Dansk idræt og den nazistiske udfordring i 1930'erne

Resumé

Artiklen omhandler det uadskillige forhold mellem sport og politik og fokuserer på den danske idrætsverdens reaktioner på den nazistiske magtovertagelse i 1933 med særlig henblik på OL i Berlin 1936.

Danish sport and the Nazi-challenge in the 1930’s

Denmark’s small size as a nation state and its vulnerable position as neighbour to an aggressive and armed German nation, increasingly through the second half of the 1930s, gave Danish responses to German sport its peculiar touch. Firstly, in Nazi mythology, Denmark was defined as a pure Aryan zone and therefore should be treated in the best manner possible. This racial concept, however, was not fully understood in the Danish sporting world that just noted the friendly attitudes of the sporting authorities of Germany. Secondly, it was possible in a direct geographical sense to link Denmark to Germany through women’s distance swimming between the two countries and through events such as the three-day Berlin to Copenhagen stage race. As a consequence of this, Denmark, as the sole nation among the European democracies, continued to cooperate on the sporting field with Germany after World War II had broken out until the occupation of Denmark 9. April 1940.