The divisive origins of sports for physically disabled people in Switzerland (1956–1968)

Abstract

Today’s Swiss movement for disability sports is made up of two distinct institutional entities. This division originated in the 1960s, when prominent figures in the Swiss movement were seeking to institutionalize their practices. In 1956, Sport Handicap Geneva was the first Swiss association to offer and organize physical and sporting activities for physically disabled people. A few years later, in 1959, the Swiss Grouping for Paraplegics of the Swiss Association for Paralytics and rheumatics became the rallying point for athletes in wheelchairs who could no longer recognize themselves in the orientation proposed by the Swiss Sports Federation for Invalids, their expressions of disagreement setting the stage for a protracted conflict. An analysis of the beginnings of the institutionalization of disability sports in Switzerland will help us to better understand the reasons why this national sports movement has remained bicephalous.

Notes

1. Federal Archives: Box E5260A, File: 1955–1972 Invalidensport – Letter from pastor Hubert Grivel to General Guisan 27 July 1955.

2. The term ‘Paralympic Games’ has only been in use since 1988. We will use it here in a generic sense for the sake of clarity.

3. We use the term ‘invalid’ here to describe a disabled person because this was the term used at the time by the protagonists of the FSSI in the different archives consulted.

4. The Social Services office of the Army acts on behalf of the National Swiss Gift. From the end of the 1930s, it has been an administrative service answerable directly to the federal military department. It is led by the Head of the Social Services of the Army, who is appointed by the said department. The Swiss National Gift is in charge of promoting material, moral and psychological help for Swiss soldiers and their families. Revue Militaire suisse: no. 110 1965 – Lerch Hans, ‘Le Don national suisse, les Œuvres sociales de l’Armée et la Fondation « Général Henri Guisan »’.

5. SAEB: Schweiz. Arbeitsgemeinschaft zur Eingliederung Behinderter in die Volkswirtschaft (in German).

6. Federal Archives: Box E5360A, File: Konferenz über Invalidensport in Magglingen – Letter from colonel Jacob Joho, 12 April 1956.

7. Macolin is the town where the Federal School for Gymnastics and Sports (EFGS) is located. This school is managed by the federal military department.

8. Federal Archives: Box E5260A, File: 1955–1972 Invalidensport – Minutes of the General Meeting 17 May 1956, by colonel Jacob Joho, 15 June 1956.

9. Hans Meuli – Federal Archives: Box E5001F, File: Invalidensport Konferenz – Minutes of the General Meeting 17 May 1956, colonel Jacob Joho, 15 June 1956.

10. Federal Archives: Box E5260A, File: 1955–1972 Invalidensport – Official report no 11 of the ordinary meeting of the Working Committee for Invalid Sports of the SAEB and the Technical Commission, Statutes of the FSSI, Article 10, 25 August 1960.

11. ASKIO: Arbeitsgemeinschaft Schweizerischen Kranken-und Invaliden-Selbsthilfeorganizationen.

12. The Swiss Federal Council unites seven departments and the military department is one of them. At the time of the Swiss movements for sports for physically disabled people, the military department managed physical education at the school. This physical education was an adjunct to the military instruction of young people and the use of gymnastics was central to it. The role of the EFGS was to train the future instructors of physical education. The training of these future teachers was therefore directly related to the Swiss Army.

13. Federal Archives: Box E5260A, File: 1955–1972 Invalidensport – Official report no 11 of the ordinary meeting of the Working Committee for Invalid Sports of the SAEB and the Technical Commission, Statutes of the FSSI, Article 10, 25 August 1960.

14. ‘Prof Dr E. Montalta has been elected president of the Federation (…) Marcel Meier President of the Technical Commission’, in Federal Archives: Box E5260A, File: 1955–1972 Invalidensport – Founding meeting of the FSSI by the Working Committee for Invalid Sports of the SAEB, 3 December 1960.

15. The medical model of handicap is centred on the individual and his pathology. The aim is to cure or rehabilitate the deficient person so that they can get as close as possible to the able-bodied norm.

