the jewish gymnastics in the czech lands until 1918

Sport Science Review, vol. XIX, No. 5-6, December 2010

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The Jewish Gymnastics inthe Czech Lands until 1918

Roman ŠINKOVSKÝ

In the second half of the 19th century there was a significant change in the club´s life and physical activities in the Habsburger Monarchy.

The German gymnastics system (Turnbewegung) was the strongest one with regions, subregions and clubs in every smaller city. But towards the end of the 19th century the uprising of anti-Semitic attitude Jews started to flee or they were made to leave this organization. They built their own organization with similar ideology and structure. Nevertheless, its influence and importance was rather marginal. Although we could find areas where Jewish gymnastics had its steady position within the community. The Czech lands belonged among the leading territories within the Jewish Gymnastics Organization (Jüdische Turnbewegung).

Keywords: Jewish, Gymnastics, Turner, Habsburger Monarchy, Czech lands

Before WW I. the Czech Lands (Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia) belonged among those territories within the Habsburger Monarchy where we could see a high number of well organised gymnastics clubs. The unique Slavic movement „Sokol“ found its zealous devotees in a every small town or a village where Czech was the predominant language. The German gymnastics movement „Turnen“ presented an opposing alternative for all the German speaking population. Not only in a matter of the contents, but also with the political and sociological background. Both the Sokol and the Turnen played the key role in the formation and maintaining of national pride and self-awareness of both grand nations.

At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries there were, besides these two immense systems, other minority organisations with the gymnastics subtext. Thus involved the Christian-German gymnastics clubs, the Workers gymnastics clubs, nationalistic gymnastics clubs (eg. „Arndt Verband“) and the Jewish gymnastics clubs. The Jews belonged to the firm part of the population in the

DOI:10.2478/v10237-011-0042-7

The Jewish Gymnastics in the Czech Lands until 1918

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Bohemian lands ever since the first official census in 1776. Their ratio in the total population swang between 1-2 % in Bohemia and 1,5-2,5 % in Moravia and Silesia (Gold, 1934; Wlaschek, 1997).

Since the 1860´s the Jews were a steady part of the German gymnastics clubs. But with the arising nationalism in the 1880´s and with the on power gaining German-national „Volksbewegung“ (folks movement) found the Jewish gymnasts no mercy in the German gymnastics clubs. They were singely forced to cancel their membership and sooner or later most of these clubs became „aryanyised“ (Šinkovský, 2005; Hirth & Kießlich 1928). The hatred against the Jews became more vivid also in the public in the multi-national territories of the Habsburger Monarchy. Here, the German speaking population was confronted with other nationalities in the daily struggle about the maintaining of their living space, living standards and their ethnicity.

The hostilities against the Jews within the German gymnastics clubs and the society itself and the longing for collective defence against this unfairness and harm led to the establishment of the first independent Jewish gymnastics clubs. Although there had been a Jewish gymnastics club in the Turkish metropolis Constantinople since 1895, the official Jewish gymnastics began in 1898 with the founding of the BarKochba gymnastics club in Berlin. Throughout the upcoming years, this German club was the leading, decisive and determining power in the Jewish gymnastics community. On the other hand, Prag – a traditional Jewish and gymnastics center hesitated to create an independent Jewish club until 1904. The main reason was the fair acceptance and support the Jewish gymnasts recieved within the Prager German gymanstics club (DTV Prag) which was established already in 1862.

The city of Prag was by the Jews worshiped as „Mother Israel“ and the local Jewish community used to be once the most numerous and important in Europe. Thanks to their lingual and cultural conditions counted the Prager Jews to the honoration of the city. Thus led to the fact that many of them were not only mere members of the DTV Prag, but some of them were even its found-ing members. The anti-Semitism crawled into the Prague environment a little bit later than e.g. in Vienna. Thanks to some student corporations, so-called „Burschenschaften“, (e.g. Teutonia) and to some illiberal groups within the DTV Prag (eg. „Tafelrunde“) the anti-Semitists united informally around a young German gymnast („Turner“) Anton Kieβlich. They made several unsuccessful attempts to force the members of the DTV Prague to accept the so-called „Ar-yan Paragraph“ which was the anti-Jewish restriction within the whole German gymnastics movement (Šinkovský, 2005). Based on this issue the Jews were nor able to exercise, nor to take part in club´s activities, neither later be members


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of these clubs. Not like in the rest of the German-Austria (Deutschösterreich), their intense campaign proved wrong in Prague where the Jews presented a half of the DTV Prague´s membership and their total position in the city´s ambi-ance thanks to the Casino was very strong (Cohen, 1981). But disagreements and disputes led to a split inside the DTV Prague in 1888. The liberal majority stayed in the former club, the anti-Semitic group formed a new gymnastics club – German Male Gymnastics Club (DMTV). Of course, this action ment a weak-ening of the German position in the middle of the Bohemian environment, no matter if the German speaking person was liberal, anti-Semitic or Jewish.

