Athletes in transition: German immigrants to Mandatory Palestine – between integration and segregation^*

* In this article we use the term ‘athlete’ to indicate sports activists. To be precise, we mean amateur athletes rather than professionals.

ABSTRACT

The Brit Maccabim Atid sport club was founded by immigrants from Germany who came to Palestine during the 1930s. The circumstances surrounding this organisation’s establishment differed from those of the sports organisations operating in Palestine until then. We consider sports culture as a tool for analysing immigrant absorption processes. Our discussion is based on the claim that sports served as a means of social integration for German Jews. In Palestine, sports served as an arena of conflict between the political camps in the Jewish settlement. In response to this political reality, immigrants from Central Europe began organising to establish separate sports clubs along political and ethnic lines, thus responding to the needs of immigrants identifying with German cultural circles. Brit Maccabim Atid constitutes a test case for the social and cultural changes in the meaning of sports in the move from one country to another. The paper describes two sociological models, each of which examines the impact of involvement in sports on the extent to which immigrants become integrated into society. Our findings indicate that sports participation in an immigrant society can be a unifying and assimilative factor and at the same time a segregating factor.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

* In this article we use the term ‘athlete’ to indicate sports activists. To be precise, we mean amateur athletes rather than professionals.

1 Yaakov Brosh, ‘Athletes Protested Yesterday over Demolition of the Gan Hadassah Pool’, Davar, February 11, 1965, 6 [Hebrew].

2 Richard Mandell, The Nazi Olympics (Netanya: Wingate, 1975), 46 [Hebrew].

3 Moshe Zimmermann, A German Past, An Israeli Memory (Tel Aviv: Am Oved, 2002), 120–1 [Hebrew].

4 Yoav Gelber, ‘Consolidation of the Jewish Yishuv in Eretz Israel, 1936–1947’, in History of the Jewish Yishuv in Eretz Israel since the First Aliyah, eds Moshe Lissak, Anita Shapira and Gavriel Cohen (Jerusalem: Bialik Institute, 1995), Part II: 317 [Hebrew].

5 Amir Ben-Porat, ‘The Arena: Sociological Theory and Sports’, in On the Playing Field, eds Yair Galili, Roni Lidor and Amir Ben-Porat (Raanana: Open University Press, 2009), 102–63 [Hebrew].

6 Amir Ben-Porat, From Game to Product: Israeli Football, 1948–1999 (Sde Boker: The Ben-Gurion Heritage Institute, 2002); Amir Ben-Porat, ‘Respecting the Masses: Nationalism and Ethnicity in Sports’, in On the Playing Field, eds Yair Galili, Roni Lidor and Amir Ben-Porat (Raanana: Open University Press, 2009), 145–184 [Hebrew]; Amir Ben-Porat, Football and Nationalism (Tel Aviv: Reisling, 2003), 37–8 [Hebrew]; Alan Guttmann, Games and Empires (New York: Columbia University Press, 1994), 2; Moshe Semyonov, ‘Occupational Mobility through Sport: The Case of Israeli Soccer’, International Review for the Sociology of Sport 21, no. 1 (1986): 23–43.

7 Eduardo P. Archeti, ‘Masculinity and Football: The Formation of National Identity in Argentina’, in Games without Frontiers, eds Richard Giulianotti and John Williams (Aldershort: Arena, 1994), 225–69.

8 Martin Polley, Moving the Goalposts (New York: Routledge, 1998), 58–83; Grant Jarvie, ‘Sport, Nationalism and Culture Identity’, in The Changing Politics of Sport, ed. Lincoln Allison (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1993), 58–83; Susan Birell, ‘Racial Relations Theories of Sport: Suggestions for a More Critical Analysis’, Sociology of Sport Journal 6, no. 2 (1989): 221–7; Pierre Lanfranchi, ‘The Migration of Footballers: The Case of France’, in The Global Sports Arena, eds John Bale and Joseph Meguire (London: Frank Cass, 1994), 63–77; Eric Solomon, ‘Jews and Baseball: A Cultural Love Story’, in Ethnicity and Sport in North American History and Culture, eds George Eisen and David K. Wiggens (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1994), 75–101; Udi Carmi, Sports and Immigration (Tel Aviv: Riesling, 2013) [Hebrew]; Moshe Zimmermann, ed., Muscular Religion (Jerusalem: Carmel Press, 2017), [Hebrew].

