Deutsches Turn- und Sportfest 1938
Encyclopedia
Nationalsozialistischer Reichsbund für Leibesübungen
The Nationalsozialistischer Reichsbund für Leibesübungen , more rarely "NSRBL", , known as Deutscher Reichsbund für Leibesübungen until 1938, was the umbrella organization for sports during the Third Reich.The NSRL was led by the Reichssportführer, who after 1934 was...
, the Sports governing body of the Third Reich. It took place in Breslau (now Wroclaw) the most important city of Silesia
Silesia
Silesia is a historical region of Central Europe located mostly in Poland, with smaller parts also in the Czech Republic, and Germany.Silesia is rich in mineral and natural resources, and includes several important industrial areas. Silesia's largest city and historical capital is Wrocław...
, now in Poland. The venue was staged in July 1938 at the city's , later renamed "", following the trademark grandiose style of the Nazi Sports Body.
This highly nationalistic sports event was officially commemorating the 125th anniversary of the historical German Wars of Liberation
War of the Sixth Coalition
In the War of the Sixth Coalition , a coalition of Austria, Prussia, Russia, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Sweden, Spain and a number of German States finally defeated France and drove Napoleon Bonaparte into exile on Elba. After Napoleon's disastrous invasion of Russia, the continental powers...
against Napoleon and the first award of the Iron Cross
Iron Cross
The Iron Cross is a cross symbol typically in black with a white or silver outline that originated after 1219 when the Kingdom of Jerusalem granted the Teutonic Order the right to combine the Teutonic Black Cross placed above a silver Cross of Jerusalem....
in the city of Breslau itself in 1813. It was staged as a grand patriotic, expansionist
Expansionism
In general, expansionism consists of expansionist policies of governments and states. While some have linked the term to promoting economic growth , more commonly expansionism refers to the doctrine of a state expanding its territorial base usually, though not necessarily, by means of military...
occasion, illustrating the clamor for a Greater Germany to the public. This event gathered German athletes brought from many different parts of the world, like Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, South West Africa
South West Africa
South-West Africa was the name that was used for the modern day Republic of Namibia during the earlier eras when the territory was controlled by the German Empire and later by South Africa....
, Italy, the USA and South Africa. It also became a gathering of representatives of German ethnic minorities, mainly from Eastern Europe (Siebenbürgen, Banat
Banat
The Banat is a geographical and historical region in Central Europe currently divided between three countries: the eastern part lies in western Romania , the western part in northeastern Serbia , and a small...
) who staged processions dressed in their colorful folkloric costumes, a display of the Nazi Drang nach Osten
Drang nach Osten
Drang nach Osten was a term coined in the 19th century to designate German expansion into Slavic lands. The term became a motto of the German nationalist movement in the late nineteenth century...
policies.
Not only sports competitions and athletes' parades took place, but also numerous military, civil, and folklorical-costume processions in the mains streets of the city of Breslau.
Symbolism of the event
The Deutsches Turn- und Sportfest was a highly political event, attended by many high-ranking Nazi officials.The event was presided by Reichssportführer (NSRL leader) Hans von Tschammer und Osten
Hans von Tschammer und Osten
Hans von Tschammer und Osten was a German sport official, SA leader and a member of the Reichstag...
and the patron of the festival, Reich minister of the interior Wilhelm Frick
Wilhelm Frick
Wilhelm Frick was a prominent German Nazi official serving as Minister of the Interior of the Third Reich. After the end of World War II, he was tried for war crimes at the Nuremberg Trials and executed...
. Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
and other high-ranking personalities of the Third Reich attended the inaugurational venue of the games. During this occasion Hitler gave a speech from the balcony of Hotel Monopol in Breslau.
The event and its celebration of Germanism, as well as the choice of Dr. Wilhelm Frick to lead it, was part of the creation of a war-preparation atmosphere by the Nazi state. Minister of the Interior Frick was the spearheader of Germany's rearmament in violation of the Versailles Treaty. His inaugural speech was full of war symbolism, setting the mood for the events
Causes of World War II
The main causes of World War II were nationalistic tensions, unresolved issues, and resentments resulting from the World War I and the interwar period in Europe, plus the effects of the Great Depression in the 1930s....
that would culminate the following year with the invasion of nearby Poland
Invasion of Poland (1939)
The Invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign or 1939 Defensive War in Poland and the Poland Campaign in Germany, was an invasion of Poland by Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small Slovak contingent that marked the start of World War II in Europe...
