370
43,000
2,500
It should be noted, however, that as o f February 19, 1943 under the
conditions of total war sports meets became limited and theoretically only
local and regional. But n o t even the ruling Nazi party dared t o get into a fight
with the German soccer federation about the league championship.
If you look through the sport publications of the time and see how
many top athletes died in action, you can see that quite a number o f top
athletes were n o t given special privileges outside the right t o stay in shape
and compete. On the whole, it seems that the Nazis actually believed their
ideology that good athletes make good soldiers, while reality showed, that
somebody highly specialized in a sport was quite vulnerable as a soldier.
Many of the finest German athletes died in action during the war years. There
were also a number o f military sports clubs which had not existed prior t o
1939. Particularly successful in track and field was the Air Force Sportsclub
Berlin.37
Hannover counted 814 air warnings and 88 air raids. There were
detailed plans how the spectators had t o behave i n case of an air raid during a
sports match. For example, the clubs had t o have one responsible air raid
helper per fifty spectators. The first air raid was August 1, 1940. On July 23,
1943 the o l d inner city went up in flames. As most sports facilities were south
of the city, the air raid in the night o f October 819 1943 meant the end of
much sport there. On March 25, 1945 the northern city was annihilated, just
16 days before American troops occupied the city.38 For the sports clubs the
fiscal year ended ten days before the American games. On March 15 the city
Sportsleader wrote a letter t o the clubs asking them t o hand in their bills for
the past year and their estimates for the coming fiscal year in time t o make
sure the clubs would get many o f their expenses like cleaning, heating, and
rent back. Today it sounds odd that you get reimbursed just in the middle of
the dissolvement o f the city administration, but in fact many sports clubs
never really stopped operating.39
The statistics for December 31, 1943 showed 27 gym halls totally
destroyed, 37 used for different purposes, 3 still used for sports. While one
year previous the official city statistics had counted 1128 hours of club training
on facilities owned by the city and rented out t o the clubs, for the factory
associated Kraft durch Freude groups or the Hitler Youth only 50 hours had
remained. While in June 1943 there were still 4020 participants in the training
sessions offered in the three city stadia, there were only 30 athletes in October
and only one left in November o f the same year after the big air raid.40
It should be noted, however, that there was not only voluntary sport
with i t s enthusiastic supporters. In the Hannover war industries there were
external commandos o f the concentration camps, providing next t o free labor
for the war effort. There were also prisoner o f war camps, the conditions of
which did n o t differ much from the concentrations camps.41 The city sports
leader informed the club presidents about the sports o f the inmates as well.
As far as sports was concerned, it was differenciated between the Pows and
the forced laborers. For Poles and other Eastern workers sports were
prohibited. For the others, sport grounds could be provided but no balls or
other implements. 600 came every week t o the Hindenburg Stadium t o take
their showers. Fraternisation with the Pows or foreign workers was
prohibited. Sport between Germans and foreigners was not planned. Dual
meets between Pows o f different nationalities took place for propaganda
purposes under the auspicies o f the NSRL while their normal sports were
under the responsibility of the Kraft durch Freude movement.42
Much of sports during the Second World War is yet an untold story. In
this period of the deterioration o f the value system the invented symbols
became meaningless very soon and particularly the Berliners, known for their
humor, poked fun at them-but the original symbols and rituals in sports
remained. Having talked t o many eyewitnesses and researched in many club
archives, it looks as if only one invented ritual of the time really caught on: It
was recommended all through Germany t o meet every Sunday morning at ten
on the sports grounds, so that one could see who was around and alive, which
other athletes of a particular sport were i n town, who had suffered during the
past week, so that the club system could provide for simple human needs and
give the solidarity of long standing. That way it had a jour fixe t o get
organized since meeting the basic needs is of real importance in time o f
existential crisis. Having thus survived the war, the sport system got rid o f
much Nazi symbolism without ever losing any of its substance. Sports in the
Western parts o f Germany continued before Berlin even had capitulated.
Taking our example of Hannover, the first major professional bicycle race of
the summer season 1945 took place on July 22, 1945 attracting their
customary 8,000 spectators.43
ENDNOTES
1J. Rollin, Soccer at War, 1939-1945. London: Willow 1985, Vii.
