Gunter Witt

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Mass Participation and Top Performance in One:

Physical Culture and Sport in the German

Democratic Republic

Gunter Witt

It is not without due cause that visitors to the GDR from all over the

world continue to show interest in the way in which physical culture and

sport have developed in this country.

Should they proceedto

inquire about this and in so doing discoverthat in the GDR virtually one person in five does sport on a regular basis,

they would be touching upon one of the major distinguishing features of

physical culture in the GDR, namely its mass popularity. But does this

alone suffice to explain the phenomenon which in most cases prompts

such curiosity-filled questions about the internationally known and

respected top performances of GDR sportsmen and women?

For it is precisely such sportsmen and women, bearing the white

letters GDR on their blue tracksuits who have gained a large r imber of

victories and medals at international sports competitions and at the

Olympic Games in the last few decades, as well as having set up a good

many world records across a whole range of sporting discipines.

Mainly it was they who established the fine reputation of the GDR as

one of the leading sports nations. Since the time when GDR athletes first

drew attention to themselves lor their performance in international

sporting arenas, various attempts have been made to explain this

phenomenon; there was often talk of the “sports miracle” or of the “secret”

of GDR sport. After all, it is indeed quite astonishing how a relatively

small country with a population of about 17 million is able to produce the

type of competitiveness in sport which in many disciplines puts it

amongst the world leaders. Let us attempt to discover some of the essential

factors and real causes underlying this development. Inseparably linked

with the social changes which have taken place in the GDR since 1949has

been the successful pu tt ing into practice of a program for the socialist

development of physical education and sport. What are the basic ideas and

goals contained in this program?

Physical culture and sport serve to improve people’s general well-

being, health and physical capabilities. Taking advantage of the wide

range of sports opportunities “open to all” is an essential part of theprocess of personality development and an ingredient of meaningful and

active leisure-time activity and a cultured way of life.

159



160 Journal of Popular Culture

It is for this reason that society seeks to provide opportunities of as

wide a range as possible so that each individual, family or group can

engage in sport without facing essential financial difficulties.

Even in sport the humanist goal of discovering and promoting eachperson’s talents and abilities is put into practice. A broad based system of

selection and training of talented athletes lies behind those top sporting

performances which have gained international respect for sport in the

GDR. Up-and-coming young athletes are placed under the wing of their

successful predecessors who serve as models, st imulating them to emulate

their own performances. The scientific study of sport is an important

factor affecting the development of physical culture and sport.

Physical culture and sport are a genuine concern for the whole of

society and the sports movement in the GDR is well organized. The high

status which sport enjoys in the eyes of the GDR’spublic, and the latter’s

great interest in it, spring largely from the work of various bodies in

society, ranging from mass organizations and work enterprises, local

government bodies and schools, to the mass media’s influence and the way

in which sport is portrayed in the arts.

Ever since they began making appearances in world sporting arenas,

GDR sportsmen and women have seen themselves as representatives of

peace and international understanding. They make their contribution

toward safeguarding the spirit of the Olympic Movement. It is also this

awareness of sport’s role in promoting peace that accounts for the

innumerable ways in which the GDR lends support to athletes from other

countries, and particularly to those from newly independent national

states.

The cultural ideal of our society is the all-round harmonious

development of socialist personalities (allseitige harmonische

Entwicklung) and of matching ways of life.

Without doubt, sport is able in many ways to help realize this ideal, as

the facts show. A harmonious development of the personality and a

cultured lifestyle also demand sporting activity and physical perfection,which in turn act as a source of relaxation and joy, healthiness, improved

capabilities and general well-being. Experience has shown that the effects

attained by sporting activity not only affect a person’s physical condition

but also his psychological and moral state, as well as influencing his

character. For sporting activity presents a real area of scope for teaching

individuals and the whole groups of people to be, or to teach themselves to

be, consistent in the way they live, to have discipline, to base their relations

with other people on the sporting virtues of fairness and consideration for

their fellow or opponent, and to show willingness to act and help otherpeople, as well as bringing out other valuable traits.