16. Walter Schweingruber – Federal Archives: Box E5260A, File: 1955–1972 Invalidensport – Meeting of the Initiation Committee of the Working Committee for Invalid Sports, 12 June 1956.

17. Hans Meuli – Federal Archives: Box E5260A, File: 1955–1972 Invalidensport – Minutes of the Extended Executive Committee Meeting of the Working Committee for Invalid Sports, 20 November 1958.

Original quotation: ‘Invalidensportes auf alle Fälle ärztlich überwacht werden muss’.

Original quotation: ‘die Teilnahme in den Invalidensport-Gruppen von einer ärztlichen Untersuchung abhängig gemacht werden sollte’.

18. ‘Prof Dr E. Montalta has been elected president of the Federation (…) Marcel Meier President of the Technical Commission’, in Federal Archives: Box E5260A, File: 1955–1972 Invalidensport – Founding meeting of the FSSI by the Working Committee for Invalid Sports of the SAEB, 3 December 1960.

19. Sport-Handicap: no. 1 February 1964 – Ziele des Invalidensportes, Marcel Meier (President of the Technical Commission), 6–7.

Original quotation: ‘die Funktionstüchtigkeit der verbliebenen Organe zu verbessern und damit gleichzeitig auch die Lebenstüchtigkeit zu steigern’.

20. ‘The law concerning AI is unanimously adopted by Parliament 19 June 1959. Following this adoption (…) the law on invalidity insurance comes into effect 1 January 1960’.

21. Federal Archives: Box E5260A, File: 1955–1972 Invalidensport – Fritz Nüscheler addresses a newsletter to all members of the SAEB, 10 March 1960.

22. Fritz Nüscheler – Federal Archives: Box E5260A, File: 1955–1972 Invalidensport – Fritz Nüscheler addresses a newsletter to all members of the SAEB, 10 March 1960.

Original quotation: ‘nur Kurse, die wirklich der Ertüchtigung Invaliden dienen, subventioniert werden, während leider gewöhnlicher, bloss unterhaltender Sportbetrieb kein Anrecht auf Beiträge gibt’.

23. Sport-Handicap: no. 1 February 1964 – Prinzipielles im Invalidensport, Marcel Meier (President of the Technical Commission), 4–5.

Original quotation: ‘Elite sein heisst für uns, nicht nur Sportler sein, sondern auch charakterlicher einwandfrei sein. (…) in der gesunder sportlicher Geist ohne Fanatismus regiert’.

24. The relations between German-speaking Switzerland and Germany have been strong. Beyond language, which will always have an impact on the material and references chosen by German-speaking Swiss.

25. President of VGS-Essen – Sport-Handicap: no. 1 January 1963 – Prinzipielles im Invalidensport, Marcel Meier (President of the Technical Commission of the FSSI), 4–5.

Original quotation: ‘''Der versehrte soll Sport treiben nicht der sportlichen Leistung wegen, sondern seines Wiedererlebens wegen. Er soll wieder der werden, der er früher einmal war, ein Mensch, der nicht das Gefühl hat, als Krüppel angesehen zu werden''’.

26. Sport-Handicap: no. 3 June 1964 – Versehrtensport Rehabilitation oder Leistungssport ?, doctor H.G. Ehricht (Orthoptist in Berlin), 3.

Original quotation: ‘Nach Abschluss der Rehabilitation sollen mit dem Versehrtensport wiedergewonnene oder erhaltene körperliche Funktionen gefördert bezw. Gefestigt werden’.

27. Federal Archives: Box J1.127, File: Behinderte – Correspondence from Arnold Kaech (President of the Working Committee for Invalid Sports) to general Henri Guisan, 31 August 1956.

28. Article 4 b) – Federal Archives: Box E5260A, File: 1955–1972 Invalidensport – Official report no 11 of the ordinary meeting of the Working Committee for Invalid Sports of the SAEB and the Technical Commission, Creation of the Federation, 25 August 1960.

