The Politics of Sport in German Literature, 1918-1962
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“SPORT IST DER NERV DER ZEIT”: THE POLITICS OF SPORT IN GERMAN LITERATURE, 1918-1962 Rebeccah Marie Dawson A dissertation submitted to the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures. Chapel Hill 2011 Approved by: Dr. Richard Langston (Advisor) Dr. Jonathan Hess Dr. Eric Downing Dr. Gabriel Trop Dr. Konrad Jarausch © 2011 Rebeccah Marie Dawson ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii ABSTRACT Rebeccah Marie Dawson “Sport ist der Nerv der Zeit”: The Politics of Sport in German Literature, 1918-1962 (Under the direction of Dr. Richard Langston) This dissertation investigates the political role ascribed to sport in German literature and mass media during three radically different periods of German history: the Weimar Republic, the Third Reich and the young Federal Republic of Germany. In this project, sport in literature and film is shown to play an integral role in communicating contemporary social critique and reinforcing cultural ideology. During each of these eras, sport figured into central cultural debates about the organization of German society. In Weimar Germany, sport became a medium through which to discuss problems of class stratification, while the Third Reich saw it play into ideologies about creating and upholding the ethical Aryan subject. In the FRG, sport became entrenched in debates about memories of these bygone German social experiments. By examining canonical and non-canonical literary texts and films, this project queries how sport has persisted as a constant topos in the German literary imagination. Examinations of Bertolt Brecht’s “Der Kinnhaken” and Das Renommee and Melchior Vischer’s Fußballspieler und Indianer reveal how commodified sport in Weimar literature engaged with the limits of class stratification. During the Hitler regime, Leni Riefenstahl’s Olympia and Ludwig Barthel’s Schinovelle employ sport to idealize German bodies and instill an embodied sense of Aryan morality. Emerging from the shadow of Nazism, sport in young West Germany—as evidenced by Siegfried Lenz’s Brot und Spiele and Ludwig iii Harig’s short story and Hörspiel “Das Fußballspiel”— filter out memories of fascism and therewith confront the latent ghosts of Germany’s past. In order unlock the political logic of sport in German literature, I employ theories of sport from each respective period, including those of Brecht, Rosenberg and Adorno. What becomes clear through the analysis of these literary and cinematic discourses is the continuity of sport; just as German regimes and societies changed, so too did sport. And yet sport in all its manifestations persisted as a foil for German media’s political and social imagination. This dissertation thus bridges a gap in the paucity of scholarship by identifying the politicized role German literature and film awarded sport throughout the most tumultuous years of Germany’s twentieth century. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This project would not have reached completion without the support and help of my family, as well as many friends and colleagues. Thanks to a generous German Studies Research Grant from the German Academic Exchange Service, I was able to spend time in Berlin both researching and concentrating on my dissertation during the crucial final stages of writing. I am incredibly grateful most especially to my parents, without whose love, strength and support this project would never have been possible. They are not only the source of my love for all things German but through the years have been enthusiastic and insightful followers of all my endeavors. I want to thank Toffi for always keeping me grounded when the panic and stress set in. I am also grateful to Will and Hunter for providing me with the much-appreciated distraction of my nephew and niece. I extend special thanks to my adviser, Dr. Richard Langston, for his support and guidance at every stage of my project from its inception. I am also indebted to Dr. Jonathan Hess, who has been incredibly helpful and patient not only throughout the duration of this project but also during my entire graduate career. I would be remiss if I failed to mention my gratitude to the faculty and graduate students at UNC-Chapel Hill for their guidance and support throughout my graduate studies. My friend Shelley Hay deserves thanks for the moral support during these many, many years of graduate school. And to my friend, PGW, thank you for calming me down, believing I could do this and countless hours of editing and brainstorming. Your contributions to my sanity and this project are irreplaceable. Finally, though he did not get to see this project reach completion, I dedicate this work to my Grandfather. v TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ...............................................................................................................viii Chapter I. INTRODUCTION: RALLY CRIES: SPORT IN GERMAN LITERATURE AND CULTURE..................................................................1 i. “Die Religion des zwanzigsten Jahrhunderts”............................................1 ii. Running the Course: The Evolution of Popular Sport in Germany...........5 iii. Verisimilitudes of Victory: Cultural Investigations of German Sport.............................................................................................10 iv. Keeping Score: The Body of Sport Literary Scholarship.........................14 v. Athletic Poetics ..........................................................................................18 II. CHAPTER ONE: HOW BOMBERS BECAME GENTLEMEN: BRECHT, VISCHER AND THE CRISIS OF SPORT IN LITERATURE OF THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC..........................................22 i. Sachlicher Sport: Sport, Neue Sachlichkeit and Weimar Society ..............22 ii. KOs, Careers and Culture: Sport in the Works of Bertolt Brecht .............28 iii. “Der Tod am Fußballplatz ist heldischer als der am Schlachtfeld” Melchior Vischer’s Fußballspieler und Indianer ..........................................67 iv. Conclusion ................................................................................................85 III. CHAPTER TWO: BLOOD ON THE SNOW: RIEFENSTAHL, BARTHEL AND THE POLITICS OF SPORT IN THE THIRD REICH ..............................................................................................88 i. “Above all, the young, healthy body must also learn to suffer blows”..................................................................................................88 vi ii. Der Mythus des zwanzigsten Jahrhunderts: Alfred Rosenberg, Sport and Culture in the Third Reich.............................................................92 iii. The Quest for the Aryan: Leni Riefenstahl and the Olympian Influence .......................................................................................103 iv. “Sieggedanken aus Blut und Glauben”: Ludwig Friedrich Barthel’s Schinovelle and the Glorification of German Nature.....................123 v. Conclusion .................................................................................................135 IV. CHAPTER THREE: “DER SIEG IST NICHT MEHR GENUG”: LENZ, HARIG AND THE CRITICAL REALISM OF SPORT...................139 i. Re-inventing the Game: Sport and West German Literature......................139 ii. Crossing the Line: The Realism of Gruppe 47..........................................144 iii. “Groß ist dieser Sieg”: The Career of Fascism in Brot und Spiele ..........150 iv. Das Spiel mit dem Fußball: The Kölner Schule’s New Realism..............173 v. kanonen kicken köpfen: Violent Fascism in Ludwig Harig’s “Das Fußballspiel”.........................................................................................178 vi. The New “Hearing Game”: Ludwig Harig’s “Das Fußballspiel: Ein stereophones Hörspiel” ...........................................................................190 vii. Conclusion...............................................................................................201 V. CONCLUSION: THE COMEBACK KIDS: SPORT IN GERMAN LITERATURE AND FILM AFTER 1962..................................206 i. Settling the Score........................................................................................206 ii. “Aus, aus, aus! Das Spiel ist aus!” ............................................................210 iii. “Nach dem Spiel ist vor dem Spiel”.........................................................219 BIBLIOGRAPHY..................................................................................................................222 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Aryan boys wrestle in the Hitlerjugend camp, still from Triumph des Willens ..................................................................................................105 Figure 2. Members of the Hitlerjugend race, still from Triumph des Willens.......................105 Figure 3. Myron’s Discobolos transforms, still from Olympia: Fest der Völker ..................110 Figure 4. A Greek runner passes off the Olympic torch, still from Olympia: Fest der Völker ..........................................................................................112 Figure 5. The German runner ignites the Olympic flame, still from Olympia: Fest der Völker ..........................................................................................114 Figure 6. Aryan athletes run through the forest in Olympia: Fest der Schönheit..................116 Figure 7. Athletes play with birch branches,