Thus on the one hand there are ideal objectives expressing the

humanist aspect of the program of physical culture and sport in the GDR ,but on the other hand they are accompanied by real, verifiable results

which portray the practical achievements of over three decades. And the



Mass Participation and Top Performance in One 161

practical reality we are referring to here is not one marked by isolated

individuals but rather one which reflects mass involvement. It is toward

the further shaping of such mass involvement that all our future efforts

will be directed. This is a process going on in various branches of physicalculture and sport, whereby clear distinctions are made between the

different age groups and the sexes and the corresponding performance

levels, and an astounding variety of forms and methods are made use of.

Special attention is paid toward steadily promoting sport for children and

youth.

Particularly amongst the younger age groups there are favorable

conditions for encouraging the taking u p of a sporting activity, for

inducing a readiness to lead a healthy life style, for cultivating valuable

traits of character and behavior and for passing on lasting emotional

impressions and experiences. That is why even during pre-school

education efforts are made by suitably trained nursery school teachers

following programs of teaching methodology to encourage children to get

enjoyment out of exercises and games designed to suit the children’s age.

During school education attendance of sports lessons is compulsory for all

pupils, unless they are excepted for medical reasons. Specially trained

sports teachers instruct the basics of sport and physical education, even to

the younger classes, and they seek to instill in the pupils a conscious

attitude toward sports activities. Over and above this, provisions are made

for pupils to pursue special interests and preferences for particular sports

in School Sports Groups or in Sports Groups at enterprisesor in their local

town or village. Both forms promote a striving for improved performance

in sport through regular training and participation in competitions.

Competition, referred to as the “soul of sport,” takes place at many

different levels of performance and in the most wide-ranging forms. I t is

the most suitable way of motivating youth to improve their performance.

A treasure chest of valuable experience, and one of the great

ac.hievementsof GDR sport, is the Spartakiad movement for children and

youth. In it a whole range of competitions, heats and other qualifyingevents are arranged in a well organized and comprehensive system of

competitions in 33 different sports, attracting large numbers of entries. For

GDR sport they offer a constant source of new sporting talent.

The Spartakiad movement is a product of cooperation between the

sports organizations of the GDR (DTSB, Deutscher Turn- und Sportbund

der DDR) , the youth organization (FDJ), and institutions in the national

education system. These are lent additional active support by numerous

other bodies with a role in state or society.

The Spartakiad competitions take place annually, beginning in allthe schools, then in the local districts and finally at regional level. Every

two years the best competitors meet in the central Spartakiad competitions,

covering both Summer and Winter sports.

The following table of the numbers of young athletes registered in the

entry lists for the district Spartakiads indicate how we are dealing here with




a phenomenon enjoying growing widespread popularity.

Year

19651975

1983

Total No. of Entrants

321,00086 1,000

997.000

Apprentices and students, too, benefit during their training from

numerous opportunities for doing some sport. Besides the compulsory

lessons there are sports training and competitions run by the Sports

Groups. In addition to this all young people (pupils , apprentices and

students) are offered a wide range of activities during their holidays,

including sports festivals, games, hikes, etc., to stimulate them to feel theneed for regular, active sporting activity and, where possible, to make sport

a habit and norm of behavior, which they continue to adhere to

throughout life.

Sport for leisure and recreation, a feature at enterprises, in residential

areas, and holiday and leisure centers, is notable for the wide variety of

forms in which it occurs andof methods which it employs. In recent years it

has seen a real boom in popularity. Teams of workers at enterprises and

other institutions, families and friends in residential areas get together in

their free time to do sport. More and more people are joining groupsfor

exercise and training and take part in competitions. In many sports such

groups are run under the expert supervision of a coach from the GDR’s

Sports and Gymnastics Union (DTSB) and enjoy a great deal of

popularity. In enterprises, residential areas, towns and villages sports

festivals form the climax of the various competitions which take place each

year. In 1980, 4.8 million people took part in them.

