www.rbceonline.org.br
Revista
Brasileira
de
CIÊNCIAS
DO
ESPORTE
ORIGINAL
ARTICLE
The
American
Turners:
their
past
and
present
Annette
R.
Hofmann
PädagogischeHochschuleLudwigsburg,Ludwigsburg,Germany
Received1August2011;accepted28November2014 Availableonline5March2015
KEYWORDS
Turnen;
Turnersociety;
Germans;
German-Americans
Abstract TheUnitedStateshasbeenanationofimmigrants,whichisreflectedbyits multi-culturalsociety.DifferentimmigrantgroupshelpedshapetheAmericansocietythroughtheir culturesandtraditions.OnegroupwastheGermans;theyrepresentedauniqueandforceful currentinthestreamofimmigrationtotheUnitedStates.IntheirculturalluggagetheGerman immigrantbroughttheirphysicalculturetoNorthAmerica,Turnenwhichwasorganisedinclubs orso-calledTurnvereine.TheAmericanturnermovementhasitsorigininthemid19thcentury, anditisstillorganisedonanationallevel,sincethe1930sunderthenameAmericanTurners. ThisarticlesummarisesthehistoryoftheGerman-Americanturnermovementuntilthe1990s, andwillalsorelatetovariousstagesofAmericanizationwithinthismovement.
©2015ColégioBrasileirodeCiênciasdoEsporte.PublishedbyElsevierEditoraLtda.Allrights reserved. PALAVRAS-CHAVE Turnen; SociedadeTurner; Alemães; Alemães-americanos
OAmericanTurner:seupassadoeseupresente
Resumo OsEstadosUnidosseconstituíramcomoumanac¸ãodeimigrantes,portanto,uma sociedade multicultural. Diferentes grupos de imigrantes ajudaram a moldar a sociedade americana através de suas culturas e tradic¸ões. Um destes grupos foi o dos alemães, que representou uma corrente singular e muito forte no fluxo imigratório para os Esta-dos Unidos. Em sua bagagem cultural os imigrantes alemães levaram sua cultura física para a América do Norte: o Turnen, que era organizado em clubes ou nas deno-minadasTurnvereine.Omovimento dosTurner americanostem suasorigensem meados do séculoXIXeaindaapresentaumaorganizac¸ãoemnívelnacionalsobonomeAmerican Turn-ers,adotadodesdeadécadade1930.EsteartigoresumeahistóriadomovimentodoTurnen
teuto-americanoatéosanosde1990erelataasdiferentesetapasdesuaamericanizac¸ão. ©2015ColégioBrasileirodeCiênciasdoEsporte.PublicadoporElsevierEditoraLtda.Todosos direitosreservados.
E-mail:nettehof@ph-ludwigsburg.de http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rbce.2014.11.020
PALABRASCLAVE
Turnen;
SociedadTurner;
Alemanes;
Alemanes-americanos
ElTurnerAmericano:supasadoysupresente
Resumen LosEstadosUnidosseconstituyeroncomounanacióndeinmigrantes, loquese reflejaactualmenteensusociedadmulticultural.Diferentesgruposdeinmigrantesayudaron adarformaaunasociedadamericana atravésdesus culturasytradiciones. Unodeestos gruposfueronlosalemanes,querepresentaronunacorrientesingularymuyfuerteenelflujo inmigratorioparalosEstadosUnidos.Ensubagajeculturallosinmigrantesalemanesllevaron suculturafísicaparaAmérciadelNorte:elTurnen,queeraorganizadoenclubesoenlas deno-minadasTurnvereine.ElmovimientodelosTurneramericanostienesusorígenesamediadosdel sigloXIXytodavíapresentaunaorganizaciónanivelnacionalbajoelnombreAmericanTurners, adoptadodesdeladécadade1930.EsteartículoresumelahistóricadelmovimientodelTurnen teuto-americanohastalosa˜nosde1990yrelatalasdiferentesetapasdesuamericanización. ©2015ColégioBrasileirodeCiênciasdoEsporte.PublicadoporElsevierEditoraLtda.Todoslos derechosreservados.
Introduction
Until recently the United States has been a nation of
immigrants,whichisreflectedtodaybyamulticultural
soci-ety. Different immigrant groups from all over the world
helpedshapeAmericansociety throughtheir culturesand
traditions. One of the biggest immigrant groups is the
German-Americans, who, according to the 1990 census,
are,withover20%,thelargestethnicgroupintheUnited
States(Adams,1993,p.3).Thecultureandtraditionswhich
theGermanimmigrantsbroughttotheAmericancontinent
tookonnewformsof expressionin thenewenvironment:
German-American ones. Some have become part of the
Americanmainstreamculture andarenot recognisableas
Germaninorigin.
Germancustoms,ritualsandculturalpracticeswere
per-petuated in the many societies or ‘‘Vereine’’ which the
GermansorganisedintheUnitedStates.Thecontentsoften
werealteredtoadapt tothe newneedsof the host
soci-ety.TheVereinenotonlytransmittedakind ofsecurityto
the immigrants, but also created group solidarity.1
Histo-rian Kathleen Neils Conzen describes them as ‘‘nurseries
ofethnicities’’ inwhich Germanculturecouldspread and
thushelpformanethniccultureandidentity.2The
German-Americandirectoryofaddresseslisted6586Germansecular
societies in the United States in 1916/17. At the end of
the 1990s, in Chicago alone, there were still 80 German
clubsin existence.3 Through suchgroups, Germanculture
is preserved in the United States to a certain degree, as
canbeseeninthecelebrationofGerman festivities,such
astheannual Oktoberfest,a Carnivalor the GermanDay.