9 Eric Hobsbawm, Nations and Nationalism since 1780 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1970), 42; Amir Ben-Porat, ‘Respecting the Masses’, 145–84.

10 Amir Ben-Porat, ‘The Arena’, 63–102.

11 Ibid.

12 Gunther Lüschen, George H. Sage and Leila Sfeir, ‘The System of Sport-Problems of Methodology, Conflict and Social Stratification’, in Handbook of Social Science of Sport (Champaign, IL: Stipes Pub. Co., 1981), 197–213; Baruch Forman, ‘First Israel vs. Second Israel – The First Public Case of Ethnic Discrimination in Israeli Football in the State of Israel’, Batnua 9, no. 1 (2008): 98–111 [Hebrew]; Amir Ben-Porat, ‘The Arena’, 63–102.

13 Moshe Lissak, Studies in the Social History of Israel (Jerusalem: Mossad Bialik, 2009), 15–16 [Hebrew].

14 David Horovitz and Moshe Lissak, From Yishuv to State – The Jews of Eretz Israel during the British Mandate as a Political Community (Tel Aviv: Am Oved, 1977) [Hebrew].

15 Lissak, Studies in the Social History of Israel, 39.

16 Moshe Lissak and Dan Horovitz, ‘Political Recruitment and Building Institutions in the Jewish Yishuv during the Mandate Period’, in The Political System in Israel, eds Moshe Lissak and Emanuel Gutman (Tel Aviv: Am Oved, 1979), 51–121.

17 This is not the place to examine the complex definition of the middle class. Amir Ben-Porat, for example, chose to refer to the private sector as a bourgeois group. Amir Ben-Porat, Where Is the Bourgeoisie: History of the Israeli Bourgeoisie (Jerusalem: Magnes, 1993) [Hebrew].

18 See: Yigal Drori, ‘“Private Circles” in the Jewish Yishuv in the 1920s’ (PhD diss., Tel Aviv University, 1981), 3–4 [Hebrew]. This distinction refers to the Revisionist Movement as a separate sector that emerged primarily from the private factions and preserved its affiliation.

19 Ibid., 4.

20 Anat Helman, ‘Hues of Adjustment: Landsmanshaften in Inter-war New York and Tel-Aviv’, Jewish History 20 (2006): 42.

21 In August 1922, an earlier attempt was made to establish a political umbrella organisation called the General Zionists Federation, but the new federation did not manage to present a united political front. For more on the establishment of the General Zionists Federation, see: Naomi Shiloch, The Disappearing Centre: Private Circles in Eretz Israel in the 1920s (Jerusalem: Yad Yitzhak Ben Zvi, Herzl Institute for the Study of Zionism, 2003), 25–34 [Hebrew].

22 Dan Giladi, The Yishuv during the Fourth Aliyah (Tel Aviv: Am Oved, 1973) [Hebrew].

23 Shiloch, The Disappearing Center, 10.

24 Ben-Porat, Where Is the Bourgeoisie, 87.

25 Historian Dan Giladi summarises the main points of criticism raised by the private sector against the labour sector. See Dan Giladi, ‘Tel Aviv in The Fourth Aliyah’, in Tel Aviv in its Beginning, from 1909 to 1934, ed. M. Naor (Jerusalem: Yad Ben Zvi, 1984), 119–20 [Hebrew].

26 Hagay Harif, Muscular Zionism (Jerusalem: Yad Ben Zvi, 2011), 127 [Hebrew].

27 Yoav Gelber, A New Homeland (Jerusalem: Ben Zvi, 1990), 175–86 [Hebrew].

28 Tom Segev, The Seventh Million: The Israelis and the Holocaust (Jerusalem: Keter, 1991), 36 [Hebrew].

29 Yosef Yekutieli, ‘Uniting Hebrew Youth under Maccabi’, The Yosef Yekutieli Maccabi Sports Archive, Container 95, File 5-1-8, October 1923 [Hebrew].