Continued growth in popularity is also being enjoyed by the mass

sports competitions in which anyone can take part. Similarly popular are

the “Run-a-Mile” jogging competitions, in which in 1980 2.3 million

people took an active part, and such traditional sporting events as a table-

tennis competition with 290,00Oentrants,a volleyball competition entered

by 30,000 people, a family competition and the annual knock-out

competitions, “Strongest Apprentice” and “Fittest Girl ,” as well as many

others.Guidance and financial support are available for the range and variety

of leisure-time sports activities in the shape of the Unified Sports Program

run by the sports organizations (DTSB), he Trade Unions (FDGB) and the

youth organizations (FDJ). Apart from the above mentioned forms of

leisure sports,included in this Program are also provisions for extending

the number o n offer at holiday and recreational centers. With the help of

these and other organizations numerous opportunities are made available

for practicing sport at holiday resorts and centers, and on camping sites.

New paths for jogging and hiking are leading to a return in greater

numbers to the original scene of sporting activity, nature itself.




A considerable factor motivating people to practice sport regularly is

their desire to attain the “sports badges,” for on the basis of these, people

can test their physical performance capabilities against set sporting norms,

dividing them into gold, silver and bronze according to performance, ageand sex. In 1983 alone over 4 million people successfully reached the

standards of one or another of these certificates.

The National Sports and Gymnastics Festivals of the GDR, which

traditionally take place at Leipzig, have a great mobilizing effect,

encouraging people to take up a participation sport.

The centerpiece of these festivals is provided by the mass gymnastic

displays involving tens of thousands of sportsmen and women in a

magnificent sporting spectacle. They provide the audience in the stadium

and theT V

viewers at home with a delightful symphony of movement,music and color.

In 1983 the 7th Sports and Gymnastics Festival was heldconcurrently

with the 9th National Children’s and Youth Spartakiad. Th is meant that

in one week almost the entire program of the Summer Olympic Games was

covered 4 times, since competitions are structured according to various age

groups of the children and youth taking part. This demands not only

careful organizing but also the active participation of thousands of

volunteer helpers and, in particular, judges and referees.

The Sports and Gymnastics Festivals not only spur into action the

athletes and organizers directly involved but in the run-up to them

millions of sports fans play an indirect part in helping to stage the events.

Thi s may vary from the preparation and support of these participating to

the readying of the city itself. It consists in the main of the wide-scale

competitions, taking place in enterprises, towns and villages prior to the

festivals, and in which in 1983 3.4 million sportsmen and women took

part.

Participation sports have thus experienced a great upswing in

popularity in the GDR. Yet there are many other paths open to it and its

further development. They include, above all, increasing the variety of

forms available and adding to the attractiveness of leisure sport activities,

as well as paying greater regard to individual needs concerning age, sex,

employment and territorial differences.

The “Open to All” idea in GDR sport is organically linked with the

process of discovering and promoting all sporting talent. Talent-spotting

and the development of competitive sporting achievement have a solid

foundation in children’s and youth sport. Young sportsmen and women,

seeking to emulate successful athletes, who combine their love of sport

with special aptitudes and ambitious efforts, receive systematic supportand encouragement. A constant stream of talent flows from the

Spartakiads for children and youth. Bearing witness to the efficiency of the

system of observation and testing of children’s abilities and of their

subsequent selection and training are the numbers of those who, having

first proved themselves and been “discovered” in the Spartakiad




b i

?

.-N

G.-I




Portrait of a cyclist, Bert Heller. Reprinted with permission.







