From Jahn to Lincoln: Transformation of Turner Symbols in a New Cultural Setting

Abstract

To demonstrate solidarity and common goals among its members in the nineteenth century the German Turner movement was full of symbols, starting from the Turners' clothing, logos and flags, as well as language, exercises and festivities. This paper not only pursues the question what symbols are, but will elaborate on how symbols can change in a different cultural setting and over time. As an example, the American Turner movement is taken. When transferring the Turner movement to the United States in the mid-nineteenth century, the Germans brought their symbols along. Those symbols not only functioned as a means of identification, but also as places of memories. On the one hand, in the American environment these Turner symbols changed, new ones were created and American symbols were adopted. On the other hand, today there are still some old German Turner symbols visible in the American Turner societies which are of no importance anymore in Germany. In my elaborations this transformation will be shown in chronological order by a few chosen examples which also mirror the history of the German-American Turner movement.