Between Survival Strategy and Bloody Violence: Boxing in Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camps (1940–1945)

Abstract

Concentration and extermination camps were micro-societies characterized by inequality: the SS reigned supreme over a multitude of prisoners who were either exterminated upon their arrival, or died of hunger and ill-treatment while a few privileged ones enjoyed much more decent living conditions. This disturbing reality is studied here through a singular cultural practice: boxing. The way the SS exploited the talent of prisoners with boxing skills for training purposes and boxing events testifies to their own corporal culture, which was itself a product of the strict order and discipline imposed on German society by the Nazi regime through sport. Concentration camp prisoners’ bodies were mere tools that could be put to use for ideological and leisure purposes. Boxing turns out to be a compelling match from which to analyze the social structure of concentration camps: boxing was a leisure activity and a power game to some, a livelihood to others, a torture for the prisoners who were the underdogs, but also a means for a very small minority to escape their plight. It also is an opportunity to bring to light the connections existing between control over and destruction of bodies, between survival and staying power.