Performance Anxiety: Sport and Work in Germany from the Empire to Nazism

383 Pages·2017·5.73 MB·English

by  Michael Hau

PERFORMANCE ANXIETY
Sport and Work in Germany from the Empire to Nazism
Chapter Opener Verso or Recto
GERMAN AND EUROPEAN STUDIES
General Editor: Jennifer J. Jenkins
Chapter Opener Verso or Recto
MICHAEL HAU
Performance Anxiety
Sport and Work in Germany
from the Empire to Nazism
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS
Toronto Buffalo London
Chapter Opener Verso or Recto
© University of Toronto Press 2017
Toronto Buffalo London
www.utppublishing.com
Printed in the U.S.A.
ISBN 978-1-4426-3062-8
♾ Printed on acid-free, 100% post-consumer recycled paper with
vegetable-based inks.
(German and European Studies)
_________________________________________________________________
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Hau, Michael, author
Performance anxiety : sport and work in Germany from
the empire to Nazism / Michael Hau.
(German and European studies ; 25)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4426-3062-8 (cloth)
1. Sports – Political aspects – Germany – History – 20th century. 2. Sports –
Social aspects – Germany – History – 20th century. 3. Work – Government
policy – Germany – History – 20th century. 4. National socialism – Germany –
History – 20th century. I. Title. II. Series: German and European studies ; 25
GV611.H39 2017 796.0943'09041 C2016-903844-0
_________________________________________________________________
University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial assistance to its
publishing program of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario
Arts Council, an agency of the Government of Ontario.
Funded by the Financé par le
Government gouvernement
of Canada du Canada
Chapter Opener Verso or Recto
For Bettina, Meret, and Moritz
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Contents
Illustrations ix
Acknowledgments xi
Abbreviations xv
Introduction 3
1 Wehrkraft and Volkskraft: The “Human Economy” and
Performance Enhancement during the Empire 15
2 Conditioning Bodies and Minds during
the Weimar Republic 49
3 Conditioning People’s Comrades 84
4 The Olympics of Labour: The Reich Vocational
Competitions, 1934−1939 127
5 The Performance Community at War 172
Conclusion 217
Notes 227
Bibliography 291
Index 325
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Illustrations
2.1 Reich President Friedrich Ebert with Theodor Lewald at the
DHfL 54
2.2 Determining the energy efficiency of movements 60
2.3 Sport types: Peltzer and Breitensträter 63
2.4 Sport psychologist Robert Schulte measuring reaction times 71
3.1 1932 Olympic Weightlifting Champion Rudolf Ismayer 93
3.2 1936 Olympic Discus Throwing Champion Gisela
Mauermeyer 94
3.3 Education for toughness 103
3.4 The workbench as gym: Karl Gebhardt’s exercise therapy 108
3.5 Schnösel knew no People’s Community 122
4.1 Olympics of Labour, 1937 128
4.2 Labour Front leader Robert Ley addresses opening for the
RBWK 130
4.3 RBWK opening speech by Reich Youth Leader Baldur
von Schirach 131
4.4 Hitler receives the Reichssieger 132
4.5 IG Farben company community, Leverkusen branch 137
4.6 The ideal competitor 140
4.7 Stakhanov method vs Reichsberufswettkampf 152
4.8 Young men competing in a metal trade 163
4.9 Female competitors ironing fabrics 164
4.10 Vocational training in accordance with woman’s nature 165
4.11 Domestic skills 166
4.12 Poor fisher boy and Reichssieger offered place
at Napola in Stuhm 167