These events mostly take place in cities with formerly
hugeGermanimmigrantpopulations.Theyareorganisedby
theGermanclubsofthesetowns.
Among the numerous community institutionsand
soci-etiesfoundedbytheGermansaretheTurnersocieties
(Turn-vereine),whichwereorganisationsforthedevelopmentof
1SeeHobsbawm(1985,p.12).
2SeeLuebke(1974,p.43);Conzen(1989,p.50;58). 3FrankfurterAllgemeine,March12th,1998.
physical education,andoutlets forGerman immigrants to
continue their cultural traditions. Their Turner Halls
pro-videdasocialcentrewithlecturesandlibraries.
Tothisdayover700Turnersocietieshaveonceexistedin
theUnitedStates.Hardlyanyoneknowsthatsome
Turnvere-inearestillinexistence.Thispapershallprovideaninsight
onhowandwhytheTurnersfirstcametotheUnitedStates
andintothehistoryoftheGerman-AmericanTurner
move-ment. It will alsoshow howthe German-AmericanTurner
movement is presently structured.Aspecial focuswillbe
put on the Americanization of the Turners into American
Turners.
ThebeginningsofTurneninGermany
The Turner movement has its origins in 18th- and
19th-centuryGermanyandwascloselyconnectedwith
intel-lectual streams and the political, social and economic
changesoftheperiodsuchastheEnlightenment,theFrench
Revolution,thenewpoliticalorderinEuropeandtechnical
advancement.Inthiscontextideasabouttheeducationof
thepeople,inwhichnationalunity,patriotismandthe
readi-nesstofightfor one’s‘‘fatherland’’playedaspecialrole,
rose. German Turnen,largelydeveloped byFriedrich
Lud-wigJahn(1778---1852),wassuchanidea.4Thegoalsofthe
TurnersweretheliberationfromFrenchoccupation,which
followedthedefeatofthePrussianarmyintheNapoleonic
Wars,theoverthrowofthefeudalorderandanendtothe
divisionof Germanyinto manysmallstates infavour of a
one-nationstate.Thus,theTurnersplayedanimportantrole
intheGermannationalistmovementandinthewarsof
lib-eration;manyparticipatedactivelyinthefightagainstthe
Frenchoccupyingforces.
TurnenwasintroducedbyJahnasacomprehensiveterm
for physical exercises. It not only included exercises on
apparatus, as developed by philanthropists such as Guts
4On Turnen see for example the contributions Stump and
Ueberhorst (1980,p.215---229);Pfister,(1996,p.14---36)andthe specialeditionofSportwissenschaft2(2000).Agoodoverviewof thehistoryofTurnenandsportisalsogiveninKrüger(1993).
Muthsbutalsogamesandso-called‘‘exercisesforthe
peo-ple’’(volkstümlicheÜbungen)(likerunning,jumping,lifting
andclimbingaswellasfencing,swimmingandwrestling).
Althoughsomeoftheapparatusisstillusedinmodern
gym-nasticsandthe‘‘exercisesforthepeople’’showsimilarities
withtoday’strack-and-fielddisciplines,thenormsand
val-ues, the intentions, principlesand the contexts of Jahn’s
Turnen differfundamentally from moderngymnastics and
sport.
ThecradleofTurnenwasBerlin,whereJahnandhis
fol-lowerssetupthefirstgroundsforTurnen(Turnplatz)onthe
so-calledHasenheidein1811,anareaoutsidethecity
dur-ingthosedays.TodayitisaparkwithinBerlin.Fromthere
theTurnermovementrapidlyspreadthroughoutthestates
of the German Confederation. These gymnastics grounds
that soon spread became meeting points for young men,
whowantedtoparticipateinphysicalactivitiesandgames,
celebrate festivities (Turnfeste) and go together on trips
(Turnfahrten).Anditwasaplacetodiscusspolitics.
Initially, the Prussian authorities supported the Turner
movement,inpartbecausetheyhopeditsgymnastics,which
seemedtostrengthenbothbodyandmindoftheyoungmen,
wouldbeofgreatuseinthewarsofliberation.However,in
1819duringtheeraofrestorationafterNapoleon’sdefeat,
TurnenwasbannedinPrussiasinceitwaspartofthe
nation-alistmovement,whichwasnowconsideredathreat.Under
the‘‘CarlsbadDecrees’’ theGerman rulerswere required
to suppress any opposition movement whatsoever.5 The
Turners,too,alongwithnationalisticfraternities
(Burschen-schaften),wereclassed asforcesof oppositionsincethey
wereagainstGermanparticularismandthusagainstthenew
politicalorderoftheGermanConfederation.Insome
Ger-manstates,Turnplätzewereclosedandaperiodensuedin
which Turnen wascompletely banned (Turnsperre). Jahn,
accusedofhavinglinkswithpersonssuspectedofdisloyalty
oftheauthoritiesandsubversion,wasarrestedinJuly1819
andincarceratedforfiveyears(HofmannandPfister,2004,
p.11---14).