The Prague Jewish gymnasts lived in a different position than their collegues in other big European cities of the Habsburger Monarchy. They didn´t feel the intense and direct anti-Semitic hatred, because they were secured by the strong and influential club DTV Prague. In this perspective, their situation resembled the one the Berliner BarKochba was experiencing. None of them was forced to create a national-Jewish gymnastics organisation which would protect their Jewish self-awareness and identity. But in both cases the growing feeling for nationalism played the decisive role.

At the beginning of 1905 a small group of Prague Jews, with no connection to the DTV Prague whatsoever, decided to form an independent Jewish gymnastics club. Their sole intention was:

„(…) den jüdischen Bürgern und Studenten ohne Unterschied ihrer Mutter-und Umgangssprache die Möglichkeit zu bieten, um abseits eines jeglichen politischen Getriebes sich frei und unbehindert dem Turnsport widmen zu können“ (Lämmer, 1977,9). [„To give every citizen and student without diference of their native and colloquial language and a chance to do gymnastics, free and without restrictions.“]

The founding comittee (Dr. Teller, L. Kornfeld, A. Bergmann) set their goal on no restriction in the native language of new members which differentiated from the principles of the governing body of the Jewish gymnastics federation– „Jüdische Turnerschaft“. There was no official lingual limitation in the federation´s statutes, but the most powerful Jewish club – BarKochba – published in 1905 an announcement „ (…) to create national-Jewish gymnastics clubs where there is German the colloquial language (…)“ (Lämmer, 1977,9). Thereby, we have to understand that in 1900 27.289 Prague Jews formed a third (29,34%) from all the Bohemian Jewish population. The lingual and national situation in Prague at this time was very complicated, so any language restriction woul have ment a serious obstacle for the new club´s survival. German was by no means the only language of the Prague Jews. At the turn of the centuries, a full half of the Bohemian and


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Moravian Jews declared the Czech language as their first lingual choice. For a comparison – at the same time in Vienna there were only 73 Jews (from total 28.151) calling Czech their colloquial language. Besides these facts, we also have to sense the declining attitude of the Czech gymnastics clubs towards the Jews. One of the applying Jews to a Sokol unit was rejected, because : „ (…) the members of an intruding nation which exploits the local folks (…) cannot be accepted.“ (Lämmer, 1977, 83).The formation of the Jewish gymnastics club Prague (JTV Prague) found an approval by the state governer Coudenhove who also accepted the invitation for the grand opening of the club´s gym. He explained that:

„Es freut mich, dass sie den Mannesstolz besitzen, sich von Vereinen, in welchen man Sie nicht mag, loszulösen und selbstsständig und ohne politische Fragen aufzuwerfen, sich sportlich bilden wollen.“ (Lämmer, 1977,126). [„I am glad that you have the one´s pride to get loose from those clubs where you are not welcome and that you want to be trained independently and without any political question.“]

The new gym was inaugurated on 11th June 1905, but there was no regular gymnastics activity for another year. The club´s officials tried to address the new Jewish generation to join their rows, but their number at the end of the year 1905 (104 members) was not very promising.

The JTV Prague maintained a good relationship with Jewish gymnasts in Berlin, Vienna and also with the governing body of the Jüdische Turnerschaft. This federation entrusted Prague´s club with organizing the meeting of the Jewish gymnastics clubs´ chairmen. The session took place on 4th June 1906 and there were only eight officials present (Prague, Berlin, Bielitz, Moravian-Ostrau, Prossnitz, Stettin, Ungarisch-Hradisch and Vienna). This presence list only shows how poorly organized the Jewish gymnastics movement was – at least compared to its German or Slavic counterparts. At this time, the Jüdische Turnerschaft consisted of only 15 clubs with 1.256 members and their numbers were not even growing too much. There was only an accesssion of three clubs and 220 members over the year 1905.

