Die ware rede agter Niels Bukh se besoek aan Suid-Afrika in 1939

Abstract

“Gymnastics and politics: Niels Bukh and male aesthetics” is an excellent work by Hans Bonde (2006) and depicts the full and interesting life of Niels Bukh, creator of the Danish Primary Gymnastics. On reading this fascinating book it becomes easy to connect Bukh with Afrikaner nationalism, since the time period corresponds and Bukh's goal was the creation of a “perfect body” and a “perfect human race” (p.83). He was also highly active in right-wing Danish politics and was a Nazi supporter. As the Afrikaners were anti-British and therefore pro-German, it was easy for Bonde to create the impression that right-wing radicals in South African education circles were behind the invitation to Bukh to visit the country with his team of gymnasts in 1939: “… providing the European population with a symbol of a pure white strong physique” and “needed not to generate and lose its physical power in relation to the ‘inferior' races” (p.226). However, in-depth research reveals a somewhat different picture. Although physical education was made compulsory in South African schools in 1934, the period 1936-1939 was of great importance in the developmental history of the subject. The poor white problem and the urbanisation after the First World War left a large component of the European minority in a poor state of health. Apart from this there was the poor performance record at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. In order to resolve this problem the government founded the National Advisory Council for Physical Education in April 1938. One of its primary tasks was to make propaganda for physical education in South Africa. As a result of this Bukh and his team were invited to present his form of gymnastics across the entire country and not only in the “regions dominated” by the Afrikaners (p.227). Keywords : Niels Bukh; Danish gymnastics; Primary gymnastics; South African physical education history. South African Journal for Research in Sport, Physical Education and Recreation Vol. 30 (2) 2008: pp. 121-130