Duringthe ‘Ban of Turnen’boys and young men could
stillparticipatein ‘‘gymnastics’’at some schoolsand
pri-vate institutions but it was only twenty years later that
Turnen asa national movement experienced a revival. In
1842 its ban was officially lifted by a cabinet order and
Turnenwasacceptedas‘‘necessaryandindispensablepart
of male education’’ in the curriculum of boys’secondary
schoolsinPrussia(Krüger,1993,p.73).
InEuropethe1840swasadecadeinwhichliberalideas
and political agitationspread. Inthe German states,too,
demands for political rights and national unity became
louder, and it was in this period of awakening that the
goals and ideas of the Turnerexperienced their revival
---a period in which clubs and societies were founded with
democraticstructures,andinwhichTurnersocietiesbecame
centresofpoliticaldiscussionsandactivities.Alsothe
var-ious Turnfeste which were held in the 1840s offered a
splendidopportunitytocometogether,exchangeideasand
5The‘‘CarlsbadDecrees’’weremeasuresagreedbythestatesof theGermanConfederationtosuppresstheliberalanddemocratic constitutionalmovement aswellasallstrivings towardsnational unity.
make plans. At the centre of these festivities were not
only gymnastic competitions but alsopolitical discussions
anddeclamations,whichmostlyendedwiththedemandfor
‘‘freedomandequality’’.6
Afterthesuccessoftheliberalmovement intheMarch
Revolution of 1848, the Turners thought they could fulfil
theirdreamsandgoals.Theconcessionsoftheauthorities
andthe callfor a national assemblyin the Paulskirchein
Frankfurtseemed tohaveremoved thebarriers toforma
liberalnationstate. Becauseofthisthepoliticalactivities
oftheTurnerclubsincreasedinthespringof1848andthe
Turnermovementplayedanimportantroleintherevolution
of1848/49, partlybecausethe Turnersocieties had
phys-ically fit, disciplined and politically committedmembers.
Jahn had already recommended replacing the mercenary
army by a people’s army. Now the attempts at arming
thepeopleweresupportednotonlybyagreatmajorityof
theTurnerbutalsobyalargepartofthepopulation.Inmany
clubsTurnermilitiawereestablishedwhichstoodpartlyfor
themaintenanceoflawandorderandpartlyforthe
republi-canidealsandtheconstitutionoftheReich(Neumann,1968,
p.30---45).
However, in the summer of 1848, various crises,
upheavalsandarmedconflictsweakenedtherevolutionary
movement. The constitution of the Reich
(Reichsverfas-sung), which wasnot proclaimed until March 1849, could
notbeputintoeffectwithoutmilitaryforce.ManyTurners,
defendingtheconstitutionwithweapons,wereinvolvedin
thefighting.
TheattitudesoftheTurnerstowardstherevolution
dif-feredprofoundly.Somewere‘‘mereTurners’’;otherswere
politicalactivists.KarlBlind,aTurnerfromMannheim,for
example,emphasisedinJanuaryof 1848:‘‘Ourpurposeis
revolution (...) Each Turner is a revolutionary’’, adding:
‘‘Even dagger, blood and poison should not be spared in
thedecisivemoment’’(Wieser,1996,p.37).Especiallythe
TurnersinBadenandWuerttembergdefendedtheidealsof
therevolution:‘‘Freedom,educationandprosperityforthe
people’’(Reppmann,2003).
After the failure of the revolution, many Turners had
toleavetheirhome countrybecauseimprisonmentorthe
death penalty awaited them. Thus, some emigrated to
Switzerland,andsomeleftfromtheretosettleinEngland
ortheUnitedStates(Krüger,1993,36---97).
Cunz (1966,p. 11)referstotheseindividualsfromthe
1848Revolutionasa‘‘newtype’’ofGermanimmigrant.As
BarneystatedinhisdescriptionoftheForty-Eighters,they
were different from earlier German immigrants because
they possessed not only a classical education and had
a strong interest in politics, but also because of their
youthfulness7 and physical fitness gained from Turnen:
‘‘(...) in general being male, in his twenties,unmarried,
in excellent physical condition through training in
gym-nastics, classically educated, politically enlightened and
motivated, not without some economic means, and quite
6OntheroleoftheTurnersinthe1948/49Revolution see,for exampleNeumann(1968)andKrüger(1996).
7Zuckerpointsoutinhisdescriptionof242Forty-Eighters who leftfortheUSthatmorethan60%werebornin1820orlater(1950, p.270).
likely,disposedtowardsreturningtoGermanyatalatertime
tosupportagaintheforcesofrevolutionagainstthehated
Germanprincesandtheinfluenceoftheircorruptpower’’
(Barney,1982,p.63f).
TransferofGermanTurnentotheUnitedStates
The political refugees of the 1848 revolution in Germany
werenotthefirstpersonswhobroughtTurnentotheUnited
Statesaspartoftheirculturalluggage.Turnenhadalready
beenintroducedtoeducationalinstitutionsinNewEngland
intheearly1820sbytheGermanpoliticalexilesKarlBeck,
KarlFollenandFranzLieber,whohadallbeenfollowersof
Jahn(Geldbach,1975, p.341---342;p. 360---370).However,
itssuccess lasted only afew years. It wasonly aquarter
ofacenturylater---in1848---thatthefirstTurnerclubsor
societieswerefoundedintheUnitedStatesbythoseTurners
whohadleftGermanyinthewake ofthe 1848revolution
whichhadbroughtafewthousandpoliticalrefugeestothe
UnitedStatesfromGermany.8
The political andsocialstructuresof theUnited States
werecompletelydifferentfromthoseexistinginGermany.