30 See: Haim Kaufman, ‘Maccabi vs. Hapoel and the Creation of the Political Rift in Sports in Eretz Israel’, in Physical Culture and Sport in Israel in the Twentieth Century, eds Haim Kaufman and Hagay Harif (Jerusalem: Yad Ben Zvi and Wingate Institute, 2002), 89–105 [Hebrew].

31 Haim Kaufman, ‘Hapoel during the Mandate Period (1923–1936)’ (Ph.D. diss., University of Haifa 1993), 298 [Hebrew].

32 David Ish-Shalom, ‘Maccabi Eretz Israel Union 1906–1948’ (Ph.D. diss., Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2004), 17–8 [Hebrew].

33 See the remarks by Israel Rokach, ‘Ben-Gurion and Rokach on the Situation and Current Roles’, Haaretz, November 5, 1939 [Hebrew]; Haim Kaufman, ‘The Nationalist Foundations and Components of the Notion of Muscular Judaism’, Batnua 3 (1996): 278 [Hebrew].

34 Ish-Shalom, ‘Maccabi Eretz Israel Union’, 17–18.

35 ‘Review and Announcements from the Central Committee of the Maccabi Union in Eretz Israel’, Hamaccabi, Issues D, E and F, 1924, 39–40 [Hebrew].

36 See: Immanuel Gil, The Story of Hapoel (Tel-Aviv: Hakibbutz Hameuchad and Hapoel, 1977), 60 [Hebrew].

37 Lipa Levitan, ‘On the Delegates of the National Committee of Maccabi’, Neshri Archive at Wingate, Portfolio 1.10/5 [Hebrew].

38 Haim Kaufman, ‘The Debate during the Mandate Period between Hapoel and Maccabi on the issue of Maccabiah Participation’, Batnua 2, no. 3 (1994): 51–72 [Hebrew].

39 Baruch Forman, ‘“Through Blood and Sweat We’ll Establish a Race”: Betar Sport and Physical Education among the Immigrants during the First Years of Statehood’, Batnua 11, no. 3 (2015): 121–43; Shlomo Resnik, ‘The Betar Sports Association: Sports and Politics in a Divided Society’, in Physical Culture and Sport in Israel in the Twentieth Century, eds Haim Kaufman and Hagay Harif (Jerusalem: Yad Ben Zvi and Wingate Institute, 2002), 159–83 [Hebrew].

40 The HaMizrachi movement, which was affiliated with religious Zionism, was founded in 1902. Hapoel Mizrachi was a political movement established in 1922. The movement emphasised the values of socialism alongside traditional values; Yechiel Eliash, The Next Act in the Vision (Tel Aviv: Elitsur Publishers, 1983), 236–50 [Hebrew]; Shlomi Goldberg, ‘“Physical Revival”—The Elitsur Sports Association 1939–1948’, Batnua 11, no. 1 (2015): 144–65 [Hebrew].

41 In this context, we note that most of the updated sources were published in German. Due to lack of knowledge of the language, we relied mainly on sources in the Hebrew. Moshe Zimmerman’s edited book (2017) constituted a certain compensation for the language barrier.

42 There are different versions regarding Aliyah statistics. This paper adopts that of Shmuel Noah Eisenstadt. See: Shmuel Noah Eisenstadt et al., Israel – A Society Coming into Being (Jerusalem: Magnes, 1972), 14 [Hebrew].

43 Gelber, ‘Consolidation of the Jewish Yishuv’, 317.

44 Ben-Porat, Where Is the Bourgeoisie, 93.

45 Galili Shahar, ‘Immigrants in Spite of Themselves’, Cathedra 121 (2006): 186.

46 For more on fostering the pioneering ethos and its struggle with the ‘civilian camp’, see Gur Elroie, ‘“The Labor Battalion” of the Artisans: The Story of a Failed Ethos’, Iyunim betekumat yisrael (Studies in the Revival of Israel) 13 (2003): 255–75 [Hebrew].

