Abstract des Autors

Although Nazi ideologues saw the well-muscled male body as a symbol of racial vigor they did not include the high-performance athlete in the pantheon of genuine Nazi heroes. First, the elite athlete was not directly relevant to economic productivity. Second, the collectivistic ethos of this totalitarian society discouraged the exhaltation of elite athletes except as they reflected indirectly the greater glory of the state. Third, Nazi racial doctrine conceded certain kinds of physical superiority to black athletes, thereby diminishing the importance of this type of human performance in the eyes of convinced racists. Most importantly, the Nazi regarded the warrior as the primary and incomparable male hero and saw athletes as deficient versions of the men who made war on behalf of the Fatherland. Verf,-Referat