Leipzig Sports Festival




Sportsmen discussing art. (Photo: M . Uhlenhut).




competitions, later went on to be Olympic, European or World

Champions. Youngsters talented in sport can develop their abilities to the

full by attending special children’s and youth sports schools. In these

educational institutions they are prepared for their school-leaving exams(high school graduation) and pursue training under the guidance of

experienced coaches at the Sports Clubs. Th e consistent parallel emphasis

on academic (later professional) training and sports training forms the

essential foundation for the development of amateur sport in the GDR.

Training, taking part in competitions and gaining victories are not viewed

independently, neither are they held apart from the overall process of

education and personality development, but function rather as cultural,

social and ethical values in the education of sportsmen and women.

Such a program of development provides the GDR’s competitiveathletes with the knowledge that they are socially secure and protected,

since the foundation stones for continuing with a profession later in life

after reaching the end of their active sporting career are laid early on during

training.

There are also ways in which one can see that competitive sport is not

removed and isolated from external developments. On the contrary, it

penetrates and influences all other spheres of physical culture and , indeed,

extends its influence beyond that. Academic research into sport and sports

medicine, coupled with competitive sporting experience, provide a wealth

of experience and insights of great value in developing children’s and

youth sports, the whole system of training, practice and competitions, as

well as leisure sports. And general medicine, too, has received numerous

impulses from this field, regarding, for example, the whole process of

diagnosis and therapy of heart and circulatory problems. Competitive

sport also greatly influences the leisure-time behavior of millions of people

by providing interesting and entertaining events for spectators. In this way

i t has an important cultural function to fill.

Apart from the influence of competitive sport nationally, it is in

international sporting arenas that it occurs most commonly. The

improved performances at top level in almost all sports are without doubt

the result of improved arrangements of sports training, the effective

application of the gains made in the academic study of sport and sports

medicine, and the modernization of facilities and equipment, not to

overlook the effect of various social factors.

I t is generally well-known that social factors of a political, economic,

scientific, cultural or moral type are significant for their effects on

competitiveness, where international sports meetings between countries

with different social systems are concerned. It is of considerableimportance that such sports meetings should be carried out with strict

regard for the Olympic ideal, the sports rules, and law. Only on such a basis

can major international sports competitions like the Olympic Games

contribute to promoting and stabilizing peace.

It is the credo underlying the preparation of GDR athletes for such




international competitions that they should take part in this spirit and

work for its wide acceptance.

Not least for this reason did the GDR’s top sportsmen and women

become internationally ackowledged and respected fellow competitors.GDR athletes have contributed by their achievements to the

development of international sport in many areas. The sporting successes

of GDR sportsmen and women have followed a remarkable course of

development, particularly as far as the Olympic Games are concerned:

Year Gold Silver Bronze

1956

1960

1964

1968

1972

1976

1980

1

5

5

10

24

47

47

~~

4

10

13

11

26

30

37

3

7

5

9

30

32

42

The 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo were the most successfulto date for

the GDR teams, winning nine Gold, nine Silver and six Bronze Medals.

The achievements of GDR sportsmen and women in World and

European Championships have followed a similar path of success. T o date

GDR athletes have won a total of 966 Gold Medals at World andEuropean

Championships.

The academic study of sport in the GDR has played an important role

in the successful development outlined above. With a comprehensivesystem of training and further education, it ensures the expertise of

trainers, sports teachers, coaches, sports physicians, sports officials, judges

and referees, as well as of the new generation of specialists in the study of

sport. Following its founding in 1950 the German College of Physical

Culture in Leipzig (DHFK) became the center of teaching and research in

the GDR regarding the academic study of sport. At present, there are about

2000 students in the four course-years attending full-t ime or

correspondence degree courses.

On top of this there are eight universities and teaching colleges in theGDR training annually about 1200 sports teachers, additionally qualified

in another subject,to take up teaching positions in schools. A whole range

of various types of further education and of specialized and complex

training exists in the form of courses in which honorary sports officials,

judges, referees and coaches take part in an organized schedule.




