Accession Number: 2022.02.2.2.2

Historical background:

The German Fighting Games were a national multi-sport event established in 1922 by the German Reich Committee for Physical Exercise under Carl Diem. The events (taking place every 4 years) lasted from 1922 to 1934.  They were seen as a way to promote “German art, German song and German Volksgemeinschaft”. During the Nazi regime, the fighting games continued as NS-fighting games. Since Germany had been allowed to participate in the Olympics since 1928, these games were no longer to be understood as a counter-movement to the Olympic idea, but rather as a propaganda platform for the regime.  On the order of Adolf Hitler on November 30, 1936, these games were held during the Reichsparteitage in Nuremberg from 1937 to 1938, with regional preliminary decisions for the main games. In addition to the NSDAP, the SA, SS, NSKK and HJ also participated in the predominantly military sports competitions, such as hand grenade targets, 30-meter swimming in a drizzle suit with a pack or 15-kilometer baggage in closed formations Wehrmacht and the police. The SA had the responsibility for these paramilitary events. The outbreak of war in 1939 ended the short episode of the NS combat games.