47 Gelber, ‘Consolidation of the Jewish Yishuv’, 303–461.

48 Yoav Gelber, ‘German Immigrants in Haifa’, in The Development of Haifa 1918–1949 (Jerusalem: Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, 1989), 95–110.

49 Gelber, A New Homeland, 89.

50 Shlomo Erell, The Yekkes – Fifty Years of Immigration (Jerusalem: Mass, 1985), 42 [Hebrew].

51 Miriam Getter, ‘Immigration from Germany Socio-economic Absorption vs. Socio-cultural Absorption’, Cathedra 12 (1979): 125–47.

52 For more on the language problems, see Shlomo Erell, The Yekkes, 22–3.

53 Association of German and Austrian Immigrants, The Aliyah from Germany and its Routes in Israel (Tel Aviv, 1939), 7 [Hebrew].

54 Gelber, ‘Consolidation of the Jewish Yishuv’, 303–461.

55 Rakefet Sela-Sheffy, ‘The Yekkes in the Field of Law and Patterns of Bourgeois Culture during the Mandate’, Iyunim betekumat yisrael (Studies in the Revival of Israel) 13 (2003): 299 [Hebrew].

56 Gelber, ‘Consolidation of the Jewish Yishuv’, 303–461.

57 Moshe Zimmermann, ‘Sport in Service of the Third Reich’, in Muscular Religion, ed. Moshe Zimmermann (Jerusalem: Carmel Press, 2017), 71–91 [Hebrew].

58 Moshe Zimmermann, ‘The Legend of the Short List of Jewish Sports Heroes’, in Muscular Religion, ed. Moshe Zimmermann (Jerusalem: Carmel Press, 2017), 95–116 [Hebrew].

59 Moshe Zimmermann, ‘National Rebirth – The Jew as Athlete’, in Muscular Religion, ed. Moshe Zimmermann (Jerusalem: Carmel Press, 2017), 313–34 [Hebrew].

60 Laurence Pfeiffer and Henry Helig, ‘Sport in Jewish-German Social Life Before and After 1933’, in Muscular Religion, ed. Moshe Zimmermann (Jerusalem: Carmel Press, 2017), 185–202 [Hebrew].

61 Ibid.

62 Moshe Zimmermann, A German Past, An Israeli Memory (Tel Aviv: Am Oved, 2002), 120–1 [Hebrew].

63 Ofer Ashkenazi, ‘Jewish-German Athletes and the Establishment of National Zionist Culture’, in Muscular Religion, ed. Moshe Zimmermann (Jerusalem: Carmel Press, 2017), 131–62 [Hebrew].

64 Zimmermann, ‘The Legend of the Short List’.

65 Ibid.

66 In this context it’s important to note that the topic has been covered in some German publications, e.g. Sport als Element des Kulturtransfers. Jüdische Sportler zwischen NS-Deutschland und Palästina, eds Lorenz Peiffer and Moshe Zimmermann (Göttingen: Wallstein Verlag, 2013).

67 Ofer Ashkenazi, ‘Jewish-German Athletes and the Establishment of National Zionist Culture’, in Muscular Religion, ed. Moshe Zimmermann (Jerusalem: Carmel Press, 2017), 131–62 [Hebrew].

68 Gelber, A New Homeland, 477.

69 Ibid., 490.

70 In the 1942 elections for the community committee in Haifa, the party won nine of the 41 chosen delegates.

71 In the 1942 elections for the Assembly of Delegates, the party won 18 of the 171 chosen delegates.

72 Ernst Freudenthal, ‘Fifteen Years of Brit Maccabim Atid, 1936–1951’, N Nishri Archive at Wingate, Portfolio 1.10/29, p. 7 [Hebrew].

73 Ish-Shalom, ‘Maccabi Eretz Israel Union’, 67.

74 Hagibor was a group of independent athletes from Germany and Austria.

75 P.A. Levenson, ‘“The Right to Exist”, 15 Years of Brit Maccabim Atid 1936–1951’, Nishri Archive at Wingate, Portfolio 1.10/29, p. 10 [Hebrew].

