Turnverein, (from German turnen, “to practice gymnastics,” and Verein, “club, union”), association of gymnasts founded by the German teacher and patriot Friedrich Ludwig Jahn in Berlin in 1811. The term now also denotes a place for physical exercise. The early turnvereins were centres for the cultivation of health and vigour through gymnastic exercise, including the use of such modern gymnastic equipment as the horizontal bar, parallel bars, side horse, and vaulting horse. The organizations were also intended to prepare German youth to defend their country against Napoleonic France, and gymnasts were encouraged to develop a spirit of patriotism and Deutschheit (“Germanness”).
In the German states during the Revolution of 1848, some turnverein members sided with factions who unsuccessfully revolted against the monarchy, and they were forced to leave the country. Turnvereins were subsequently established by such émigrés in other countries, notably the United States, at Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1848, where the organization now called the American Turners was founded. Similar organizations, called Sokols (see Sokol), formed in Bohemia (modern Czech Republic) in the 1860s, emphasized social and communal unity rather than nationalism.
Turnvereins continue to foster citizenship and cultural programs together with health and physical-education activities, particularly gymnastics.
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Sokol, city and river port, centre of Sokol rayon(sector), Vologda oblast(region), northwestern Russia. The port lies along the Sukhona River. Before the Russian Revolution of October 1917 it was the site of only two small factories, but it grew rapidly in the early Soviet period and was incorporated…
physical culture: Humanism and national revivals…and nationalistic exercise clubs, called turnvereins, after 1815. Although he was imprisoned and his organization was banned by the reactionary Carlsbad Decrees (1819), Jahn’s ideas soon spread throughout Europe and America.…
gymnastics: History…Ludwig Jahn, founder of the
Turnvereinmovement, is credited with the rapid spread of gymnastics throughout the world. Gymnastic competition can be traced to the outdoor playground ( Turnplatz) Jahn opened in a field known as the “Hasenheide” (rabbit field) on the outskirts of Berlin. Ernst Eiselen, Jahn’s assistant and the…
Friedrich Ludwig Jahn…of gymnastics” who founded the turnverein (gymnastics club) movement in Germany. He was a fervent patriot who believed that physical education was the cornerstone of national health and strength and important in strengthening character and national identity.…
physical educationThe German
Turnvereinmovement grew, expanding to the United States with immigration. Per Ling developed a teaching system for physical education in Stockholm in 1814, and Otto Spiess (1810–1858) popularized another system in Germany. As public schools in Germany, Denmark, and the United States tried these systems,…