29. Article 4 b) – Federal Archives: Box E5260A, File: 1955–1972 Invalidensport – Official report no 11 of the ordinary meeting of the Working Committee for Invalid Sports of the SAEB and the Technical Commission, Creation of the Federation, 25 August 1960.

30. ‘Invaliden-Sportleiterkurs in Magglingen: Verschiedene Anmeldungen mussten zurückgestellt werden, da das uns zur Verfügung stehende “ernerhaus” als Sportheim gebaut ist und sich für Schwerstinvalide nicht geeignet hätte’, in Federal Archives: Box E5260A, File: 1955–1972 Invalidensport.

Translation: ‘Training course for an invalid sports coach at Macolin: Several registrations have had to be refused because of the layout of “Bernerhaus” which is constructed as a sports centre and is not adapted for use by severely disabled people’.

31. Sport-Handicap: no. 1 June 1962 – 1^ère Journée Sportive Suisse des Invalides, doctor Erwin Morsher, 15–16.

32. Sport-Handicap: no. 1 June 1962 – 1^ère Journée Sportive Suisse des Invalides, doctor Erwin Morsher, 15–16.

33. Sport-Handicap: no. 5 September 1966 – Der 5. Schweizerische Invalidensporttag: Das mutige ‘Dennoch’ zum Leben, W. Knapp, 3–5.

Original quotation: ‘Nicht um punkte, Ränge oder Siegerlorbeeren wurde an diesem Sporttag gekämpft – es war ein friedliches Kräftemessen, eine vielseitige Prüfung der eigenen Leistungsfähigkeit’.

34. Federal Archives: Box E5001F, File: Invalidensport Konferenz – Minutes of the General Meeting 17 May 1956, colonel Jacob Joho, 15 June 1956.

35. Federal Archives: Box E5260A, File: 1955–1972 Invalidensport – Official report no. 10 of the Annual General Meeting of the Working Committee for Invalid Sports of the SAEB, 10 March 1960.

36. Sport-Handicap: no. 2 March 1965 – Création d’une organisation internationale sportive pour handicapés, tiré du Monde Combattant, 9 November 1964, 10.

37. Sport-Handicap: no. 1 January 1968 – Aus der TK, Marcel Meier, 3–4.

Original quotation: ‘Im Internationalen Verband (ISOD) zeichnen sich bei internationalen Wettkämpfen Tendenzen ab, die uns mit Sorge erfüllen. Allzu sehr steht der reine Hochleistungssport (Rekordstreben) im Vordergrund’.

38. Sport-Handicap: no. 1 January 1968 – Aus der TK, Marcel Meier, 3–4.

Original quotation: ‘Die Sitzung des technisch-medizinischen Ausschusses des ISOD, die im Dezember in Bruxelles stattfand, zeigte, dass die Sorgen berechtigt sind. Die TK ist einmütig der Auffassung, dass eine Überbewertung der Leistung besonders im Invalidensport abzulehnen sei. Wir sind nicht gegen den Wettkampf, nicht gegen die Leistung, was wir bekämpfen sind: Überbewertung der Leistung das Herausstellen von Siegen und der daraus entstehende falsche Nationalismus und Chauvinismus’.

39. The social model of handicap considers that disability only occurs during the interaction between an individual suffering from a deficiency (physical, sensorial, intellectual or psychic) and environmental barriers (material or attitudinal) created or maintained by society.

40. Archives of Sport Handicap Geneva association – Minutes of the meeting of 1 August 1956.

41. George Carrel was a young adolescent suffering from polio, who was amongst the young Genevan students taking advantage of the first courses, which were emphasized concerning Hubert Grivel: ‘he was shocked when he was young that he could not do gymnastics at school. So when once he had become a Pastor, he said: this time I'm going to make sure that gymnastics lessons are available … let’s say perhaps not at the heart of school – because maybe that would not be possible – but alongside’, in Interview with George Carrel, Le Grand-Saconnex, Geneva Canton, Switzerland, 18 November 2014.

42. Archives of Sport Handicap Geneva association – Letter from Hubert Grivel to Alfred Borel (Head of department at the Public Education of the Canton of Geneva), 6 December 1955.

