Violence and Leisure in Camps: Sport in 20th Century Camps

Open Access Publication in the Series of the Leibniz Institute of European History

Gregor Feindt, Anke Hilbrenner and Dittmar Dahlmann (eds.), Sport under Unexpected Circumstances. Violence, Discipline, and Leisure in Penal and Internment Camps (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht) 2018.

Sport was an integral part of life in camps during the twentieth century, even in Nazi concentrations camps or in the Soviet Gulag. Traditionally perceived as a symbol of equality, play, and peacefulness, sport under such unexpected circumstances irritates most observers, back then and today.

Thomas Geve, Sport (Auschwitz I), 1945. Thomas Geve was deported to Auschwitz in 1943 as a 13-year-old. He survived. See his memoirs “Geraubte Kindheit: Ein Junge überlebt den Holocaust” (Bremen 2013; first pb. as “Youth in chains”. Jerusalem 1958).

This volume studies the irritating fact of sport in penal and internment camps as an important insight into the history of camps. The authors enquire into case studies of sport being played in different forms of camps around the globe and throughout the twentieth century. They challenge our understanding of camps, question the dichotomy of insiders and outsiders, inner-camp hierarchies, and the everyday experience of violence. This fresh perspective complements the existing camp studies and gives way for the subjectivity of camp inmates and their action. Read or download the introduction “Why the History of Sport in Penal and Internment Camps Matters” here.

TOC Sports in Camps

with contributions by Alan Kramer (Dublin), Floris van der Merwe (Stellenbosch), Panikos Panayi (Leicester), Christoph Jahr (Berlin), Doriane Gomet (Rennes), Felicitas Fischer von Weikersthal (Heidelberg), Kim Wünschmann (München), Veronika Springmann (Berlin), Mathias Beer (Tübingen), Marcus Velke (Bonn), Dieter Reinisch (Florenz), and Manfred Zeller (Bremen).