Günter, Herde

Description

Günter, Herde. Über den Kampf revolutionärer Arbeitersportler gegen Faschismus und Krieg in Dresden und Umgebung 1928-1933 [The struggle of revolutionary worker athletes against fascism and war in Dresden and the surrounding area 1928-1933]. Leipzig, 1954. Unpublished working manuscript, mostly type-written, partially hand-written, in a two-hole punched brown paper folder; [104] lvs. (Mostly one-sided, a few double-sided). With numerous corrections and notations.

Good to very good; paper browning and light foxing; almost all text very crisp and easy to read.

1930’s Antifascist Resistance in German Sport Organizations

A fascinating unpublished manuscript describing the underground antifascist resistance in German sport organizations. The Worker Sport Movement (”Arbeitersportbewegung”) was a socialistic inclined sport organization that was wildly popular in Germany from 1893 until it was illegal in 1933. At its height in 1931, over 2 million people were a part of the movement that promoted community involvement through sport activities. By 1930 the organization was strongly linked to the Communist Party of Germany (”KPD”). Hitler and the National Socialists forced the dissolution of the organizations. The political police (the “SA”) implemented the breakup, arrested and interrogated the remaining underground members. This manuscript details the underground network of antifascist sport movements, the arrest of its leaders, and their internment.

Records pertaining to a very early concentration camp: KZ Hohnstein

Concentration Camp Hohnstein was a so-called “early concentration camp” that operated from March 1933 through August 1934. Approximately 5,600 were interned there. According to this manuscript, Hohnstein is where antifascist sport leaders were sent, and it is where early murders of the national socialist regime occurred. The manuscript lists in an appendix hundreds of names and addresses of those arrested and interned and for numerous individuals also details the date of their murder (this data is out of archives in East Germany and the Freiberg Prosecutor’s office. An archive file number is generally cited in the text for each person). The manuscript further discusses how those interned attempted to operate an underground movement from within the concentration camp and provides detailed personal accounts of how individuals were murdered in the camp.

The manuscript is a working copy submitted as a state examination in East Germany’s University of Physical Education (”Deutsche Hochschule für Körperkultur” or “DHfK”). DHfK was East Germany’s leading sport research university and infamous for its role in that country’s forced use of performance enhancing drugs. The author, Günter Herde, later became East Germany’s Sport Medical Director of the State Committee for PE and Sport (”Staatliche Komitee für Körperkultur und Sport, SKS”). This academic work was written under the direction of Georg Wiecyisk (1922-2011), a professor of sport history and President of East Germany’s Track & Field Association (”Leichtathletikverbandes der DDR”).

The study draws on archives located within East Germany after World War II to document the intersection of sport, antifascist resistance, and the beginning of concentration camps as death camps.