Sport Under Authoritarian Regimes in Times of Crisis

Sport under authoritarian regimes in times of crisis

Xavier Pujadas

At the end of the 1980s, Zeev Sternhell spoke unions and opposition groups has been well of the cultural origins of fascism in the interwar studied. Therefore, taking into account the re- period, noting that «in reality we were facing a pression and control of citizens by means of the generalized European phenomenon» (Sternhell, sport system in interwar Europe allows us to 1994). Without a doubt, fascist-style authoritar- paint a much more realistic picture of the mod- ian regimes existed in different European coun- ern machinery of the European authoritarian tries in the years after the Great War. Their states and their ability to control the daily life emergence can be attributed to a preexisting of young people and, of course, to influence the fascist culture that was generalized throughout future of society. Europe and which had its origin in anti-ratio- This special issue presents five studies about nalism, neo-Romanticism and the «revolution the use of sport by different fascist-style regimes of nihilism», present before 1914 (Mosse, 1997). during the crisis that embroiled the continent While the fascist dictatorships of Europe mani- in the years preceding the Second World War. fested themselves in different ways – or at least The first article, written by specialists Evan- with ideological and structural differences – it is gelos Albanidis and Panagiotis Ioannidis of the also true that they shared many cultural aspects. Department of Physical Education and the Sci- In this respect, the study of the politics of ence of Sport of the Democritus University of sport or, simply, the development and role of Thrace, is a study of the sport policies of the the sporting phenomenon in authoritarian set- dictatorship of General Ioannis Metaxas in tings is of great interest to scholars. It demon- Greece (1871-1941). The text, entitled «The role strates broad similarities in the ways in which of sport in the totalitarian regime of Metaxas in European fascism mobilized the sporting phe- Greece (1936-1941)», highlights the structure of nomenon to fulfill perverse objectives of control, sport during the Greek dictatorship, as well as its propaganda, value transmission, social militari- similarities with sport in other totalitarian re- zation and the repression of citizens. It reveals, gimes of the period. Without a doubt, the ar- then, how sport inevitably formed part of Eu- ticulation of an education system that empha- rope’s shared fascist culture. This occurred be- sized nationalist-oriented physical education, the cause sport was largely already part of the daily promotion of militarism in exercises for young life of many citizens and because it had already people and the creation of a National Youth resulted in the creation of the mass media in- Organization – inspired by the Hitler Youth and dustry. Therefore, the mobilization of sport was the Opera Nazionale Balilla – allows us to observe not merely possible; it was also beneficial for the the existence in 1930s Europe of a fascist-style interests of those authoritarian regimes. sport culture which goes beyond national pecu- This kind of study contributes valuable and liarities. In the Greek case, which for Albanidis little-known information about the use of sport and Ioannidis is partially comparable to the Nazi in the deployment of internal and external pro- sport project, Metaxas’ construction of a «politi- paganda in those countries during the 1920s and cal religion» (Kallis, 2008) combined a return to 30s. It is also important because it allows us to classic athletic culture and the perfection of the better reconstruct the development of the repres- Hellenic body. This ideal of the «Third Hellenic sive machines of dictatorships in general, which Civilization» needed a youth that would be typically have been studied from traditional healthy and strong, militarized and nationalist, social and political perspectives. For example, formed for the defense of the regime. Sport and the persecution of political organizations, trade the physical education of young people, there-

