Berliners seeking “Strength through Joy” may harden their muscles in a Rugby football scrum, or do push-ups in unison, but may no longer cycle, climb mountains, or ski in organized groups.
The metes and bounds of authorized athletics were set out in a recent order of the Berlin Kommandatura intended to ban group sports that might promote military training for young people. The new ruling requires sports clubs to abandon ten sports, specifically approves nine others.
VERBOTEN ERLAUBT Yachting Volleyball Rowing Football Cycling Basketball Skiing Hockey Trapeze work Tennis Weight lifting Bowling Field athletics Skating Mountain climbing Fishing Boxing Elementary calisthenics Jujitsu
Puzzled Berliners found it hard to see more dangerous military implications in track meets or weight lifting than in football or hockey. One explanation: the proscribed list names most sports popular in the old German mass physical-training program, the authorized list includes sports more widely played in the Anglo-American countries.
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