The tasks confronting research in the field of sports study are of a

broad nature. They combine closely research in the branches of the social

sciences, natural sciences, training methodology and medicine with

sporting practice and apply the results to the benefit of the latter.

The findings are useful for all areas of physical culture and sport, but

also find application in the social sciences, education and the national

health service.

Thanks to their achievement and work in new fields, sports specialists

from the GDR have earned top recognition from international

organizations studying sport such as the World Council for Physical

Culture and Sports (CIEPS) which is part of UNESCO, and from other

specialist organizations for sports psychologists-sociologists-

historians, etc.

I n the GDR, physical culture and sport are a real concern of the whole

of society. Indicative of this is the fact that the right of every citizen tosport

is contained in the GDR Constitution. Article 18 reads as follows:

“Physical culture, sport and outdoor pursuits promote, as elements of

socialist culture, the all-round physical and mental development of the

individual.”

The fixing of this basic right of the individual to physical cultureand

sport in the Constitution is further supported by a number of legislative

measures taken by the government. Thus, there are binding regulations,

involving a degree of personal accountability, in the Labour Statute Book,the Education Law, the Juvenile Law, laws related to the representative

bodies of local government and their organs, the law on the tasks, rights

and duties of state enterprises, and in other laws and regulations. They

provide a set of outline conditions which go a long way in furthering the

development of initiative and action to be taken by the appropriate bodies

in society.

A major role in this is played by the German Sports and Gymnastics

Union of the GDR (DTSB der DDR, founded in 1957),which acts as both

the initiator and organizer of vital developmental processes in physicalculture and sport.

As the rising membership figures show, it has developed since its

formation in to a mass organization:

Year Total nos. incl. Children/Youth

~~

1957 1,168,594 370,0291965 1,813,261 648,314

1970 2,155,812 8 16,276

1975 2,594,861 1,048,781

1978 2,9 13,634 1,273,043




In 1983 the number of members grew to a total of 3,413,000 active sports-

men and women.

The DTSB in the GDR works in close cooperation with state bodies,

and is also afforded help in carrying out its functions by variousenterprises, institutions and mass organizations.

Th is applies both to the maintenance and provision of new material

and technical equipment needed in the sports world and to the lending to it

of financial support by this organization for everyday sport in the GDR.

In all this the DTSB of the GDR does not just recognize its responsi-

bility for safeguarding sports activities of every shape and form, but is also

concerned to extend the cultural and intellectual horizons of its members.

Experience shows that doing sport, an eventful g roup activity, also creates

the widespread need for communication and interpersonal relations

outside the scope of training and competition.

Interesting and varied activity within a group is for many people a

vital factor motivating them to regular participation in training and

competitions, as sociological investigations have shown.

Time spent together outside actual training and competition is used

by many groups for social gatherings and entertainment, for cultural

activities and for upholding progressive sporting traditions. The DTSB

der DDR nurtures, for example, the traditions of Johann Christoph

Friedrich Gutsmuths, Friedrich Ludwig Jahn, August Scharttner and

antifascist sportsmen like Ernst Grube and Werner Seelenbinder.

A characteristic of the DTSB’s activities is the work of its coaches,

judges and referees, who ensure the smooth running of this mass

organization, faced with countless day-to-day functions.

In 1983 there were 240,000 coaches and 149,000 udges and referees in

its ranks. Similar widespread commitment by people in honorary posts is

to be seen in the work of the DTSB officials, that of the Clubs and sports

groups and of the special committees concerned with the individual sports

on various territorial levels. Thi s is an expression of the democratic

sharing of responsibility and executive power in the field of physicalculture and sport. It is, of course, also indicative of a love for sport and of

the presenceof a multiplicity of sporting interests. The considerable degree

of importance attached to sport in the minds of active sportsmen and

women and sports officials stands in direct relation to the esteem in which

it is held by the GDR population which, as sociological surveys have

revealed, is greatly fond of and interested in sport.

