Sports played an important role in Nazista, but they were not talking about sports, but about physical education. Their main goal was to improve the health and productivity of people - for the economy and the war. Individual sports were in the background.
It was about the collective, the mass, so-called. to the "people's body", to which each German as an individual should contribute in the best possible way. In accordance with Nazi ideology, it was always about strength and combativeness.
"The weak must be removed," begins a quote attributed to Adolf Hitler. "In my ranks will grow a youth that the world will be afraid of. I want a violent, economic, fearless, cruel youth. (…) We will train them in all physical exercises."
These physical exercises were compulsory in many Nazi mass organizations such as the German Youth (DJ), the Hitler Youth (HJ), the League of German Girls and Women (BdM) or the Strength Through Joy (KdF). Membership in a sports club was also recommended.
In Hitler's youth, as well as in school sports, physical exercises were used in boys to convey soldierly behavior and to single out those who could later occupy leading positions in the army, i.e. the Wehrmacht.
The Nazis looked critically at competitive sports - especially in the early stages, back during the Weimar Republic.
Why did the Nazis organize the Olympics in 1936?
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) awarded the Olympic Games to Berlin in 1931 - during the Weimar Republic by. The Nazis, who came to power in 1933, openly showed that they were opponents of the Olympic movement.
The cosmopolitan idea of the Olympic Games was incompatible with their worldview, sports competitions with members of "enemy nations" from the First World War were against their sense of honor, and the IOC rule, according to which Jews and "blacks" were equal with other races, was rejected on racial grounds.
However, the Nazis quickly realized - especially Hitler - what an opportunity the Games provide to present themselves to the world as a peaceful, open, young country.
"They made a stunning turnaround," historian Ansgar Molzberger of the German Sports University in Cologne told DW.
"Just as until the end of the Weimar Republic they strictly rejected the Olympic movement with its ideals of mutual understanding of peoples and internationality, now they presented themselves as its great supporters."
In addition, they wanted to use the Games to demonstrate their own strength - both in terms of good organization and sporting success.
"One sport that stands out in particular is boxing. All the older boys had to learn boxing at school," says Molzberger.
Team sports such as football and handball still existed, but the fighting spirit was always emphasized.
What did physical exercises look like for women and girls?
Sporting activities for women were also strongly shaped by ideology. Women were primarily reduced to the role of mother and housewife. To fulfill that role well, they needed to train their bodies, improve their health and fitness, and strengthen their discipline.
In the Association of German Girls (BDM), where girls between the ages of ten and eighteen were organized, there were physical exercises that trained the girls not only physically, but also ideologically and prepared them for their future role in society.
Were Jews and Jewish men and women still able to play sports?
Shortly after taking power, on April 7, 1933, a law was passed according to which civil servants and public workers had to be of Aryan origin.
This so-called The "Aryan paragraph" was gradually expanded in order to completely exclude Jews and Jewish women from professional and social life: to include doctors, students, radio stations, the press, theaters, other cultural institutions and associations.
For sports clubs, the paragraph was also valid, but due to the upcoming Olympic Games - implementation was not consistently required. The Nazis did not want negative headlines and reasons for possible withdrawal of the Olympic Games or boycotts.
However, there was criticism and calls for a boycott. These intensified after the passage of the Nuremberg Laws in 1935, which later became the legal basis for the persecution and extermination of Jews.
Nevertheless, many sports clubs and associations, whose leadership was particularly convinced of the ideas of Nazism, applied the Aryan paragraph on their own initiative.
So the German Gymnastics Association, then the largest German sports association with 1,5 million members, excluded Jews and Jewish men already a day after the passing of the law. Other associations, such as the swimming, rowing or skiing associations, followed suit.
The German Football Association (DFB) reacted less radically and allowed Jews to continue playing. However, they were not allowed to hold leading positions in football clubs.
As a consequence of the exclusion, from 1933 to 1936, purely Jewish sports clubs experienced a real boom with a large increase in membership. However, after the 1936 Olympic Games, the situation for Jews in Germany worsened.
"After the Olympics, they could take off the mask," says historian Ansgar Molzberger. "With the beginning." comprehensive persecution of Jews, since 1938 Jewish sports in Germany have also been systematically destroyed."