It was a young nation, founded in 1776 with a
demo-cratic constitution. It was also a country of immigrants,
evenifwithanAnglo-Saxonpredominance. Fromthevery
beginningTurnenintheUnitedStateshadadifferentfate
thanin Germany.On theonehand,it mustbeconsidered
thatTurnenwasaphysicalculture oftheGermans,
trans-portedto acountryto whichother immigrant groups had
broughttheirsystemsofexercisesandsport.Ontheother
hand,itshouldnotbeforgottenthatitwasdemocratically
and socialistically oriented Turners that had to emigrate,
which isreflected in thepolitical goals of the first
Amer-icanTurner societies andtheir umbrellaorganisation, the
‘‘SocialistischeTurnerbund’’,foundedofficiallyin1851.The
Turnermovement sawitself as a ‘‘nursery for all
revolu-tionaryideas’’ which has their originsin a rational world
view.9TheTurnerspromotedasocialismthatconcentrated
ontherightsandfreedomsoftheindividual,10andopposed
monarchy and the religious indoctrination of the people.
In terms of the socio-politicalcircumstances prevailing in
the United States, this meant that they fought American
nativism,thesystem ofslaveryaswellasthetemperance
andSabbath-daylaws.11UntiltheoutbreakoftheCivilWar
(1861---1865)theTurnersocietieshadastrongpolitical
ori-entation. Their political attitudes reflected the opinions
ofthefreethinkers,ananti-religiousmovement that
advo-catedrationalism,scienceandhistory.AlthoughtheTurners
hadGerman roots,theyconsidered themselves withinthe
tradition of the Americanintellectuals Thomas Paine and
8It is almost impossible to arrive at an exact number of all the‘48ers’whoemigratedtotheUnitedStates.Sourcesestimate thatnomorethan3000---4000personsemigratedforpurely polit-icallyreasonsbetween1847and1856(seeRehe,1996,p.13---15; Reppmann,1994,12---13).
9SeetheConvention ProtokolloftheSocialistische Turnerbund from1859/60.
10 TheTurn-Zeitung(December1st,1851)printedanarticlewith thetitle‘‘SozialismusunddieTurnerei’’.
11 SocialistTurnerbundofNorthAmerica,Constitutionsadoptedat theirconventionatBuffaloSept.24---2.7Buffalo,1855.
Walt Whitman, whoembodied political andreligious
free-dominanenlightenedAmerica.Acloseconnectionbetween
the ‘‘Turners’’andthefreethinkerscanbeobserveduntil
thetwentiethcentury.
In the 19th and early 20th centuries the Turner
soci-etieswere‘‘nurseriesofethnicities’’.AccordingtoConzen
theywereplaceswhereGermanorratherGerman-American
culture and traditions were fostered, as can be seen in
theirsocialandculturalactivities.Duringtheirfirstdecade
the Turnvereine offeredphysical educationclasses ---
Ger-man Turnen. TheirTurner Halls, places in which not only
the German language but also German customs and
cel-ebrations were preserved, provided a social centre with
politicaldebates,lectures,Sundayschoolsandlibrariesfor
the further education of the German emigrants, and the
attachedrestaurants orbars werepopularplacesfor
Ger-manGemütlichkeit.12BesidesfosteringGermancultureand
nationalism, the Turners also tried to establish a bridge
between the oldculture and the newby offering English
languageclasses andstronglysupported American
citizen-ship amongtheir memberstoaccelerate theirintegration
into the everyday life of American mainstream society.13
In1851thefirstNationalGymnasticFestival(Turnfest)was
organised,whichwasacompetitiveaswellasasocialevent.
Justlikeother ethnicgroups, theGermanshadtofight
thehostilityofnative-bornAmericanswhodidnotapprove
ofthehighrateofimmigrationintheircountry.Especially
intheMidwest,Turnerswerephysicallyattackedonseveral
occasions. To defend themselves theywere urged by the
Turnerbundtotakeupshootingandothermilitaryexercises
intheirphysicalprogramme.Lateron,duringtheAmerican
CivilWar,theycouldprofitfromtheseexercisesintheir
mil-itaryservice(Hofmann,2001,p.140).Uptothebeginning
ofthetwentiethcenturyself-defence(Wehrturnen)inthe
formoffencingwaspartoftheTurners’physicalcultureand
couldalsobefoundattheTurnfeste.14
Despitetheattacksbythenativistmovement,the
Turn-ersexpressedtheirpoliticalopinionsintheAmericanpublic
sphere. Mostof the Turners supported the political goals
of theRepublicans duringthe1850sand60s. This support
resultedintheestablishmentofLincoln’sbodyguardduring
hisfirstinaugurationaswellastheformingoftheTurner
reg-imentsatthebeginningoftheCivilWarin1861.Beforethe
outbreakoftheAmericanCivilWarin1861therewereover
130 Turnersocieties inthe UnitedStates(Hofmann,2001,
p.148---161).
