SPORTING DEMOCRACY: THE WESTERN ALLIES’ RECONSTRUCTION OF GERMANY THROUGH SPORT, 1944-1952 by Heather L. Dichter A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Graduate Department of History, University of Toronto © Copyright by Heather L. Dichter, 2008 Library and Archives Bibliothèque et Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de l’édition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre référence ISBN: 978-0-494-57981-7 Our file Notre référence ISBN: 978-0-494-57981-7 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non- L’auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant à la Bibliothèque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par télécommunication ou par l’Internet, prêter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des thèses partout dans le loan, distribute and sell theses monde, à des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non- support microforme, papier, électronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L’auteur conserve la propriété du droit d’auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protège cette thèse. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la thèse ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent être imprimés ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation. without the author’s permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformément à la loi canadienne sur la Privacy Act some supporting forms protection de la vie privée, quelques may have been removed from this formulaires secondaires ont été enlevés de thesis. cette thèse. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n’y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. ABSTRACT Sporting Democracy: The Western Allies’ Reconstruction of Germany Through Sport, 1944-1952 HEATHER L. DICHTER Doctor of Philosophy, 2008 Department of History, University of Toronto This dissertation examines how the three western Allies used sport to rebuild western Germany during the occupation and early years of the Federal Republic. The Allies believed that the sports in which Germans chose to participate before 1945, in particular fencing and gymnastics (Turnen), helped define one’s Germanness through demonstrations of militarism and hyper-masculinity. The development of Directive 23 on the Limitation and Demilitarization of Sport within the quadripartite Allied Control Authority imposed on sport the goals of the Potsdam Declaration: denazification, demilitarisation, decentralisation, and democratisation. By using sport as a vehicle to examine the achievement of western Allied goals, this dissertation demonstrates the centrality of sport to occupation policy. Sport became a highly effective instrument of public diplomacy because of its broad appeal and also because it allows for a public display of national capabilities. By encouraging competition with athletes from other countries, the western Allies fostered a transformation of German sport from defining individual characteristics to supporting broader, group-oriented ideas of democracy. The problems of creating national sport organisations mirrored the geo-political situation as the western occupation zones merged to form the Federal Republic. The debate over the structural organisation of sport provided the Germans with an opportunity to demonstrate the democratic ideals learned from the western ii Allies but also allowed them to use these same ideals to gain autonomy. Germans used the internationalism of sport to regain a position within the international community because international sport federations lay outside official state control. Examining unofficial international football matches and West Germany’s reacceptance by the international federations illustrates how sport provided a place for Germans to participate in the international system when no formal German state existed. The division of Germany forced the world’s sportsmen to address the political realities of Germany even though they considered sport separate from politics. This dissertation demonstrates how the western Allied efforts to dissociate sport and politics instead created the environment which enabled sport to assume a place of primacy during the Cold War, making the use of sport to democratise West Germany an ironic continuation of the politicisation of sport within Germany. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This project involved several research trips across North America and Europe to many archives and organisations. I could never have conducted the research for this project without the assistance of: Marty Mcgann of the National Archives and Records Administration in College Park, Maryland; Kerstin Schenke of the Bundesarchiv in Koblenz; the entire staff of the Bureau des archives de l'Occupation française en Allemagne et en Autriche in Colmar; the staff of the Archives diplomatiques at the Ministère des Affaires Étrangères in Paris; Lena Ånimmer at the National Archives of Sweden (Riksarkivet); Stephan Wassong and Michael Winter of the Carl und Liselott Diem Archiv; Michael Schirp of the Deutscher Olympischer Sportbund; the entire staff of the International Olympic Committee Library and Archive, in particular Ruth Beck-Perrenoud and Marie-Hélène Guex; Nathalie Rodriguez at the Federation Internationale d'Escrime; Christa Bühler at the Federation Internationale de Football Association; Pierre Weiss at the International Association of Athletics Federations; David Barber at the Football Association in London; Ina Müller of the Deutscher Fussball-Bund; Simone Kratzer at the Deutsche Leichtathletik Verband; and Jezael Fritsche at the Schweizer Fussball Verband. In addition to all of the archives that I visited, I would also like to thank Anne Causey of Special Collections at the University of Virginia Library, David Klaassen of the Social Welfare History Archives at the University of Minnesota, Linda Stahnke of the University Archives at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, David Hays and Karen Gifford at the University of Colorado at Boulder Archives, and Erika Gorder of Special Collections and iv University Archives at Rutgers University for their assistance in locating additional material. I could not have completed the multi-country research for my dissertation without the financial assistance of several organisations and departments. The University of Toronto provided me with significant support coming from the Joint Initiative in German and European Studies, the Centre for International Studies, the School of Graduate Studies, and the Department of History. I would also like to thank the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations for supporting both my language instruction and my dissertation research, and I also received additional funding from the International Society of Olympic Historians and the George C. Marshall Foundation. I would also like to thank Bruce Kidd and Jennifer Jenkins for being supportive members of my dissertation committee. Most importantly, I would like to thank Modris Eksteins for being a great supervisor and encouraging me to tackle this topic. Getting through graduate school and writing my dissertation was made easier with the help of many friends, especially Erin Hochman, Jen Polk, Katie Edwards, Wilson Bell, Anthony Cantor, and Erik Huneke. I always looked forward to conversations on German sport with Jan C. Rode. I would also like to thank all of my friends that housed me for various lengths of time as I traveled across Europe during my research, especially Ray and Maureen Whitley in England and Sandra Esser and Stefanie Seeh in Cologne. My parents have always provided me with much support during graduate school, which I have greatly appreciated. My grandfather had finished writing his dissertation but could not afford to have all of the copies made to complete his degree due to the birth of his second son, my father. To his memory I dedicate this dissertation. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ................................................................. ii Acknowledgments......................................................... iv Abbreviations............................................................ vii List of Figures ............................................................ ix Introduction ...............................................................1 Chapter 1 Washington, London, and Potsdam: Demilitarising German Sport . 31 Chapter 2 Game Plan for Democracy: Public Diplomacy and Sport . 80 Chapter 3 Kicking Around International Sport: The 1948 German-Swiss Football Games . 136 Chapter 4 Recentralisation and the Founding of National Sport Organisations: The German Efforts to Gain Control of Sport . 172 Chapter 5 Returning to the International Arena..........................................236 Conclusion..............................................................310 Bibliography.............................................................326 vi ABBREVIATIONS ACC Allied Control Council AGSEC Allied General Secretariat (Allied