German Gymnastics Festival 1913

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View of the fairground

The 12th German Gymnastics Festival took place in Leipzig from July 12th to 16th, 1913 with around 62,500 participating active gymnasts . The occasion was the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Nations and the 50th anniversary of the 3rd General German Gymnastics Festival in 1863 at the same place.

General history and planning

Already at the end of the 11th German Gymnastics Festival in 1908 in Frankfurt am Main , the participants expressed the general wish to have the next event in Leipzig. On April 15, 1910, it was reported in the Deutsche Turnzeitung that the city of Leipzig had agreed to hold the festival. The Committee of the German Turnerschaft lay at a meeting on 22 and 23 July 1910 in Strasbourg final at Leipzig firmly. The main occasion was the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Nations, in addition to which they wanted to commemorate the 3rd General German Gymnastics Festival held in the city 50 years earlier . As early as 1879, in the run-up to the 5th German Gymnastics Festival - also taking place in Frankfurt am Main - German Gymnastics Festival regulations were established, and a revised new draft was first used for the event in Leipzig. In the summer of 1910, the first preparations for the 12th German Gymnastics Festival began . Under the leadership of Ferdinand Goetz , the then chairman of the German Gymnastics Association , a preparatory committee was set up to discuss the next steps with the city of Leipzig.

The 36 of the German Gymnastics Association affiliated Leipzig gymnastics clubs agreed to the festival with support from the city to align . A main committee and several subordinate technical committees were formed from city representatives and members of the Leipzig gymnastics association about a year before the festival began . One of the three chairmen of the main committee was the former head of the Leipzig city ​​council and later mayor Karl Rothe .

In technical terms, there was the construction committee (chaired by Julius Zeißig ), the reception and transport committee , the finance committee , the regulatory committee , the press committee (responsible for all official publications, including posters , the festival book , the festival newspaper and festival postcards ), the gymnastics committee , the Gymnastics Committee , the Festive Events Committee , the Economic Committee, and the Housing Committee .

Mass quarters

For the accommodation of the participating gymnasts, quarters were provided in town houses and also in villas . The mass quarters were housed in schools, for this purpose the local school holidays were brought forward. Leipzig was divided into 30 so-called district districts, whereby importance was attached to the fact that members of individual gymnastics clubs were housed within a district district in order to guarantee the smooth running and participation in jointly attended events. The closest tram lines and stops were indicated on the cards issued with the accommodations . The participation fee was between 1.50 and six marks .

Before the official start of the gymnastics festival, trial gymnastics events took place on June 22nd as well as on July 6th and 10th, the latter two with accompanying evening concerts . One day before the opening was in on the festival grounds located 16 public school organized by the Preßausschuss and Leipzig free access gymnastics exhibition opened. A separate catalog was published for this exhibition, in which written sources on German gymnastics history and historical gymnastics equipment were exhibited .

The festival poster was designed by the Munich artist Hansreiber, and Bruno Héroux was able to be won over to design the cover and cover of the festival newspaper and the participant card .

  • Festival card, party poster and a selection of postcards

  • Festival card

  • Festival poster (printed as a postcard)

  • postcard

  • postcard

  • postcard

  • postcard

  • postcard

  • postcard

Fairground

Site plan of the fairground
View of the main entrance

Initially, the area to the northwest of the Monument to the Battle of the Nations, which was under construction at the time (today Wilhelm-Külz-Park and large parts of the old exhibition grounds ) , was considered as the gymnastics festival area . However, the organizers of the International Building Exhibition had already secured the site. The measuring station on Frankfurter Wiesen (today Jahnallee , corner of Friedrich-Ebert-Straße) and the Leipzig sports field were also shortlisted . Since these areas were considered too small, however, it was decided on September 26, 1910 to continue to use the largely urban area of ​​the 1909 agricultural exhibition in Eutritzsch with an area of ​​407,200 square meters. The area leased as arable land at that time was located on Delitzscher Strasse, today roughly between Schönefelder and Friedhofstrasse. The area could be reached from the city center by tram , which took around 25 minutes.

In 1912 representatives of the Leipzig organizers visited the Sokolfest in Prague and the Summer Olympics in Stockholm . Inspired by these experiences, it was decided to do without a festival hall and focus on a large stadium-like gymnasium . The town planning officer and head of the structural engineering department, Otto Wilhelm Scharenberg , took care of the design of the entire system .

The 54 meter wide and multi-part main entrance with 14 cash registers was located east of the Eutritzscher Markt, two side entrances on Schönefelder Strasse and on today's Werkstättenweg, corner of Dieselstrasse. To the right of the main entrance a building was erected with premises for a provisional post office with telegraphy and telephone facilities , the press reporters and the press committee, on the left a building for the most important committees.