Inthepostbellumyearsaneraofreconstructionstarted
not only for the American South but also for the Turner
movement. The SocialisticTurnerbund,which had ceased
to exist during the war years, was reorganised under a
new name in 1865, namely, Nordamerikanischer
Turner-bund. In these years the United States experienced a
big German influx, coming to a peak in 1882 with over
250,000newcomers(Doerries,1986,p.300).The
German-AmericanVereinswesen tookadvantageof thisinflux, and
12For further details see also Spears and Swanson (1988,
p.128---129)andRader(1990,56---60).
13EventodayAmericanTurnersdemandAmericanorCanadian cit-izenshipoftheirmembers.SeeMetzner(1989,p.51).
sodidtheTurners.InmanyAmericancitiesnewTurner
soci-eties werefounded;othersenlargedtheirmembership.In
theseyearsachangeintheTurnermovementfrompolitical
towardsmoreculturalandeducationalvaluescanbenoted
(PumroyandRampelmann,1996,introduction).Oneofthe
maineducationalgoalsoftheTurnerbundwasthe
introduc-tionoftheirphysicaltrainingprogrammesinpublicschools.
Anotherimportanttasktheunionhadtofaceafterthewar
wastheopeningoftheirsocietiestowomen.Turnenforgirls
hadalreadybeenintroducedinthe1850s;exerciseclasses
forwomenweresetupthreedecadeslaterandbecamevery
popular.Startinginthe1860smanysocietiesalsoestablished
Women’sAuxiliariesoverthenextdecades.
With the growing popularity of Turnen the need for
physical educatorsor ‘‘Turnlehrer’’rose,too,anda
Turn-lehrerseminar,whichlaterbecametheNormalSchoolofthe AmericanGymnasticUnion,wasestablishedin1866bythe
Turneruniontoeducateprofessionally-trainedinstructors.15
Todaythisinstitutionisintegratedinthephysicaleducation
departmentof theIndianaUniversity PurdueUniversityat
Indiana(IUPUI)inIndianapolis.
ThepeakoftheAmericanTurnermovementwasreached
in 1894. At that time 317 societies existed with
approx-imately 40,000 members, more than 25,000 children and
around3000womenparticipating intheactivityclasses.16
This boom had ceased by World War I, a time when the
radical andsocialistic tendencies intheTurnermovement
hadalsodeclined.Onereasonforthisdeclinewasprobably
thegenerationshift,sincemostofthe‘‘forty-eighters’’and
pioneersofsocialreformswerenolongeralive.
AssimilationandAmericanizationoftheTurners
Americanization is a special kind of transformation. It
expresses a process of social and cultural change and
therebyresultsinanassimilationandadaptationto
Ameri-cancultureaswellasanacceptancebythehostsociety.17
ThusAmericanculture,valuesandhabitsareadaptedbya
personoragroup.
Over the years an assimilation process became visible
amongtheGermanpopulation,especiallywiththegrowth
oftheAmerican-borngenerations.Thesenewergenerations
were nolonger fluent in German andto a certainextent
had lost theircultural affinity toandinterest in the land
of theirancestors. This developmenttowardsassimilation
andAmericanizationwasalsointensifiedbytheanti-German
15In1880Dr.H.M.StarkloffofSt.Louis,chairmanoftheexecutive committeeoftheTurnerunion,expressedthedesireoftheTurners tofindanewfieldofinvolvement:‘‘Howwoulditbeifweshould workwithallourmighttointroducephysicaltrainingintothepublic schoolsofthiscountry?Wecouldnotconceiveofamorebeautiful giftthanthistobestowupontheAmericanpeople.’’Thus,cities withalargeGermanpopulationintroducedturneninpublicschools (seeHartwell,1886).Healsostatesthatthiswasthesecond insti-tutionintheUnitedStatesinwhichonecouldbecomeaphysical educationteacher.ThefirstonewasDioLewis’NormalInstitutefor PhysicalEducation,foundedin1861inBoston.
16See,NordamerikanischerTurnerbund(1896)orBarney,(1991,p.
3)andPumroyandRampelmann(1996,p.289).
17 SeeHäderle(1997,p.20)andGleason(1980,p.39)andKazal
(1995,440).
politicsof theAmericangovernmentintheyearsbetween
1914and1918.ManyAmericanswithaGermanbackground
were accused of lacking loyalty to the American nation.
Thisanti-Germanhysteriafoughteverythingthatwas
Ger-man,especiallytheGermanlanguageandGermanculture:
‘‘Kultur ofthe Kaiser’skind not tobepromoted (...)’’or
‘‘TheGermantongue hasnoplaceinAmerica(...)’’were
slogansthat couldbereadin aCincinnatinewspaper(Ott
andTolzmann,1994).Thisresultedinvandalism,a
prohibi-tionoftheGermanlanguageinschoolsanduniversities,the
eliminationofGermanjournalsandnewspapers,thebanof
Germancomposersfromconcerthalls,theclosingof
Ger-mantheatres and the Americanizationof German names,
whetherof persons, streets, towns, organisations or
soci-eties(Luebke,1974,p.248---250).