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fore, became a privileged instrument of the state that prisoners it meant death and torture through physical emerged on August 4, 1936 to carry out a fascist revolu- punishment and inhuman forced labor. tion, in both culture and politics. Football, which had already become the most- This youthful ideal of European fascism was also watched sport after World War I, also played an impor- developed in the construction of a discourse for youth tant role in the dramatic experience of everyday life in in the Franco dictatorship in Spain, which incorpo- the concentration camps. As a genuine popular expres- rated sport and physical education. In the new Fran- sion of the social expansion of sport after 1918, football coist state that emerged from the civil war, moreover, became a key element in sport policies of authoritarian sport came under the control of the single party, Falange states and European fascist culture. Italy won the World Española, which acted as the ideological stronghold of Cup in 1934 and 1938 and exploited this feat as a tri- the dictatorship (Duncan Shaw, 1987; Santacana, umph of fascism. Yet beyond the Italian case, football 2011). In Spain, as in other authoritarian regimes, sport had already spread to most of the continent and, became a powerful force of population control, mili- naturally, began to fuel journalism and the mass en- tarization, the transmission of national values and tertainment industry. It should be no surprise, then, regime ideology and, ultimately, of repression. Thus, that European dictatorships of the interwar period as Professor Josep Andreu Bosch writes about Valencia considered football an important instrument in the (1939-1945) in the second article of this issue, the use service of the nation. The study contributed by Jakub of sport for repression and social control was intense Ferenc, «Football in occupied Poland (1939-1945)», and systematic. Bosch coincides with studies of the analyzes the protagonism of this sport in Poland during Catalan case (Pujadas & Santacana, 1995) in distin- the Second World War. Ferenc examines football as a guishing between repression against individuals and political and repressive tool of the occupation au- collective repression against clubs, sport associations thorities and also as a balsam for part of the Jewish and educational institutions linked to the Republic. In population and for Polish citizens more generally. any event, unlike in other European cases, the Spanish Beyond its uses for repression and control, the lead- dictatorship came about through a coup that resulted ers of some authoritarian regimes of interwar Europe in a long and bloody civil war (1936-1939). This context saw in sport an unparalleled platform for national impacted the subsequent institutionalization of repres- propaganda and for their own political projects. The sion, which was closely linked to the experience of the case of Italy and Benito Mussolini is paradigmatic in war. Under institutionalized repression, the field of this sense because it was the first state to demonstrate sport developed a vast repressive machinery, which of the propagandistic effectiveness of international sport- course was already emerging before the end of the ing triumphs. The National Fascist Party not only in- armed conflict (Domínguez Almansa & Pujadas, 2011). stitutionalized football as a «fascist game», but also tried Sport – a field that was gaining in popularity in the to use football wins to control public opinion, infiltrate 1930s – became one of many sites of repression the daily life of citizens and obtain advantages in inter- throughout the European authoritarian states. Of national diplomacy (Martin, 2004). The last contribu- course sport and exercise were also linked to repression tion to this special issue is the article «The birth of the in Nazi concentration camps in Germany, which were sport nation: sport and mass media in fascist Italy», by probably the most tragic expression of European au- Professor Eleonora Belloni of the Department of Politi- thoritarianism in the interwar period. This linkage cal and International Sciences of the University of Si- probably occurred because sport, Nazi body culture, ena. This study examines the relationship between and the strength of the Aryan race were very relevant sport-spectacle and mass media – in particular the press in the management and organization of the camps and and radio – and the propagandistic intent of the regime. the systematic extermination policy articulated by the Belloni demonstrates that the fascist regime used sport- SS. Naturally, this was also due to the fact that physical spectacle as a tool for the manufacture of consensus in repression was commonly an element of punishment Italian society and, at the same time, promoted the and prison culture prior to 1945. However, Dorien emergence of a «sport nation», thanks to the use of the Gomet points out that in order to understand the de- press and broadcasting. Italy’s example was no doubt ployment of physical repression at the Mauthausen followed by other European leaders before the outbreak concentration camp, we must take into account the of the Second World War in 1939. physical culture of the Aryan youth and its high regard for sport. Gomet, Senior Lecturer of the University of References Rennes II and a specialist in sport, anti-Semitism and concentration camps, contributes the article «Destruc- Arnaud, P. (2002). El deporte, vehículo de las represen- tive Practices, Life-Saving Practices: Corporal Activities taciones nacionales de los Estados europeos. En in Mauthausen (1938-1945)». Gomet’s study of sport González Aja, Teresa, Sport y autoritarismos. La utili- at Mathausen presents a profound reflection on the zación del deporte por el Comunismo y el fascismo. paradoxical vision of fascism and Nazism. Participation Madrid: Alianza. in sport could mean survival for gifted athletes, main- Domínguez Almansa, A. & Pujadas, X. (2011). Estadios ly because it gave them access to better living condi- y trincheras. Deporte y retaguardia en la Guerra Civil tions starting in 1942. At the same time, for many 1936-1939. En X. Pujadas (Coord.). Atletas y ciuda-

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danos. Historia social del deporte en España (1870-2010). Mosse, G.L. (1997). La cultura europea del siglo XIX. Madrid: Alianza. Barcelona: Ariel. Duncan Shaw, D. (1987). Fútbol y Franquismo. Madrid: Pujadas, X. & Santacana, C. (1995). Història Il·lustrada Alianza. de l’Esport a Catalunya 1931-1975. Vol. 2. Barcelona: Kallis, A. (2008). Fascism and religion: the Metaxas Columna. Regime in Greece and the Third Hellenic Civilisation. Santacana, C. (2011). Espejo de un régimen. Transfor- Some theoretical Observations on «fascism», «Poli- mación de las estructuras Deportivas y su uso políti- tical Religion» and «Clerical fascism». En M. Feldman, co y propagandístico 1939-1961. En X. Pujadas M. Turda & T. Georgescu, Clerical fascism in Interwar (Coord.). Atletas y ciudadanos. Historia social del de- Europe. New York: Routledge. porte en España (1870-2010). Madrid: Alianza. Martin, S. (2004). Football and fascism. The national game Sternhell, Z.(1994). El nacimiento de la ideología fascista. under Mussolini. Oxford: Berg. Madrid: Siglo XXI.

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