Friedrich Ludwig Jahn
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Johann Friedrich Ludwig Christoph Jahn | |
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Lanz, Province of Brandenburg, Prussia | |
Died | 15 October 1852 , Prussia | (aged 74)
Nationality | German |
Other names | "Turnvater Jahn" |
Occupation(s) | Gymnastics educator and nationalist |
Johann Friedrich Ludwig Christoph Jahn (11 August 1778 – 15 October 1852) was a German
Life
Jahn was born in the village of
Brooding upon what he saw as the humiliation of his native land by Napoleon, Jahn conceived the idea of restoring the spirits of his countrymen by the development of their physical and moral powers through the practice of gymnastics.[1] The first Turnplatz, or open-air gymnasium, was opened by Jahn in Hasenheide in the south of Berlin[4] in 1811, and the Turnverein (gymnastics association) movement spread rapidly.[1] Young gymnasts were taught to regard themselves as members of a kind of guild for the emancipation of their fatherland.[3] The nationalistic spirit was nourished to a significant degree by the writings of Jahn.[1]
In early 1813 Jahn took an active part in the formation of the famous Lützow Free Corps, a volunteer force in the Prussian army fighting Napoleon. He commanded a battalion of the corps, but he was often employed in the secret service during the same period. After the war, he returned to Berlin, where he was appointed state teacher of gymnastics, and he took on a role in the formation of the student patriotic fraternities, or Burschenschaften, in Jena.[3]
A man of a populistic nature, rugged, eccentric and outspoken, Jahn often came into conflict with the authorities. The authorities eventually realized he aimed at establishing a united Germany and that his Turner schools were political and liberal clubs.
He therefore took up residence at Freyburg on the Unstrut, where he remained until his death, except for a short period in 1828, when he was exiled to Kölleda on a charge of sedition.[3] While at Freyburg, he received an invitation to become professor of German literature at Cambridge, Massachusetts, which he declined, saying that "deer and hares love to live where they are most hunted."[5]
In 1840, Jahn was decorated by the Prussian government with the Iron Cross for bravery in the wars against Napoleon. In the spring of 1848, he was elected by the district of Naumburg to the German National Parliament. Jahn died in 1852 in Freyburg, where a monument was erected in his honor in 1859.[3]
Jahn popularized the four Fs motto "frisch, fromm, fröhlich, frei" ("fresh, pious, cheerful, free") in the early 19th century.[1]
Works
Among his works are the following:
- Bereicherung des hochdeutschen Sprachschatzes (Leipzig, 1806),
- Deutsches Volkstum (Lübeck, 1810),
- Runenblätter (Frankfurt, 1814),
- Die Deutsche Turnkunst (Berlin, 1816)
- Neue Runenblätter (Naumburg, 1828),
- Merke zum deutschen Volkstum (Hildburghausen, 1833), and
- Selbstverteidigung (Leipzig, 1863).
A complete edition of his works appeared at Hof in 1884–1887. See the biography by Schultheiss (Berlin, 1894),[citation needed] and Jahn als Erzieher, by Friedric (Munich, 1895).[citation needed]
Contribution to physical education
Jahn promoted the use of
Gymnastics classes inspired by Jahn's turnplatz design started opening in the United States in 1825 under the expertise and advocacy of Germans Charles Beck and Charles Follen, as well as American John Neal. Beck opened the first gymnasium in the US in 1825 at the Round Hill School in Northampton, Massachusetts.[6]: 232–33 Follen opened the first college gymnasium and the first public gymnasium in the US in Massachusetts in 1826 at Harvard College and in nearby Boston, respectively.[6]: 235–36 Neal was the first American to open a public gymnasium in the US in Portland, Maine in 1827.[6]: 227–50 During this period, Neal spread Jahn's concepts in the US in the American Journal of Education[6]: 235–50 and The Yankee, helping to establish the American branch of the movement.[7]
A memorial to Jahn exists in
Other memorials to Jahn are located in Groß-Gerau, Germany; Vienna; and Cincinnati, Ohio's Inwood Park in the Mount Auburn Historic District.[citation needed] An elementary school in Chicago, is named after Jahn.[8]
Criticism
In his own time Friedrich Jahn was seen by both supporters and opponents as a liberal figure. He advocated that the German states should unite after the withdrawal of Napoleon's occupying armies and establish a democratic constitution under the Hohenzollern monarchy, which would include the right to free speech. As a German nationalist, Jahn advocated maintaining German language and culture against foreign influence. In 1810 he wrote, "Poles, French, priests, aristocrats and Jews are Germany's misfortune."
Scholarly focus on the völkischness of Jahn's thought started in the 1920s with a new generation of Jahn interpreters like
Jahn gained infamy in English-speaking countries[
See also
Notes
- ^ ISBN 0-09-143350-9.
- )
- ^ a b c d e f Chisholm 1911.
- ^ Petrú, Karel (1946). Dejiny Československé Kopané. Prague: Národní Nakladatelství A.Pokorny v Praze. p. 20.
- ^ The American Cyclopædia.
- ^ a b c d Leonard, Fred Eugene (1923). A Guide to the History of Physical Education. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and New York, New York: Lea & Febiger.
- Maine Sunday Telegram. Portland, Maine. pp. 1D–2D.
- ^ "Jahn Elementary School". greatschools.org. Retrieved July 19, 2021.
- ^ Bauer, Kurt (2008). "Polen, Franzosen, Pfaffen, Junker und Juden sind Deutschlands Unglück". Nationalsozialismus (in German). Vienna/Cologne/Weimar: Böhlau.
- ^ Viereck, Peter (2003). Metapolitics: from Wagner and the German Romantics to Hitler (2nd revised ed.). Edison, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers. p. 85.
- ^ a b c Bernett, Hajo (1979). "Das Jahn-Bild in der nationalsozialistischen Weltanschauung". Internationales Jahn-Symposium Berlin 1978 (in German). Cologne.
- ^ Baeumler, Alfred (1940). Friedrich Ludwig Jahns Stellung in der deutschen Geistesgeschichte (in German). Leipzig.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Viereck, Peter (1961). Metapolitics: The Roots of the Nazi Mind. New York: Capricorn Books.
- JSTOR 2707464.
- JSTOR 2707465.
References
- public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Jahn, Friedrich Ludwig". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 15 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 126. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
Further reading
- Jahn, Friedrich Ludwig (1828). A Treatise on Gymnasticks. Northampton, Mass.: T. Watson Shepard, Printer – via US National Library of Medicine.