GHDI logo


The Society for Physical Culture in Berlin: Awards Being Given Out to the Winners of "The Body-Shape Competition" (1912)

Around the turn of the century, societies for physical culture sprang up throughout Germany. These societies belonged to the larger German Lebensreform – or "life reform" – movement, which advocated healthier living through a return to nature, fresh air, exercise, natural food, experiments in communal housing, and new forms of spirituality, which often drew upon Eastern traditions. Lebensreform was a reaction to overcrowding, overwork, and poor living conditions, all of which resulted from Germany’s rapid industrialization in the late nineteenth century. The healthy, youthful body – as here evidenced by “the victors of the body shape contest” – became the unifying symbol for disparate currents within the larger health movement. It should be noted, however, that physical fitness and gymnastics clubs were not entirely new in Germany.

print version     return to image list previous image      next image

The Society for Physical Culture in Berlin: Awards Being Given Out to the Winners of

© Bildarchiv Preußischer Kulturbesitz