The first JTV Prague public display of its activities took place on 16th Dezember 1906 on the occasion of the Maccabi festival. The club tried to maintain its regular exercising schedule, but at the end of the year 1907 it stopped its activities due to the problems with the premises. With this, after a promising entré the only Jewish gymnastics club in Bohemia came to a sudden deadlock which lasted until 1913. The new period began on 19th January 1913 when a few Jewish students revived the ideas of the former JTV Prague. The club newly constisted of 30 men and 25 women who could use a local gym on the territory


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Střelecký ostrov. They were also newly obliged to pay a monthly contribution of 2 crowns. The level of the gymnastics performance was not very satisfying, but that was a common problem for all the Jewish gymnastics movements. This refers to the fact that only few Jewish gymnasts had profounder experience with exercising. Most of them began to exercise with their new membership in the club. The summer activities took place at the exercising ground of the Prague Jewish boarding school. In winter, the club established an ice-skating ring (1000 m²) here which was used also by the public. But the position of the club in Prague was not very easy and clear. To secure a steady gym the club presented itself as strictly Jewish, not German at all. To prove its attitude right it introduced Hebrew as the commando language and kept on comparing their non-political tendences with the Slavic catholic gymnastic organisation Orel. Over the years the JTV Prague worked on building up a close cooperation with the local Sokol unit and also took advantage of it. This position was strenghtened even more after signing up an experiencing Sokol gymnast who gave several lectures to the Jewish members. A situation that was clearly unique in the whole Habsburger empire, mutually unique. But it was only a logical result of the specific model of the milieu, city and country in which the JTV Prague functioned.

Before the WW I. the members of the JTV Prague took also share in making the national-Jewish ideology popular in other regions of Bohemia and Moravia. They organised trips to eg. Krummau, Dux and Teplitz-Schönau where they supported emerging, new clubs. But these first attempts had no structure and logical outcome.

Until 1918 there were, except Prague, only few Jewish gymnastics clubs in Moravia and Silesia. At the beginning of the 20th century, the Jewish population in both Moravia and Silesia was spread mainly in the six biggest cities (Brünn, Olmütz, Prossnitz, Ostrau, Troppau und Iglau). The advantage of this concentation was creation of clubs und organisations where the Jews formed their identity and supported their national ideology.

Ostrau. The history of the Jewish religious community in Ostrau is surprisingly young. It dates back only to the 18th century wheras other Moravian communities were founded as early as in the 11th century. Besides this fact, at the beginning of the 20th century the local Jewish population was the most numerous and active among all the other ones in Moravia. In 1900 there were 3.272 Jews living in this city (Haas, 1908, 61). Whereas Prague was an exception in founding procedures, so Ostrau (the first Jewish gymnastics club in Moravia and Silesia) as well as the other mentioned cities present a typical example of most regions Cisleithania where the anti-Semitic movement forced the Jews to create their own, independent, national-Jewish clubs. In 1902, after receiving


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a concensus from the city council about using a communal gym, the Jewish gymnastics club in Ostrau was established. After only a year of its existence it belonged with its 162 members (79 men) among the five most numerous clubs within the entire national-Jewish gymnastics movement. This matter was not the result of an outstanding club´s work, but rather a sad reality showing an insufficient development of this ideology. Women played an essential role not only in JTV Ostrau, but in other Jewish clubs as well. While the German Turnen was ruled and controlled predominantly by men, the Jewish gymnastics movement accepted women in both their activities and governing bodies. For instance, there were around 50 female members in the JTV Ostrau and two of them were sitting in the club´s board. The club took also care of juvenils, so at its haydays there were five club´s sections participating regularly on exercises. But the inconsistence and the insufficient connection among other Jewish gymnastics clubs predetermined the clubs to more or less serious swings in their activities. In 1912, the once strong JTV Ostrau was stumbling with its only 55 members and without a suitable exercising space at the edge of dissolution. This came only four years later with the outbreak of the WW I which brought a gradual quietus to even better organized movements.

Olmütz. This city presents a very interesting example of the so-called „Turnfehde“ (a quarell about the Aryan paragraph). The local German gymnastics club (DTV) that was founded in the 1860´s was not unified in the anti-Semitic development in the „Turnen“. The reason for this clash was the high number of Jews present not only in this second largest city in Moravia, but also in the DTV. According to the census in 1900 there were 1.676 Jews living in Olmütz (Haas, 1908, 58). The strong Jewish influence in the DTV led to several refusals of the Aryan paragraph which was quickly lying anchor in the most DTVs, districts and even the leading body (XV. Turnkreis Deutschösterreich). Such resisting clubs were marked as liberal or free-thinking clubs. In 1901, the local Jews even dared to form an independent Jewish gymnastics club which carried the name „I.Olmützer jüdischer Turnvereine“. Meanwhile, the anti-Semitic enthusiasts made the situation in the liberal club with targeting propaganda almost unbearable, so that during 1902 some of the originally free-tkinkers changed their minds. In consequence, these members joined in the newly formed German-nationalistic club „Jahn“ Olmütz which, of course, took pride in a swift acceptance of the anti-Jewish restriction. The Jews who were partly involved in the old DTV and partly were trying to maintain the new JVT decided to mingle with their prevailing free-thinking collegues in the DTV in order to strenghten their positions. This clearly shows their devotion not to the Jewish nationalism, but rather to their all-German feelings. The German nationalism proclaimed by the anti-Semitists was gaining foothold in more and more territories. Even regions and people who at first strictly disagreed with the Aryan ideology gave


