Game Plan for Democracy: Sport and Youth in Occupied West Germany

Although the Allies created Directive 23 to control sport in occupied Germany, they also realized that sport could be utilized to introduce democratic ideas to the German population broadly. Falling under the guidelines of reeducation and democratization, programs to foster democratic ideals in youth involved the meeting of Germans with citizens of the victorious powers, often through exchanges of athletes, leaders, and experts. The simultaneous development across the three western zones for programs exchanging athletes and sport leaders demonstrate the importance placed on the inculcation of democratic ideas and the benefits of cultural interaction and learning through experience. These exchanges demonstrate the central role of sport within the occupation of Germany and how the western Allies used these programs within their efforts to help achieve occupation aims. The sport policies of the western Allies and the ways in which they implemented these programs at the local level in Germany reveal extensive interactions between the occupation powers and regular Germans with respect to everyday activities.