A study of “Directive Regarding the Promotion of Physical Culture and Sports in the German Democratic Republic from 1956 to 1960”: Finding clues in document DR5/561 of the German Federal Archives

摘要

One of the characteristics of the German Democratic Republic's (GDR) sports policy was the large volume and variety of sports-related regulations. In this study, I investigated the time of creation, nature, content, and characteristics of the “Directive Regarding the Promotion of Physical Culture and Sports in the German Democratic Republic from 1956 to 1960” (“Direktive zur Entwicklung der Körperkultur und des Sports in der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik vom 1956 bis 1960”) —all of which have been unclear up until now— using DR5/561, a document maintained in the German Federal Archives. I considered the characteristics primarily through a comparison with earlier sports-related regulations. In summary, a number of points were clarified. First, there is a possibility that the directive was a top-secret document created sometime during or after September 1956. Furthermore, the State Committee for Physical Culture and Sport decided to forward the directive to the German Gymnastics and Sports Federation (DTSB) on February 4, 1957. Second, the directive comprised 7 sections (infant and youth sports; workers' popular sports; improvement of sports performance; science and the cultivation of experts; investment and construction work; sports instruments and materials/development; and financial affairs), the final 3 sections having been absent in previous regulations. Third, one of the characteristics of this directive was the establishment of mid- to long-term objectives, as in the GDR's Second Five-Year Economic Plan (1956—1960) with which it was issued in conjunction. Here, one can see the GDR's approach of trying to promote sports more systematically than in the past. Fourth, while the directive does not clearly specify the role of certain groups that had been leaders in the GDR sports world —such as the Free German Youth— it does specify the role of the DTSB, which was established in April of the following year. This suggests that the directive was a change in direction from a Soviet sports-system model. In other words, it was something created with the construction of a sports system unique to the GDR. It still cannot be determined whether the directive that is included in DR5/561 is the same as any of the documents found in GDR sports history books. This is because some points regarding the directive are still unclear, such as the exact time and date it was created, and which organizations other than the DTSB to which it was forwarded.