43. Archives of Sport Handicap Geneva association – Minutes of the meeting of 16 February 1956.

44. Interview with George Carrel, Le Grand-Saconnex, Geneva Canton, Switzerland, 18 November 2014.

45. Interview with George Carrel, Le Grand-Saconnex, Geneva Canton, Switzerland, 18 November 2014.

46. Faire Face: no. 1 January–February 1960 – Groupement suisse des paraplégiques, doctor Alain Rossier, 1.

47. Sir Ludwig Guttmann was a neurologist at the National Spinal Injury Centre at Stoke Mandeville: a rehabilitation centre for the spinally injured set up following the Second World War. He founded the Stoke Mandeville Games as well as the Paralympic Games (Brittain 2010).

48. The Eclaireuses Malgré Tout (EMT) (Girl Scouts Nevertheless) is a branch of the Girl Scouts movement. This ‘extension’ conserves the fundamental principles of scouting and allows young girls in hospital or living far from a centre, to enjoy scouting activities.

49. Federal Archives: Box E5260A, File: 1955–1972 Invalidensport – Communication de Melle Anne-Marie Rollier de Leysin: Les éclaireuses Malgré tout et les Sports, Minutes of the General Meeting 17 May 1956, colonel Jacob Joho, 15 June 1956.

50. The other aspect of the grouping is ‘its sporting character, which makes it go beyond the framework of an organization such as the ASPr without its leading to incompatibility’, in Faire Face: no. 1 January–February 1960 – Groupement suisse des paraplégiques, doctor Alain Rossier, 1.

51. The ASPr has been a member of the FFSI since 1960. In fact, it participated in its creation.

52. Faire Face: no. 1 January–February 1960 – Groupement suisse des paraplégiques, doctor Alain Rossier, 1.

53. Interview with André Deville, Lucerne, Lucerne Canton, Switzerland, 14 October 2014.

54. Interview with André Deville, Lucerne, Lucerne Canton, Switzerland, 14 October 2014.

55. Interview with André Deville, Lucerne, Lucerne Canton, Switzerland, 14 October 2014.

56. Interview with André Deville, Lucerne, Lucerne Canton, Switzerland, 14 October 2014.

57. Archives of Sport Handicap Geneva association – Minutes of the meeting of 1 August 1956.

58. Sport-Handicap: no. 1 January 1963 – Le sport des invalides dans le programme général de la réadaptation, Denys Droin, 2–3.

59. Interview with André Deville, Lucerne, Lucerne Canton, Switzerland, 14 October 2014.

60. Interview with André Deville, Lucerne, Lucerne Canton, Switzerland, 14 October 2014.

61. Interview with André Deville, Lucerne, Lucerne Canton, Switzerland, 14 October 2014.

62. Interview with André Deville, Lucerne, Lucerne Canton, Switzerland, 14 October 2014.

63. Interview with André Deville, Lucerne, Lucerne Canton, Switzerland, 14 October 2014.

64. Faire Face: no. 5 September–October 1964 – Rencontre des paraplégiques à Berne, Sylvia Tanner (Group Para Secretary), 7.

65. Faire Face: no. 5 September–October 1964 – Rencontre des paraplégiques à Berne, Sylvia Tanner (Group Para Secretary), 7.

66. Interview with George Carrel, Le Grand-Saconnex, Geneva Canton, Switzerland, 18 November 2014.

67. Interview with André Deville, Lucerne, Lucerne Canton, Switzerland, 14 October 2014.

68. Archives of Sport Handicap Geneva association – General Meeting, Brouillon de Samuel Dumtschin sur son rapport présidentiel pour l’assemblée générale, 25 February 1963.

69. Archives of Sport Handicap Geneva association – Minutes of the extraordinary General Meeting, 4 November 1959.

70. Archives of Sport Handicap Geneva association – L’éducation sportive des diminués physiques, Marcel Vuilleumier, 9 June 1960.

71. Archives of Sport Handicap Geneva association – Marcel Vuilleumier dresse le bilan de la section de Basketball de l’école Cayla, 13 November 1961.