76 A. Ben Ari, ‘Desire and Accomplishment: Ten Years of Brit Maccabim Atid, 1936–1947’, Nishri Archive at Wingate, Portfolio 1.10/29, p. 16 [Hebrew].

77 ‘Maccabi World Union – Objectives and Activities’, Nishri Archive at Wingate, Portfolio 2.1/2, p. 10 [Hebrew].

78 At a conference marking ten years of the club, its president Uri Nadav indicated that the club had 1,000 members. See: Uri Nadav, ‘Ten Years of Brit Maccabim Atid – Introductory Remarks’, The Yosef Yekutieli Maccabi Sports Archive, Container 0279, File 8-0885 [Hebrew].

79 This figure can be inferred from Aryeh Even’s memories of the Maccabi Hatsair branch, which operated under its auspices. See: Aryeh Even, ‘Maccabi Hatsair, Brit Maccabim Atid, 1935–1985’, The Yosef Yekutieli Maccabi Sports Archive, Container 280, File 8-0888 [Hebrew].

80 Report from the 1945 swimming season, Brit Maccabim Atid, The Yosef Yekutieli Maccabi Sports Archive, Container 2, File 1-15 [Hebrew].

81 Fritz A. Levinson, ‘Looking Back, Yedioth Bar Kochba-Hakoah’, The Yosef Yekutieli Maccabi Sports Archive, Container 0228, File 8-0028 [Hebrew].

82 Ben Ari, ‘Desire and Accomplishment’, 16.

83 Anonymous, ‘At the General Meeting of BMA A Motion Will Be Made to Dismantle the Club’, Maariv, December 17, 1969, 5.

84 Letter to member of Brit Maccabim Atid, June 1942, The Yosef Yekutieli Maccabi Sports Archive, Container 280, File 8-0898 [Hebrew].

85 Letter to member of Brit Maccabim Atid, January 1943, The Yosef Yekutieli Maccabi Sports Archive, Container 280, File 8-0898 [Hebrew].

86 Nadav, ‘Ten Years of Brit Maccabim Atid’.

87 Aryeh Even, ‘Problems in the Movement’, Modi'in, The Yosef Yekutieli Maccabi Sports Archive, Container 0289, File 8-1109 [Hebrew].

88 Shraga, ‘The New Custodians of the Prisoners of Zion’, Hamashkif, December 22, 1944, 3 [Hebrew]; ‘Hapoel Defends Snatching an Athlete’, Al Hamishmar, January 27, 1950, 8 [Hebrew].

89 Uri Zimri and Yisrael Paz, Who and What in Sports (Jerusalem: Sifrayat Hapoalim, 1959), 343 [Hebrew].

90 Verdict at trial of Walter Frankl, N Nishri Archive at Wingate, Portfolio 2.1/2 [Hebrew].

91 Golman to Future Friend, October 30, 1936, Nishri Archive at Wingate, Portfolio 2.1/2 [Hebrew].

92 Het Zilbershtdom to Maccabi, November 3, 1936, Nishri Archive at Wingate, Portfolio 2.1/2 [Hebrew].

93 ‘What’s Going on in the Departments’, The Yosef Yekutieli Maccabi Sports Archive, Maccabim Atid Portfolio, 1–15, Container 4 [Hebrew].

94 Ish-Shalom, ‘Maccabi Eretz Israel Union’, 44–63.

95 D.S., ‘Our Hot Temperament’, Hamashkif, November 24, 1946, 3 [Hebrew].

96 Ibid., 67.

97 Letter to a Member, ‘Yishuv – Zionism – New Aliyah’, Nishri Archive at Wingate, Portfolio 1.10/29, 2 [Hebrew].

98 Z. Rada, ‘One-Nothing in Favour of the Inquisitive’, Al Hamishmar, October 9, 1945, 3 [Hebrew].

99 ‘BMA Club Violated Maccabi Discipline’, Hamashkif, October 7, 1945, 3 [Hebrew].