*M. Hughes, Nationalism and Society, 1800-1945. London: Arnold
1988.
3E. Hobsbawn & T. Ranger (eds.), The Invention of Traditions. New
York: Cambridge UP 1983.
4H. Ueberhorst, Zuruck zu Jahn. Gab es kein besseres Vorwlrts?
Bochum:
Universitatsverlag 1969; H. Bernett, 'Das Jahn-Bild in der
nationalsozialistischenWeltanschauung', Stadion 4 (1978), 225-247.
5A. Krijger & D. Ramba, "Athens or Sparta? Classical Greek Ideals and
the 1936 Olympic Games', Olympic Games Through the Ages: Greek
Antiquity and its Impact o n Modern Sport, ed. by R. Renson et at., Athens:
Hellenic Sports Research Institute 1991,345-355.
61. Kershaw, The Nazi Dictatorship. Problems and Perspectives of
Interpretations. London: Arnold 1989.
7H.S. Kariel, The Desperate Politics of Postmodernism. Amherst: UP
Mass. 1989.
8C. Diem, Weltgeschichte des Sports. Stuttgart: Cotta 1960, p. 989.
9A. Winkelmann & A. Kruger, "Bergturnfeste in Niedersachsen',
Berichtsband uber die 3. Tagung des Niedersachsischen lnstituts fur
Sportgeschichte. Hoya; NlSH 1992, s.p.; "Das hundertjlhrige Faldbergfest',
Deutsche Turnzeitung 89 (1944),17,129-130.
A Sociobiological
loA. Kruger, "The Ritual in Modern Sport.
Approach", in: J.M. Carter 81 A. Kruger (eds.), Ritual and Record. Westport,
Conn.: Greenwood 1991.
1lA. Kruger, "Puzzle Solving: German Sport Historiography of the
Eighties," Journal o f Sport History 17 (1990), 261-277.
12C F.the relatively complete bibliography L. Peiffer & G. Spitzer,
"'Sport im Nationalsozialismus '-im Spiegel der sporthistorischen Forschung',
in: Sozial-und Zeitgeschichte des Sports 4 (1990), 35-74.
13W. Joch, "Sport und Leibeserziehung im Dritten Reich", in: H.
Ueberhorst (eds.), Geschichte der Leibesubungen, vol. 311, Berlin: Bartels &
Wernitz 1982,701-742.
14H. Knubel, "Mut, Tapferkeit, Schneid und Kuhnheit und ihre
Schulbarkeit in unserer Jugenderziehung', Leibesubungen und KBrperlische
Erziehung 61(1942), 217-219.
151 gratefully acknowledge the use o f the library and archives of the
Niedersachsische lnstitut fur Sportgeschichte, Hoya e.V.which has the largest
collection o f such club histories in Germany particularly from northern
Germany (somewhere above 2000).
16H.J. Teichler, Internationale Sportpolitik i m Dritten Reich,
Schorndorf: Hofmann 1991.
17T. Alkemeyer, "Gewalt und Opfer im Ritual der Olympischen Spiele
1936', in: G. Gebauer (ed.), Korper- und Eibildungskraft. lnszenierungen des
Helden i m Sport. Berlin:
Reimer 19888, 44-82; H. Ueberhorst, "Feste,
Fahnen, Feiern.
Die Bedeutung politischer Symbole und Rituale im
Nationalsozialismus", in: R. Voigt (ed.), Politik der Symbole. Symbole der
Politik. Opladen: Leske 1989,157-178.
18G. Friese, Anspruch und Wirklichkeit des Sports i m
Nationalsozialismus. Ahrensburg: Czwalina 1974.
19Much o f the research was done for the book on the 750th anniversary
o f the city cf. A. Kruger & H" Langenfeld (eds.), Sport i n Hannover-Von der
Stadtgrundung bis heute. GBttingen: Werkstatt 1991, see in particular a.
Kruger, "Leibesubungen jetzt erst recht! Sport i m Zweiten Weltkrieg', in:
ibidem 185-188.
2oS.S. Slowikowski, "Ancient Sport Symbols and Postmodern Tradition",
in: Olympic Games Through the Ages, op.cit., 401-408.