Theanti-GermanfeelingsduringtheyearsofWorldWar
Ihadadecisiveinfluence onthechangeofidentityofthe
German-Americansandwithit,ontheTurners.The
German-Americanethnic communitycollapsed; thegroup identity
becamemoreprivateinitsexpressions.18However,the
num-berofTurnersocietiesandmembershipremainedconstant
duringtheyearsofWorldWarI.Thedeclinestartedafter
thatwar, and endedin 1943when less than100 societies
withonly16,000Turnersbelongedtotheunion.19
In these decades between the wars the Turner
move-mentalsounderwentan Americanizationprocess,whichis
illustratedbythelossofGermanastheofficiallanguagein
protocolsandthe‘‘AmerikanischeTurnzeitung’’.Byandby
thesocietiesalsoAmericanizedtheirnamesbydroppingthe
Germanparts.TheNordamerikanischeTurnerbundchanged
itsnamein1938into‘‘AmericanTurners’’(AT).Threeyears
earlier, Turnerpresident George Seibel officially declared
that theAmerican Turnermovement ‘‘hasbeen the most
AmericanofallAmericanassociations’’;thenewsloganof
the Turnersbecame ‘‘Turnerism is Americanism’’.20 Thus,
duringWorldWarIIacompletelyAmericanizedTurner
move-mentshoweditsloyaltytotheAmericangovernment.
AfterWorldWarIIthenumberofsocietiesdidnotrise,
butinthe1950sthemembershipnumbersclimbedto25,000
again,organisedin approximately80 societies. Onecause
for this rise certainly was the new wave of immigration,
whichbroughtmorethan500,000Germanimmigrantstothe
UnitedStatesbetween1950and1959(Adams,1993,p.6).
TheAmericanTurnersattheendofthe
20thcentury
At the beginning of the new21 millennium, in 2002,
there were still 58 societies22 with approximately
18 Conzen(1984,p.32).
19 SeeStatisticalReportsoftheNordamerikanischerTurnerbund andAmericanTurnersbetween1914and1943.
20 Annual Report of the Nordamerikanischer Turnerbund (1925, p.11;1935,p.3)andAnnualReportoftheAmericanTurners,(1938, p.6).
21 Partsof thisempirical study have alreadybeen published in
Hofmann(1999,p.79---108).
22 In2011therewereonly 54TurnerSocieties.Themembership numberseemstobestable.
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 1865 1870 1884 1890 1895 1900 1908 1910 1915 1920 1939 1960 2000 Year Number of societies
Figure1 Numberofsocietiesbetween1862and2000.
0 5000 10 000 15 000 20 000 25 000 30 000 35 000 40 000 45 000 1890 1900 191 0 1920 193 0 194 0 1950 1960 1970 1980 199 0 2000 Year Mem b er s
Figure2 Numberofmembersbetween1890and2000.
12,000 members23 that were affiliated to the umbrella
organisationAmericanTurners,butnotallofthemshowed
any remnants of German-American culture. The typical
Turnverein does not exist anymore. Besides the athletic
programmesocialget-togethersdominateassociationlife.
Political discussions and the spread of German culture
havelost theirsignificance.The former German-American
societies have grown intomulti-ethnical societies, mostly
withmembersfromdifferentEuropeanimmigrantgroups.
For over 150 years the Turnvereine have been part of
the American world of sport. In 1998 the first American
Turner societies celebrated their 150th anniversary, and
in 2011 the 53th national Turnfest was organised by the
AT, in St. Louis. The Turners were among the first to
introduce physical education to American schools, and
they founded the second institution in the United States
in which physical education teachers or Turnlehrer were
trained.TodaytheAmericanTurnersaremembersin
Amer-icansportfederations,USAGymnasticsandUSAVolleyball
(Figs.1and2).
Hofmann (2001) conducted a study about the
struc-ture of the AmericanTurner societies at the closeof the
19thcentury.Atthattimetherewerestill59societieswith
approximately13,000members thatbelongedtotheAT.24
Theresultsindicatethroughthemembershipstructuresthat
thereisnotypicalTurnersociety.Everysocietypresentsan
individualpicture,beginningwiththenumberofmembers,
23 American Turners:GeographicalDirectory ofSocieties. 2002. UnpublishedinformationandnumbersoftheAT.
24 AmericanTurners:GeographicalDirectoryofSocieties.(1999);
Hofmann(2001,p.269---300).
theprograms,andthedistributionofthemembersbyage
and ethnic heritage. Becauseof the relative
heterogene-ityofthesocietieswhoparticipatedinthesurvey,itisnot
possibletodrawgeneralconclusionsaboutthesociety
struc-tures.Atbest,thesocietiesofthestudycanbeputintofour
categories,withsomeoverlap25:
1. Ethnic-orientedsocieties,
2. Non-ethnic,social-orientedsocieties,
3. Recreationalsports,social-orientedsocieties,
4. Competitivesports-orientedsocieties.
The ethnic category includes societies which primarily
recognise German traditions and culture in their
Vere-insleben(11%).ForthemembersoftheseTurnersocieties,
their Turnvereinrepresentsa kindof Heimatvereinin the
group of non-ethnic,social societies (5%).Forthese
soci-eties, a recreationalsports program is of noimportance.