100 ‘Light Punishment to BMA Team’, Hamashkif, November 4, 1945, 3 [Hebrew].

101 ‘BMA Team on the Decline’, Hamashkif, October 21, 1945, 3 [Hebrew].

102 Decision made at conference of Maccabi Eretz Israel, Paragraph 8, 5, Nishri Archive at Wingate, Portfolio 1.10/13 [Hebrew].

103 ‘Decisions of the National Council of Maccabi Eretz Israel’, Doar Hayom, December 19, 1935, 6 [Hebrew].

104 ‘Voting Rights on the National Council’, Nishri Archive at Wingate, Portfolio 1.10/5 [Hebrew]; Brit Maccabim Board of Directors, Invitation to an Extraordinary General Meeting, April 1940, Nishri Archive at Wingate, Portfolio 2.1/2 [Hebrew]; National Council Decision, June 15, 1940, Nishri Archive at Wingate, Portfolio 1.10/13 [Hebrew].

105 Ben Ari, ‘Desire and Accomplishment’, 16.

106 ‘“Amiram Prize”—Turning Point in Relations in Hebrew Sports’, Davar, April 24, 1947, 20 [Hebrew].

107 ‘For What Were We Punished?’ Davar, May 4, 1947, 4 [Hebrew].

108 Asher Goldberg, ‘Hakoah Vienna Club’, Haaretz, March 24, 2001. http://www.haaretz.co.il/misc/1.68885 (accessed May 31, 2017) [Hebrew].

109 The digits 09 represent the year in which the football team was founded.

110 ‘35 Years of Koah’, Nishri Archive at Wingate, Hakoah/Maccabi Portfolio, File 1.30/6 [Hebrew].

111 For example, Uri Nadav, chair of Brit Maccabim Atid, was one of the founders of Hakoah 09.

112 Oscar Ginzer, ‘Sport as a Factor in Reconciling Nations’, Nishri Archive at Wingate, Portfolio 1.30/6 [Hebrew].

113 Yisrael Rosenblatt, ‘Milestones of Hakoach 09, or A Twenty-Year-Old Dream Becomes A Reality’, Maariv, May 13, 1962, 12 [Hebrew].

114 ‘Hakoah Vienna: A Wagon Trudging Along Behind the Left’, Hamashkif, June 27, 1946, 3 [Hebrew].

115 ‘Hamaslul, Hakoah Jerusalem Branch’, N Nishri Archive at Wingate, Hakoah/Maccabi Portfolio, File 1.30/6 [Hebrew].

116 ‘35 Years of Hakoah’, Nishri Archive at Wingate, Hakoah/Maccabi Portfolio, File 1.30/6 [Hebrew].

117 ‘Hakoah Vienna’.

118 See, for example, Udi Carmi, Sports and Immigration (Tel Aviv: Resling, 2013) [Hebrew].

119 Yuval Dror, ‘From the History of Contemporary Education – Biram and the Reali School’, in Between two Homelands. The Yekkes, eds Moshe Zimmermann and Yotam Hotam (Jerusalem: Zalman Shazar, 2006), 241–50 [Hebrew].

120 Eyal Gertman and Laurence Pfeiffer, ‘Jewish Teams from Nazi Germany vs. Teams from Eretz Israel (1937)’, in Muscular Religion, ed. Moshe Zimmermann (Jerusalem: Carmel Press, 2017), 203–32 [Hebrew].

121 Eyal Gertman and Felix Daniel Pinczower, ‘The Forgotten Jewish Runner’, in Muscular Religion, ed. Moshe Zimmermann (Jerusalem: Carmel Press, 2017), 295–311, esp. 308, 310 [Hebrew]; Harif, Muscular Zionism, 257, 269, 286.

122 Moshe Zimmermann, ‘From Holocaust to Resurrection: Football as a Component in Cultural Transfer’, in Muscular Religion, ed. Moshe Zimmermann (Jerusalem: Carmel Press, 2017), 233–44 [Hebrew].