21J. Dannheuser, "Die politische Leibeserziehung im Kriege',
Leibesubungen und Korperliche Erziehung (1939), 488, quoted in: H. Bernett,
Nationalsozialitische Leibeserziehung, Schorndorf: Hofman 1966,217. There
are many more quotes of the same kind in this collection by Bernett.
22H.V. Tschammer, "Sport der inneren Front", in NS-Sport 1 (Sept. 17,
1939), 15.
23H. Cavalier, "Aktivitat der Herzen. Eine Betrachtung uber den Einsatz
des deutschen Sports im Krieg', in: Leichtathletik, 16 (Nov. 6,1939), 2-3.
24K. Cachay C. Kleindienst-Cachay, "Sport und Sozialisation im
Nationalsozialismus.
Feldpostbriefe
als
Quelle
historischer
Sozialisationsforschung', in: Sozial- und Zeitgeschichte des Sports 5 (1991), 2,
7-27.
2sCf. Archives VfL Hannover, Akten (1940-45)
26lbidem, correspondence with Turngemeinde i n Berlin about Feldpost.
27Cf. Turn-Klubb zu Hannover, Rundschreiben, vol. 30 (1941) through
vol. 32 (1943).
und
28M. Czech & A. Kruger, "Mutter und Athletin-Geselligkeit
Kameradschaft. Frauensport im Nationalsozialismus", in: A. Kruger &
H. Langenfeld (eds.), Sport i n Hannover, op.cit. 175-178.
29"Grundsatzliches zum Geratturnen der Frau", Deutsche Turnzeitung
89 (1944),3,18.
30E.g. in February 1943 new members were permitted t o take part free
o f charge inthe Vfl Hannover t o test the club. Club Archives VfL Hannover
1948, printed advertisement leaflets, Vereinsakte 1940-1945(unerledigt).
31Bundesarchiv Oct. 7, 1939, BA R 1815101, cf. Teichler (1991), op.cit.,
p. 271.
32H. Bernett, "Die nationalsozialistische Sportfuhrung und der
Berufssport", in: Sozial- und Zeitgeschichte des Sports 4 (1990), 7-33.
33Archives of the Stadtamt fur Leibesubungen, City Archives,
Hannover, Kriegsakten, Sign. HR 20 Nr. 11.
3 4 0 . Rolin, "Der Sport in Heer wiihrend des Krieges", in:
SportJahrbuch fur die Wehrmacht, 1942. Berlin: Brautigam 1942,16-20.
35E.g. F. Muller, "Ludwig Kaindl. Leichtathletik-Sonderbericht Ober
Deutschlands 1500m-Rekordmann', in: Leichtathletik 16 (Nov. 6,1939), 6-7.
36Turn-Klubb zu Hannover, Rundschreiben, vol. 32 (June 1943), 6, p. 1.
37N.N. Leusch, "Sport-GroBveranstaltungen im Kriege unter
Beteiligung der Wehrmacht", in: Leichtathletik 16(1939), 96-104.
38W.R. RBhrbein,
"Vorn Aufbau zurn Untergang. Aus den Jahren 19251945', in: Idem (ed.), Hannover i m 20, Jahrhundert, Aspekte der neueren
Stadtgeschichte. Hannover: SchrBdel 1978,116-1 50.
39A. Kruger, Sport und Politik.
Vom Turnvater Jahn zum
Staatsamateur. Hannover: Fackeltrsger 1975,84ff.
4oStadtarnt fiir Leibesubungen. Statistische Darstellung der Wirkung
der Luftangriffe. 23.2.1944. City Archiv Hannover Sign. HR 20 Nr. 10.
*lB. Herlemann & K.L. Sommer, "Widerstand. Alltagsopposition und
Verfolgung unter dem Nationalsozialismus in Niedersachwen", in: Nieders.
Jahrbuch Landesgeschichte 60 (1988), 291.
42Rundschreiben des Kreissportfuhrers vom 26.8.1943 and die
Vereinsfuhrer des Sportkreises Hannover. Archives VfL Hannover, Akten
(1940-45), (unerledigt).
43H.W. Tebbenhoff, "Neuer Start mit britischem Geleit. Die ersten
Jahre des Sports nach dern 2. Weltkrieg", in: Kruger & Langenfeld, Sport i n
Hannover, op.cit., 191.