, then just a few miles to the east of Breslau.
Viciously attacked and fanatically defended, the city of Breslau would suffer much destruction towards the end of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Commemorative editions
The Post Office of the ReichPostage stamps and postal history of Germany
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Germany and philatelically related areas. The main modern providers of service were the Reichspost , the Deutsche Post under Allied control , the Deutsche Post of the GDR , the Deutsche Bundespost , along with the Deutsche Bundespost...
issued special stamps and postcards to mark the occasion of the 1939 Breslau Games.
Volk in Leibesübungen (A people into Physical Exercise), a lavishly illustrated commemorative book on the Sportfest was published in Berlin the same year on behalf of the Reichssportführer Hans von Tschammer und Osten. The pictures of this volume were made by Heinrich Hoffman
Heinrich Hoffman
Heinrich Hoffman was born on December 23, 1836. He served in the American Civil War, and was a Medal of Honor Recipient. He served as a Corporal in the Union Army in Company M, 2nd Ohio Cavalry. He received the Medal of Honor for action on April 6, 1865 at the Battle of Sayler's Creek, Virginia.He...
, Hitler's personal photographer.
Results
Soccer competition results.The overall winner was Gau Ostmark
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
(Austria).
Final
30 July 1938 Breslau / Ostmark - Niedersachsen 4-1
Third place Play-off
30 July 1938 Breslau / Südwest (1) - Württemberg
Württemberg
Württemberg , formerly known as Wirtemberg or Wurtemberg, is an area and a former state in southwestern Germany, including parts of the regions Swabia and Franconia....
5-0
Semifinals
28 July 1938 Breslau / Ostmark - Württemberg 2-0
28 July 1938 Breslau / Niedersachsen - Südwest 4-1
Final (Consolation tournament)
30 July 1938 Breslau / Sachsen - Mittelrhein 1-0
Semifinals (Consolation tournament)
29 July 1938 Breslau / Sachsen - Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
2-1
29 July 1938 Breslau / Mittelrhein - Westphalia
Westphalia
Westphalia is a region in Germany, centred on the cities of Arnsberg, Bielefeld, Dortmund, Minden and Münster.Westphalia is roughly the region between the rivers Rhine and Weser, located north and south of the Ruhr River. No exact definition of borders can be given, because the name "Westphalia"...
2-1
Quarter-finals (Consolation tournament)
28 July 1938 Breslau / Sachsen - Brandenburg
Brandenburg
Brandenburg is one of the sixteen federal-states of Germany. It lies in the east of the country and is one of the new federal states that were re-created in 1990 upon the reunification of the former West Germany and East Germany. The capital is Potsdam...
2-1
28 July 1938 Breslau / Mittelrhein - Baden 5-2
28 July 1938 Breslau / Silesia - Bavaria 1-2
28 July 1938 Breslau / Westphalia
Westphalia
Westphalia is a region in Germany, centred on the cities of Arnsberg, Bielefeld, Dortmund, Minden and Münster.Westphalia is roughly the region between the rivers Rhine and Weser, located north and south of the Ruhr River. No exact definition of borders can be given, because the name "Westphalia"...
- Mitte (2) 4-2
Preliminary round (Consolation tournament)
26 July 1938 Münsterberg
Ziebice
Ziębice is a town in Ząbkowice Śląskie County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. It is the seat of the administrative district called Gmina Ziębice. Prior to 1945 it was in Germany...
/ East Prussia
East Prussia
East Prussia is the main part of the region of Prussia along the southeastern Baltic Coast from the 13th century to the end of World War II in May 1945. From 1772–1829 and 1878–1945, the Province of East Prussia was part of the German state of Prussia. The capital city was Königsberg.East Prussia...
- Sachsen 0-2
26 July 1938 Breslau / Mittelrhein - Pommern 6-0
26 July 1938 Brieg
Brzeg
Brzeg is a town in southwestern Poland with 38,496 inhabitants , situated in Silesia in the Opole Voivodeship on the left bank of the Oder...
/ Bavaria - Niederrhein
Lower Rhine region (Germany)
The Lower Rhine region or Niederrhein is a region around the Lower Rhine section of the river Rhine in North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany between approximately Neuss and Düsseldorf in the South and the Dutch border around Emmerich in the North...