View of the fairground area
View of the large gymnasium

Thaerstraße was developed as a 450-meter-long festival street, which divided the area into the gymnasium and the so-called entertainment district. There were six restaurants on the right-hand side of the green Feststrasse , with a dance floor at the end and the main restaurant. On the left side, near the main entrance, there were three smaller gymnastics tents measuring 40 x 60 meters and the large competition gymnastics tent , which was 40 x 80 meters. The centrally located 69,020 square meter practice area was 340 meters long and 203 meters wide. It was divided into a smaller gymnastics arena (70 x 203 meters, 14,210 square meters) and the large exercise area (270 x 203 meters, 54,810 square meters) for a maximum of 17,264 gymnasts. The four encircling grandstands offered space for around 60,000 spectators, including more than 23,000 numbered seats. Roads for marches and additional spectator capacities were laid out between the square and the stands. Among other things, cloakrooms , tool sheds, washrooms and refreshment rooms for the gymnasts and sales stands were housed under the stands . Overall, this facility was almost four times the size of the Stockholm Olympic Stadium . To the north of the large gymnastics area was the 66,720 square meter trial gymnastics and installation area, to the east there were two smaller playgrounds, each measuring 90 by 60 meters.

All the buildings were made of untreated and wiedervendbarem wood constructed , representative buildings such as the main entrance or the main restaurant were with fabrics covered with paintings decorated.

Sports disciplines and competitions (selection)

Free exercise Westphalian gymnast
Competition in the tug of war

Course of the gymnastics festival

July 12

Handover of the banner from Frankfurt am Main

On July 12th and 13th, the majority of the gymnasts traveled to the festival, the main station recorded 66 special trains on these two days , the Bavarian station 15, the Eilenburger and the two suburban stations Plagwitz - Lindenau and Gohlis- Eutritzsch nine each. A reception committee awaited the gymnasts at every train station , the guests were taken to previously determined places, from where they were directed to the residential quarters by Leipzig gymnastics students after registration .

In the afternoon the first rehearsals for the calisthenics took place, the judges of the event met in the hall of the Eutritzsch Gymnastics Club . From 6 p.m. on, the official welcome ceremony with numerous guests of honor took place on the large gymnasium of the festival area. The speeches held u. a. Karl Rothe, Ferdinand Goetz, the Saxon Minister of Culture Heinrich Gustav Beck , Theodor Lewald as representative of the Reich Chancellor and finally the Mayor of Leipzig , Rudolf Dittrich , who accepted the banner of the German Gymnastics Association . In order to enable as many gymnasts as possible to take part in an opening ceremony, welcome evenings were held in various Leipzig locations on the evening of the first day . a. in the Krystallpalast , in the zoological garden with congress hall , in the Central Theater or in the König-Albert-Park .

July 13th

Pageant in front of the square
Exercise

On the morning of the second day, Protestant , Catholic and Reformed festive services were held in various churches in the city . Before that, the six fights had already been held from 6 a.m. In the morning, two pageants set off from the Ostplatz and the area in front of the Reichsgericht and met at the market in front of the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Carl Eduard , before making their way to the fairground together . After the reception there by the Saxon King Friedrich August III. and Duke Carl Eduard, 17,000 gymnasts presented mass exercises in front of around 100,000 spectators on the large square.

Then the first of the 18 participating gymnastics groups ( Kingdom of Saxony ) presented itself with their own calisthenics, the other gymnastics groups followed with their demonstrations on the next two festive days. The large restaurant on the festival site provided lunch to around 25,000 gymnasts and numerous visitors with the help of 350 waiters on Sunday .

July 14th to July 16th

The start of a 400 meter run

On these days, the decisions were made in the twelve-fighters, courier, tug of war, 400-meter run, fencing and in the wrestling of the six and twelve fighters. On July 14th, a feast of the Committee of the German Gymnastics Association took place in the main restaurant on the festival site , attended by around 200 people. On July 15 (according to another source on July 16) a memorial plaque was ceremoniously unveiled at the New Town Hall , which was to commemorate the 12th German Gymnastics Festival in Leipzig. On July 15, the courier swimming and three water polo games took place in the swimming facility on Schreberstrasse, and the following day the water sports decathlon competition was held there.

The gymnastics festival ended on July 16 at 6 p.m. with the award ceremony and an evening fireworks display .

General

Plaque of honor for the best gymnasts
Ewald Keßler, winner of the twelve fight

For the first time in the history of the German gymnastics festival, the opening ceremony took place in the open air, there was no central festival hall. Concerts were given on the fairgrounds to conclude each evening, and various special demonstrations, guest and non-competitive events in various disciplines also took place every day.