The highly developed network of information on sport, possessed by

the mass media, enables it in its own way t o put to good effect the cultural

and entertaining sides of sport. Here sports reporting is coupled with vividand convincing arguments putting forward the value and necessity of

doing sport in order to improve one’s health and physical capabilities and

for relaxation. The promotion of sport and the direct organizing of mass

sporting events are also an integral part of sports reporting.

Sports programs on T V in the GDR are amongst the most popular

and have high viewing rates.




Sport is also a common subject featuring in GDR art. There are

certainly correlations here between the successful development of GDR

sport, the high status it enjoys in the public mind and the aesthetically

attractive and appealing variety of themes and motifs apparent in thevarious forms and types of sports. But there must be another explanation to

look for when one considers that 5 large-scale exhibitions on “Art and

Sport” have already taken place in the GDR and that writers, sculptors,

composers, film directors, architects and representatives of every art form

have for years continually been taking spor ting themes as the subject of

their artistic works.

GDR sport feels duty-bound to adopt and follow the legacy and

heritage of Pierre deCoubertin, the revivor of the modern Olympic Games,

in all its complexity. And one indispensable feature of Coubertin’shumanist ideas was the link between art and sport or, as he wrote, “the

marriage of mind and muscle,” the combining of athletic competitions

with a “pentathlon of the muses.” T he GDR’ssports organization took u p

this idea, set it in relation to the demands of social development in the

GDR and established a suitable art prize.

Fruitful discussions between sportsmen and women and artists, the

exhibition and discussion of works produced in thecompetition for the art

prize, their public recognition and, above all, their use in sports institutes

and schools and at sports events and ceremonies have led to a close link

being established between the country’s sport and art.

Th e works of art which were produced as a result of this productive

relation of the two spheres were not done so for narrowly decorative

purposes, but possessed a high artistic and aesthetic value in their own

right and count amongst the GDR’s outstanding works of art. Physical

culture and sport have become a concern of the whole people, a firmly

established part of the culture in the GDR and a social phenomenon with

an essentially popular character.

On the basis of these ideas and social precepts underlying the GDR’s

nationa l development, GDR sport takes u p its responsibility

internationally and makes an active contribution in world sport toward

helping to strengthen the humanist ideas of peace and international

understanding in the Olympic Movement and outside it.

Th is sense of responsibility leads the GDR’s sports organization to

form numerous and varied sports relations with the sports-organizing

bodies of other countries. To this aim, contracts and agreements are

concluded, invitations to sports competitions or to exchanges of

experiences issued, and the country’s own representatives sent to such

meetings.Special attention is paid here to developing and consolidating sports

contacts with the sports-organizingbodies of newly-independent national

states in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Trainers and other sportsexperts

give help and support in these countries with the training of athletes and

sports organizers. To date about 2000 trainers, sports teachers and sports




physicians from such countries have been trained a t the German College of

Physical Culture in Leipzig.

Such a period of study allows those who come to apply the experience

and findings of GDR sport in their own home environment with positiveresults. Th is is a practical and effective example ofsupport for the program

of “Olympic Solidarity” put forward by the International Olympic

Committee (IOC).

Th e development of physical culture in the GDR nationally is thus

connected with her stance towards sports developments in the world and

with her international obligations, carried out by GDR sports

representatives with a high sense of responsibility.

Th is description of some of the basic causal factors underlying the

development of physical culture and sport in the GDR and of some of thefacts and results which have arisen has been aimed to answer the question

posed at the outset and to highlight the essential features of socialist

physical culture in this country. These include its constantly growing

widespread popularity, its high level of performance, its feeling of

responsibilty for strengthening the humanist idea of sport providing a

platform for upholding peace in our time and in our world.

Professor Dr. sc. phil. Giinter Witt , Dr i i t sc l i e Hoclirchiile fiir Korperki i l tur , I,eipzig, GDH

Documents

Gunter Witt