Physical education and sports in Polish education in Germany in the years 1918–1939

Abstract

Between 1918 and 1939, Germany had a Polish population of about 1.5 million. Most Poles lived in Silesia, East Prussia, the central part of the country, Rhine-Westphalia and the eastern borderlands. One of the forms of patriotic activity to avoid assimilation was physical education, sports, tourism and recreation, the gymnastic movement within the framework of the Gymnastic Society “Sokol”. An important role in this national activity was played by Polish education in Germany. Educational affairs were handled by the Union of Polish School Societies, established in 1922. Among many subjects, physical education classes and extracurricular sports activities were very popular. In the years 1918–1939, a real battle for Polish school in Germany with physical education classes and after school activities took place. This struggle affected mainly the Polish- German borderland and in this particular area the sport activities were also the most visible ones. Physical education had a utilitarian and a preventative role, but the Polish activists also laid an emphasis on the high standards of the physical education classes and after school activities that were very often educational and patriotic. All primary school students took part in obligatory physical education classes and additional after school activities. It should be noted that all students of Polish schools in Germany attended compulsory physical education lessons.