In the running disciplines, swimming competitions and rope climbing, the timekeeping was done electrically , for which the local watchmaker Richard Müller developed a stopwatch , which was called the Leipziger Apparat . Sightseeing flights with an airship were offered as part of the supporting program . The 12th edition of the festival is the first of which there are film recordings .

Anyone who achieved 100 points out of a maximum of 150 in the twelve-fight and 75 out of a maximum of 110 points in the six-fight was declared the winner and awarded an oak wreath and certificate . The 25 best placed participants were announced publicly on the fairground, and the best participants were presented with a Goetz plaque designed by Carl Seffner . The winner of the Twelve Fight, Leipzig gymnast Ewald Keßler, was specially honored. In addition, he received a book present and 300 marks from the city as an honorary gift . In all other competitions, the most successful participants received a certificate.

From July 14th until the end of the month, the organizers offered gymnastics trips. Most of the trips, which are subject to a fee, and which have to be registered in advance, began after the festival ended and consisted of day trips to the near and far surroundings of Leipzig. Among the 154 turn drives but were overnight trips going to the East - and North Sea , in the Alps or Scandinavia led.

The total number of official festival participants was 280,089 people, including 62,572 active gymnasts (around 1,200 gymnasts and over 61,000 gymnasts) with festival tickets, 215,706 buyers of individual tickets and 1,811 season ticket holders. The two Leipzig trams carried more than 1.6 million passengers during the festive period. The cost of the festival was around 731,000 marks.

Web links

Commons : Deutsches Turnfest 1913  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