72. Archives of Sport Handicap Geneva association – Annual General Meeting, 25 February 1963.

73. Faire Face: no. 5 September–October 1963 – Basketball, 2.

74. Interview with André Deville, Lucerne, Lucerne Canton, Switzerland, 14 October 2014.

75. Interview with André Deville, Lucerne, Lucerne Canton, Switzerland, 14 October 2014.

76. Interview with George Carrel, Le Grand-Saconnex, Geneva Canton, Switzerland, 18 November 2014.

77. Interview with George Carrel, Le Grand-Saconnex, Geneva Canton, Switzerland, 18 November 2014.

78. Toni Lustenberger – Faire Face: no. 6 November–Décember 1967 – Rencontre d’automne du groupe des paraplégiques de l’ASPr, Sylvia Tanner (Group Para Secretary), 8.

79. The Stoke Mandeville Games have been held each year since 1948 (Brittain 2010).

80. The Paralympic Games, – first held in Rome in 1960 – are organized every four years on the same model as the Olympic Games (Brittain 2010).

81. Faire Face: no. 1 January–February 1960 – Groupement suisse des paraplégiques, doctor Alain Rossier, 1.

82. Interview with George Carrel, Le Grand-Saconnex, Geneva Canton, Switzerland, 18 November 2014.

83. Archives of Sport Handicap Geneva association – L’éducation sportive des diminués physiques, Marcel Vuilleumier, 9 June 1960.

84. Interview with André Deville, Lucerne, Lucerne Canton, Switzerland, 14 October 2014.

85. Faire Face: no. 2 Mars-Avril 1966 – Rencontre des paraplégiques à Berne, Sylvia Tanner (Group Para Secretary) et Aloïs Brügger (Group Para President), 3.

86. Faire Face: no. 2 March–April 1966 – Rencontre des paraplégiques à Berne, Sylvia Tanner (Group Para Secretary) et Aloïs Brügger (Group Para President), 3.

87. Max Werthmüller – Faire Face: no. 6 November–Décember 1965 – Rencontre des paraplégiques à Berne, Sylvia Tanner (Group Para President), 1.

88. Faire Face: no. 2 March–April 1966 – Rencontre des paraplégiques à Berne, Sylvia Tanner (Group Para President) et Aloïs Brügger (Group Para Président), 3.

89. Originally, the Games of 1968 were meant to be held in Mexico but in the end they were moved to Tel-Aviv. The city of Mexico is at an altitude level that is unsuitable for paraplegics.

90. Faire Face: no. 3 May–June 1966 – Les Jeux Paraolympiques de Mexico 1968, 5.

91. Three conditions for eventual selection were made clear from the start. Only paraplegics could take part and doctors Rossier and Brügger carried out medical examinations. This sports selection took place in Geneva and was organized by both Sport Handicap Geneva and by the Paraplegic Centre of Geneva. The last condition was financial and stipulated that a sixth of the cost of travel would be paid by the athlete – Archives of Sport Handicap Geneva association, Annual General Meeting, 6 February 1965.

92. Faire Face: no. 6 November–December 1967 – Rencontre d’automne du groupe des paraplégiques de l’ASPr, Sylvia Tanner (Groupe Para Secretary), 8.

93. Federal Archives: Box E5260A, File: 1955–1972 Invalidensport – Fritz Nüscheler addresses a newsletter to all members of the SAEB, 10 March 1960.

94. Interview with André Deville, Lucerne, Lucerne Canton, Switzerland, 14 October 2014.

95. Federal Archives: Box E5260A, File: 1955–1972 Invalidensport – Fritz Nüscheler addresses a newsletter to all members of the SAEB, 10 March 1960.

96. Federal Archives: Box E5260A, File: 1955–1972 Invalidensport – Fritz Nüscheler addresses a newsletter to all members of the SAEB, 10 March 1960.

97. Federal Archives: Box E5260A, File: 1955–1972 Invalidensport – Fritz Nüscheler addresses a newsletter to all members of the SAEB, 10 March 1960.