Themembersareethnicallymixed;however,memberswith
aGermanheritageareinthemajority.Thisisthesamefor
the other categories. The majority of societies surveyed,
(78%),belongtothethirdcategorywhichmeanstheyhave
a recreationaland social program.26 Here,gymnastics for
children,golf,bowlingandballgamesdominatetheathletic
offerings.Otherkindsofrecreationsuchastrack-and-field,
tennis,dancingorfitnessandhealth-orientedexercise
pro-gramsexistonlyinafewsocieties.Thus,itcanbeconcluded
that forthemajority ofmembers, socialaspectsand
net-workingelementsplayaroleintheirdecisiontooffercertain
sportsoractivities.‘‘Lifetime’’sportssuchasgolfand
bowl-ingcanbepursuedatveryadvancedagesandthusmeetthe
needsofoldermembers,who,inmanysocieties,constitute
the majority of members.27 Fivepercent of the societies
that participatedin thissurveybelong tothecompetitive
sports-oriented category.TheseTurnvereineoffer
gymnas-tics for children and adolescents and they participate in
competitions organised by USA Gymnastics. The question
begs to beasked whether it makes sense for them tobe
ATmembers.
ThemajorityoftheAmericanTurnersocietiesstilloffer
asportsorrecreationalprogram;however,theycannotbe
viewed as an organisation which offers a vast sports and
exerciseprogram. Thesocial componentrankshigh inthe
remainingsocieties,whichcanbeattributedtothe
histor-ical origins of the Turners. In the early decades of their
existence,theyservedascentreforphysicalactivitiesand
they alsowerea centre for social get-togethersor
meet-ings forGermanimmigrants.Thissocialcomponentwasof
greatsignificanceandhasprevailed,thoughinasomewhat
differentform.
25Thefollowing informationis basedonthe37Turnersocieties whocompletedaquestionnaire.
26Among these societies, only those that offer morethan two sportswereincluded.
27In the 1940 Mayissue of theATT, volleyballfor seniors and women wasrecommended andwaspopular.However,thearticle statedthatitshouldnotreplacegymnastics.
ReflectionsontheAmericanizationofthe
AmericanTurners
AmericanizationinthecaseoftheTurnermovementmeans
the acceptance of the American constitution, adaptation
toAmericanvalues,traditions,rituals andsymbols witha
simultaneous decline of expression of German culture. In
closerelationtotheAmericanizationoftheTurnersisalso
theacceptance ofmembersof non-Germanoriginin their
societies,andtherequirementofhavingAmerican
citizen-ship. But there is another side to thisprocess as well. It
isnotonlyexpressedbyalossofGerman-Americanethnic
identityandculture.Americanizationalsomeansaholding
ontotraitsoftheTurnerscultureandtheirdemonstration
by spreading them into a multicultural American society
(Hofmann, 2010, p. 24---26).Some examples have already
beenmentioned.
Bycontinuingnotonlycertainritualsandcustomsfrom
the ‘‘old’’ country, but also by adapting to new ones,
in this case, American ones, new traditions arise, which
are adjustments to the new, unfamiliar circumstances of
the American host society. According to Eric Hobsbawm’s
theory of ‘‘invented traditions’’, traditions areinvented,
constructed andinstitutionalised.They havecertain
prac-tices and rules which either become a ritual or are of
symbolicnature.Bymeansofrepetition,certainnormsand
valuesthatarelinkedwiththesetraditionsariseand
con-tinuityinregardtothepastdevelops(Hobsbawm,1995,p.
1f).Throughthedevelopmentofnewsymbolsandtraditions
theTurnerstookupanewidentity.Thiscanalsobeseenin
the acceptanceof newsymbols, which arenotrelatedto
the German tradition.One of these symbols is the discus
thrower,whichbecametheofficialsymboloftheATinthe
secondhalfofthe1930s.
Otherexamplesarethenationalconventionsandother
big events of the Turners which are held under the
Star-Spangled Banner and sometimes opened by the American
nationalanthemandthePledgeofAllegiance.28TheTurners
arealsopurposelytryingto‘‘invent’’newtraditionssuchas
aNationalAmericanTurnerDay,whichTurnerpresidentEd
Coltoninitiatedin1993,orthecompositionoftheAmerican
TurnerMarch.29
When discussing the Americanization of the
Turn-ers, the ‘‘Lady Turners’’30 should not be forgotten.
Especially the appearance of the ladies auxiliaries during
thelate19thcenturyandtheirexistenceuntiltodayhave
tobeconsideredinthelightofthespecialcircumstancesof
an immigrationcountry,suchastheUnitedStates.On the
onehand,theseladies´clubsofferedopportunitiesforfemale
German immigrants to exchangeproblems, meet friends,
fosterGerman culture andalsosupportthe‘‘male Turner
societies’’throughtheirhelpinvariousways.Ontheother
28Thesourcesmentionthisritualatleastsincethe1950s.Latelyit wasperformedatthesesquicentennialcelebrationsofthe Cincin-natiCentralTurners,whichwereconnectedwiththe67thnational conventionoftheATinAugust.
29SeeAmericanTurnerTopicsvol.40(1993),2f.andvol.41(1994), 3,10f.
30ThisishowfemaleTurnermembersorladyauxiliarymembers callthemselves.
hand,theriseofladyclubsingeneralisan answertothe
socialconditionsinthe UnitedStates.Herethesocialnet
isnotverywellsupportedbythegovernment,andrelieson
volunteerorganisations,manyofthemfoundedinthe19th
century. The ladies auxiliariesof the Turners stillsupport
notonlytheTurners,butalsodonatetheirtimefor
differ-entkinds of volunteerwork andengagein different local
affairs.