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up with time their liberal conviction. The avalanche-like progression of the anti-Semitism among remanining DTV members, who initially didn´t mind the presence and cooperation with the Jewish gymnasts, led to their seccession. This shifting in personal and group opinion was caused also very often by the distructive decrease in the exercising proficiency. Jewish gymnastics movement and activities were continuely loosing on their once great distinction so typical for the German Turnen. Poor unifying organization, insufficient support from the governing bodies, a lack of interest from the public, low figures on the club´s lists and in the gyms. This all influenced desicions of the gymnasts who to join. In Olmütz the free-thinking DTV kept on loosing its members to the nationalistic club Jahn, so that in Januar 1903 the governing body decided to cancel its membership in the German-liberal gymnastics federation (Deutsch-freiheitlicher Turnverband) and to join the once hostile Jahn Olmütz. Herewith, they saw the only way how to save the fading oranization. The Jahn´s leadership hesitated to accept this offer due to its strong anti-Semitic belief although the Jewish members presented themselves humbly and devoted to the German identity. Two months later, in April 1903 the DTV Olmütz finally decided to yield its liberal and Jewish friendly position and joined the anti-Semitic, German-Austrian governing federation XV. Turnkreis Deutschösterreich.

In the first years of the 20th century this intricated events happened in oth-er regions and clubs of Cisleithania as well. Thanks to a high number of Jewish members and to their sometimes quite a strong position were some clubs unde-cisive in this very controversial clash. So they very often changed their minds de-pends on the situation either in the club´s board, regional or national organiza-tion. On the other hand, the Jews didn´t want to give up easily and just leave clubs where they spent often many years and which they sometimes helped to establish.

References

Becker, C. (1980). Antisemitismus in der Deutschen Turnerschaft. [Antisemitism in German Turnenschaft]. Sankt Augustin: Richarz

Cohen, G. (1981). The Politics of Ethnic Survival: Germans in Prague 1861-1914. Princeton

Gold, H. (1934). Die Juden und Judengemeinde Böhmens in Vergangenheit und Gegenwart. [Jews und Jewish Settlements in Past and Presence]. Brünn-Prag

Haas, T. (1908). Die Juden in Mähren. [Jews in Moravia]. Brünn


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Hirth, F. & Kiesslich, A. (1928). Geschichte des Turnkreises Deutschösterreich. [History of Turnkreises Deutschösterreich]. Teplitz-Schönau.

Iggers, W. (1986). Die Juden in Böhmen und Mähren. [Jews in Bohemia and Moravia]. München: Verlag C.H. Beck

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Kössl, J., & Štumbauer, J., & Waic, M. (1999). Vybrané kapitoly z dějin tělesné kultury. [Chosen Chapters from History of Physical Culture]. Prag: Nakladatelství Karolinum

Kiessling, F. (1900-1905). Beiträge zur Geschichte der völkischen Turnfehde. [Reports about History of Folk Turnfehde]. Wien.

Lämmer, M. (1977). Jüdische Turnzeitung 1900-1921. [Jewish Turner Newspapers 1900-1921 ]. Neuhrsg. Walluf/Neudeln: Sändig

Mitchell, T. R., & Larson, J. R., Jr. (1987). People in organizations: An introduction to organizational behavior (3rd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill

Pauley, B. (1993). Eine Geschichte österreichischen Antisemitismus. [A History of Austrian Antisemitism]. Wien: Kremayer u. Scheriau.

Pichl, E. (1940). Georg Ritter von Schönerer. Wien: Deutscher Verlag für Jugend und Volk.

Seibt, F. (1983). Die Juden in den böhmischen Ländern. [Jews in Czech Lands]. Wien-München

Šinkovský, R. (2005). Německé turnerské hnutí v pohraničních oblastech Čech do roku 1918. [German Turner Movement in the Czech Lands until 1918]. Prag: FTVS UK

Wlaschek, R. (1997). Juden in Böhmen. [Jews in Bohemia]. München

Roman ŠINKOVSKÝ, Ph.D. Currently emloyed at the Department of Physical Education and Sports, University of Hradec Králové, Czech Republic. His specialization in the area of Sports History is the German Turner Movement and sport of minorities in the Czech Lands (Jewish, German etc.). He obtained several times scholarships at the University of Vienna, Austria to work on this topic. E-mail address: [email protected]

the jewish gymnastics in the czech lands until 1918

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