5-4
26 July 1938 Breslau / Westphalia - Nordmark (3) 4-2
Quarter-finals
26 July 1938 Breslau / Silesia - Ostmark 2-8
26 July 1938 Breslau / Niedersachsen - Brandenburg 3-1
26 July 1938 Breslau / Württemberg - Mitte 5-1
26 July 1938 Breslau / Südwest - Baden 4-3
Eight-finals
24 July 1938 Ratibor
Ratibor
Ratibor is a Slavic origin male name containing words: "raci/rati" - "war, fight" and "bor" - "fight, warrior" and may refer to:*The German name of Racibórz, Poland*Ratibor...
/ Ostmark - Mittelrhein 3-0
24 July 1938 Liegnitz / Niedersachsen - Sachsen 2-0
24 July 1938 Neisse / Württemberg - Westphalia 3-0
24 July 1938 Waldenburg
Waldenburg
Waldenburg is the name of several places:* Waldenburg, Saxony, Germany* Waldenburg, Baden-Württemberg* Waldenburg, Switzerland*the former German name for Wałbrzych, Poland* Waldenburg, Arkansas, USAWaldenburg is also a surname:* Louis Waldenburg...
/ Südwest - Bavaria 4-1
24 July 1938 Beuthen / Silesia - Pommern 6-4
24 July 1938 Frankfurt/O. / Brandenburg - East Prussia 3-0
24 July 1938 Görlitz
Görlitz
Görlitz is a town in Germany. It is the easternmost town in the country, located on the Lusatian Neisse River in the Bundesland of Saxony. It is opposite the Polish town of Zgorzelec, which was a part of Görlitz until 1945. Historically, Görlitz was in the region of Upper Lusatia...
/ Mitte - Nordmark (3) 1-0 [aet]
24 July 1938 Schweidnitz / Baden - Niederrhein 4-3
Preliminary round
17 Jul 1938 Weimar
Weimar
Weimar is a city in Germany famous for its cultural heritage. It is located in the federal state of Thuringia , north of the Thüringer Wald, east of Erfurt, and southwest of Halle and Leipzig. Its current population is approximately 65,000. The oldest record of the city dates from the year 899...
/ Sachsen - Hessen 4-3
(1) - Palatinate and Saarland
Saarland
Saarland is one of the sixteen states of Germany. The capital is Saarbrücken. It has an area of 2570 km² and 1,045,000 inhabitants. In both area and population, it is the smallest state in Germany other than the city-states...
. - (2) Thuringia
Thuringia
The Free State of Thuringia is a state of Germany, located in the central part of the country.It has an area of and 2.29 million inhabitants, making it the sixth smallest by area and the fifth smallest by population of Germany's sixteen states....
, Anhalt
Anhalt
Anhalt was a sovereign county in Germany, located between the Harz Mountains and the river Elbe in Middle Germany. It now forms part of the state of Saxony-Anhalt.- Dukes of Anhalt :...
and the Province of Saxony
Province of Saxony
The Province of Saxony was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and later the Free State of Prussia from 1816 until 1945. Its capital was Magdeburg.-History:The province was created in 1816 out of the following territories:...
. - (3) Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein is the northernmost of the sixteen states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Schleswig...
, Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
and Mecklenburg
Mecklenburg
Mecklenburg is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Vorpommern...
See also
- Nationalsozialistischer Reichsbund für LeibesübungenNationalsozialistischer Reichsbund für LeibesübungenThe Nationalsozialistischer Reichsbund für Leibesübungen , more rarely "NSRBL", , known as Deutscher Reichsbund für Leibesübungen until 1938, was the umbrella organization for sports during the Third Reich.The NSRL was led by the Reichssportführer, who after 1934 was...
- LebensraumLebensraumwas one of the major political ideas of Adolf Hitler, and an important component of Nazi ideology. It served as the motivation for the expansionist policies of Nazi Germany, aiming to provide extra space for the growth of the German population, for a Greater Germany...
- Causes of World War IICauses of World War IIThe main causes of World War II were nationalistic tensions, unresolved issues, and resentments resulting from the World War I and the interwar period in Europe, plus the effects of the Great Depression in the 1930s....
Further reading
Both of these books are propaganda material on the Nazi sports event in Breslau.- Werner Gärtner, Volk in Leibesübungen. Deutsches Turn- und Sportfest, Breslau 1938. Published on behalf of the Reichssportführer Hans von Tschammer und Osten. Wilhelm Limpert Verlag, Berlin 1938.
- Heinrich Hoffmann, Hitler bei dem Deutschen Turn- und Sportfest in Breslau 1938. Verlag Heinrich Hoffmann, Munich 1938.