literature

  • 12th German Gymnastics Festival in Leipzig. 12–16. June 1913. Exhibition guide . Hesse & Becker, Leipzig 1913 (Leipzig City History Museum, library, Sign: IM 343)
  • Memory of the 12th German Gymnastics Festival in Leipzig 12. – 16. July 1913. Reprint based on the complete reports from the Leipziger Tageblatt . Leipzig 1913, DNB 362471444 .
  • Festival book for the 12th German Gymnastics Festival in Leipzig 12. – 16. July 1913 , ed. from the press committee, sub-committee for the festival book. Merseburger, Leipzig 1913, SWB online catalog 075244128 .
  • Festival newspaper for the twelfth German gymnastics festival Leipzig v. 12-15 July 1913 , ed. from the press committee. Eberhardt, Leipzig 1913, SWB online catalog 35621270X . ( Digital version of the ULB Düsseldorf , last accessed on May 20, 2019)
  • Fritz Groh (Hrsg.): 12th German Gymnastics Festival Leipzig, from 12. – 16. July 1913. As a reminder . Schick & Co. and Pernitzsch, Leipzig 1913, SWB online catalog 338280073 .
  • Referee book for the XII. German Gymnastics Festival in Leipzig on July 12th to 16th, 1913. Compiled by the gymnastics committee of the German Gymnastics Association. Hesse & Becker, Leipzig 1913.
  • Alfred Mäding (Ed.): The XII. German gymnastics festival in words and pictures. (From July 12 to 16, 1913 in Leipzig) . Jahn-Verlag, Leipzig 1913, DNB 577529722 .
  • Gymnastics book. 12th German Gymnastics Festival in Leipzig 1913. Compiled by the Gymnastics Committee. Grimme & Trömel, Leipzig 1913, SWB online catalog 515238848 .
  • Rudolph Witzgall (Hrsg.): Gymnastics regulations for the 12th German Gymnastics Festival Leipzig July 1913 . Grumbach, Leipzig 1913, DNB 364051442 .
  • Rudolf Mothes: The 12th German Gymnastics Festival. In: Georg Merseburger (Hrsg.): Leipziger Calendar. Illustrated yearbook and chronicle . Merseburger, Leipzig 1914, pp. 179-198, ZDB -ID 546526-6 .
  • Administrative report of the building construction office of the city of Leipzig. 1911, 1912, 1913 . Bär & Hermann, Leipzig 1914, ZDB -ID 562834-9 .
  • Volker Rodekamp (Ed.): SPORT: LOOK. German gymnastics festivals 1860–2002. City History Museum Leipzig, Sports Museum. Leipzig 2002, DNB 96455030X .
  • Gymnastics festivals. The city as a stage. In: Volker Rodekamp (Ed.): On the move. Milestones in Leipzig's sports history. (subject on M. 20). Leipzig 2018, ISBN 978-3-910034-80-8 , p. 134 f.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Alfred Mäding (Ed.) 1913, p. 3 f.
  2. ^ KF Mehlhorn-Leutzsch: The organization of the 12th German Gymnastics Festival. In: Festbuch 1913, p. 9 f.
  3. ↑ Rudolf Mothes 1913, p. 182.
  4. ^ KF Mehlhorn-Leutzsch: The organization of the 12th German Gymnastics Festival. In: Festbuch 1913, p. 11 f.
  5. ^ KF Mehlhorn-Leutzsch: The organization of the 12th German Gymnastics Festival. In: Festbuch 1913, pp. 12–15.
  6. ↑ Rudolf Mothes 1913, p. 183.
  7. ↑ Special advertisements for the festival participants. I. Quarters. In: Festbuch 1913, p. 17.
  8. ↑ a b Alfred Mäding (Ed.) 1913, p. 347 f.
  9. ^ KF Mehlhorn-Leutzsch: The organization of the 12th German Gymnastics Festival. In: Festbuch 1913, p. 16.
  10. ↑ Alfred Mäding (Ed.) 1913, pp. 169-173.
  11. ↑ 12th German Gymnastics Festival in Leipzig. 12-16 June 1913. Exhibition guide 1913.
  12. ^ Alfred Mäding (Ed.) 1913, p. 19 f.
  13. ^ Fritz Groh: On the artistic equipment of our festival newspaper. In: Festzeitung (1913), No. 1, p. 24.
  14. ↑ a b Alfred Mäding (Ed.) 1913, p. 6.
  15. ↑ Administration report 1914, p. 72.
  16. ↑ a b Alfred Mäding (Ed.) 1913, p. 7.
  17. ↑ a b c Alfred Mäding (Ed.) 1913, p. 8.
  18. ↑ a b c Alfred Mäding (Ed.) 1913, p. 11.
  19. ↑ a b Administration Report 1914, p. 73.
  20. ^ Alfred Mäding (Ed.) 1913, pp. 8-11.
  21. ↑ Alfred Mäding (Ed.) 1913, pp. 30–36, 133–156; Rudolf Witzgall (Ed.) 1913, pp. 18–124.
  22. ↑ Alfred Mäding (Ed.) 1913, p. 45 f.
  23. ↑ a b Alfred Mäding (Ed.) 1913, p. 39.
  24. ↑ Memory of the Twelfth German Gymnastics Festival in Leipzig 1913, pp. 45–55.
  25. ↑ a b Alfred Mäding (Ed.) 1913, pp. 63–85.
  26. ↑ Alfred Mäding (Ed.) 1913, pp. 85-94.
  27. ^ Commemoration of the Twelfth German Gymnastics Festival in Leipzig 1913, pp. 79–90.
  28. ^ Alfred Mäding (Ed.) 1913, pp. 40, 110 f.
  29. ↑ Alfred Mäding (Ed.) 1913, pp. 117–122.
  30. ^ Commemoration of the Twelfth German Gymnastics Festival in Leipzig 1913, p. 105.
  31. ↑ Alfred Mäding (ed.) 1913, pp. 12-13.
  32. ↑ Alfred Mäding (Ed.) 1913, pp. 173-176.
  33. ↑ Remembrance of the Twelfth German Gymnastics Festival in Leipzig 1913, p. 113.
  34. ^ Alfred Mäding (Ed.) 1913, p. 176 f.
  35. ↑ Remembrance of the Twelfth German Gymnastics Festival in Leipzig 1913, p. 110 f .; Alfred Mäding (Ed.) 1913, p. 151 f.
  36. ↑ Alfred Mäding (Ed.) 1913, pp. 179-183.
  37. ↑ Alfred Mäding (Ed.) 1913, pp. 39–42.
  38. ↑ Thomas Schnitzler: Between political manifestation and athletic gymnastics. On the change in the German gymnastics festival culture in the Empire, presented at the two major Leipzig events in 1963 and 1913. In: Volker Rodekamp (Ed.) 2002, p. 64.
  39. ↑ Referee Book 1913, pp. 55, 68.
  40. ↑ Thomas Schnitzler: Between political manifestation and athletic gymnastics. On the change in the German gymnastics festival culture in the Empire, presented at the two major Leipzig events in 1963 and 1913. In: Volker Rodekamp (Ed.) 2002, p. 60.
  41. ↑ Volker Rodekamp (Ed.) 2002, p. 22.
  42. ↑ cf. Gymnastics log 1913.
  43. ^ Gertrud Pfister: Women at German gymnastics festivals. On the change in the gender order in the gymnastics movement. In: Volker Rodekamp (Ed.) 2002, p. 76.
  44. ^ Alfred Mäding (Ed.) 1913, p. 351.