Throughout the Turners’ history these women showed
theirloyaltytotheworldoftheirmen,whorespectedthe
ladiesandintegratedthemintheVereinsleben---however,
without a right to vote. Later, in the twentieth century,
mostsocietiesacceptedfemalesasmembers.Certainlythis
wasnotonlyforreasonsofgenderequality;inmanycases
femalemembershipwasneeded forfinancial reasons.But
still,someAmericanTurnvereineheldontotheirtraditionof
beingexclusivelymalesocieties.Notuntilthe1990sdidall
societiesacceptwomen.The percentageoffemalesinthe
ATisnotknown;accordingtotheinformationtheempirical
studyyielded,itisprobablylowerthanthemale
percent-age. Hereit becomesobvious that the AT is a traditional
organisation.
ThefactthatthemajorityoftheTurnersocieties
belong-ing to the AT are over 100 years (and some even over
150years)oldandtheactual contentof theVereinsleben
--- physical turnenand especially thesocial component of
turnen --- did not change much in the course of its
his-tory are further reasons why the AT can be described as
a Traditionsverband. Although the political tendencies of
theTurner movement weakenedafter a few decades and
laterentirelydisappeared,thesocietiesstillsticktotheir
social,culturalandathleticoffers.Thesehavechangedand
adaptedAmericancontents andforms.The attractiveness
ofturnen(gymnastics),whichwasanexpression ofa
spe-cificGermanbodyandmovementculture,wasreducedafter
theturnofthecentury.Especiallyduringthesecond
Amer-icanizationperiod,‘‘sport’’---especiallyteamsports---was
takenupbythesocieties.Thiswasananswertothechanged
membership,whichhadahigherpercentage of
American-bornmembers,theirneedsandtheAmericanenvironment.
Althoughtodaymanysocietiesstilloffergymnasticsfor
chil-drenandyouth,itisofnomoresignificancefortheiradult
members.
The socialpart ofthe associationallife isstillof great
significance. But it changed as well. In the 19th century
itespeciallyofferedthepossibilityforGermanimmigrants
tocommunicate, andthus helpedstrengthen their ethnic
identification. Presently mostsocieties arestill placesfor
communication --- which takes place in their bar areas
---butitisnolongerexclusivelyforGerman-Americans.They
havea‘‘neighbourhood orcommunityfunction’’for
Euro-peanAmericansandfulfiltheirsocialneeds(Doerries,1986,
p.190).
Mentalturnen,whichhasentirelylostitssignificancein
Germany’sTurnvereine,isstillemphasisedinthe
constitu-tionoftheAT,butinrealityitishardlypursued,andithas
takenonnewforms.Politicaldebates,discussions,lectures
oreducationalprogramshavedisappeared.Theformer
men-talturnenhasbeentransferredinto‘‘culturalturnen’’,and
thesocieties´art,handicraft,literaryandmusicaloffersare
whichareincludedinthecompetitionsatthenational
turn-festeveryfouryears,aswell.
Conclusion
Americanization can be interpreted as acculturation and
assimilation into American society. It occurs at political,
cultural and religious levels. Demographic developments
alsoplayarole.IntheGerman-AmericanTurnermovement,
thisprocessis reflectedintheTurners’ recognitionof the
AmericanConstitution,adoptionofAmericanvaluesand
tra-ditions, lifestyles and symbols. But Americanization does
notmeanmerelytheabandonment, assimilationor
weak-eningofethnicidentityandculture,ratheritisalsoseenin
thepreservation,integration,anddemonstrationofspecific
traitsofGermanculture,e.g.,elementsofthe
Turnverein-skultur,itsvaluesandidealsandintegratingthemintothe
multiculturalAmericansociety.
MostoftheTurnersocietieshavebeentransformedinto
leisure sport and social societies for European-Americans
that could also exist under a different name. The
mem-bersof the individual societies follow the same interests
andgoalswhichtheirsocietyfulfilsthroughitsoffers.These
offersareadaptedtothepresentmembers.Stillthenumber
ofTurnersocieties andTurnershasbeen diminishingsince
the1960s.31
ManyoftheformerGermany-American Turnersocieties
have developed into multi-ethnic societies, with mostly
members from different European immigrant groups. The
pressure of American society to Americanize the Turner
movementwasstrongerthantheinfluencetheTurnershad
onAmerican society.This canbe seen, on the onehand,
bytheirbondagetocertaintraditionsandTurnersymbolsof
Germanheritageandidentityandontheotherhand,intheir
adoption of American values and adaptation to American
society.TheTurnvereineadaptedtothenewcircumstances;
theyweretransformed.However,it shouldnot be
forgot-ten that the ancestors of the Americans with a Germans
past,whointhe1990swerethebiggestethnicgroupinthe
UnitedStates,havecontributedtothebuildingofan
Amer-icanculture,andan AmericanNation,although thetraces
arehardlynoticeabletoday.Sincethebeginningofthe20th
centurytheTurners have losttheirinfluence onAmerican
physical education, and since the late 1960s the Turners
cannot be found onAmerican Olympic gymnastics’teams
anymore.TheTurnershavebecomeaminoritygroupinthe
Americanworldofsport.Thetransformationand
American-izationoftheTurnersocieties resultedintheirinvisibility,
andtheirfutureisuncertain.
Conflicts
of
interest
Theauthorsdeclarenoconflictsofinterest.
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