A contribution to the history of Jewish physical education and sport in the Czech Lands

Abstract

The history of physical education of the Jewish minority in Czechoslovakia is an integral and significant part of the history of physical education in the Czech Lands. This paper deals with its formation, gradual development, and closure at the beginning of World War Two; and it is divided into several sections. The first focuses on the ideological basis of Jewish physical education and sport, and the specifics of the Czech Lands environment; and subsequent sections on the very formation and development of Jewish physical education in the Czech Lands up to 1918. The focal point of this paper is the section on the origin and development of the Union Maccabi in the Czechoslovak Republic, its organizational structure, and international relations, including participation in international Maccabiah games and its violent termination. The paper also includes mention of the failed attempt to establish a Jewish umbrella organization of physical education and sport and the effort to restore Jewish physical education and sport in Czechoslovakia after World War Two.