"Sport ist die körperliche und seelische Selbsthygiene des arbeitenden Volkes" : Arbeit, Leibesübungen und Rationalisierungskultur in der Weimarer Republik

This article argues that, during the Weimar period, physical exercises were linked to debates about a “human economy.” Especially in the aftermath of the First World War, physical exercises became a vital component of population policies aiming at the restitution of the productive capacities of the population. Within this framework, representatives of sports physiology and psychotechnics interpreted sports as a kind of work. The goal was to improve the mental and physical performance of workers in the interest of efficiency, job performance, and the national economy. This article, focusing on interactions between sport sciences, work physiology, and debates on efficiency, places the objectives and discourses of these debates and the history of sport in the 1920s within the context of the Weimar rationalization movement.