Turners

This article is about German-American gymnastic club members. For the unincorporated community, see Turners, Missouri. For the New Zealand automotive retailer, see Turners Automotive Group.

Gymnastics room in Turner Hall, Milwaukee, c. 1900
3,000 Turners performed at the Federal Gymnastics Festival in Milwaukee, 1893.

Turners (German: Turner, German: [ˈtʊʁnɐ] ⓘ) are members of German-American gymnastic clubs called Turnvereine. They promoted German culture, physical culture, and liberal politics. Turners, especially Francis Lieber (1798–1872), were the leading sponsors of gymnastics as an American sport and the field of academic study.

In Germany, a major gymnastic movement was started by Turnvater ("father of gymnastics") and nationalist Friedrich Ludwig Jahn in the early 19th century when Germany was occupied by Napoleon. The Turnvereine (German: [ˈtʊʁnfɛɐ̯ˌʔaɪ̯nə] ⓘ; "gymnastic unions"; from German turnen meaning “to practice gymnastics,” and Verein meaning “club, union”) were not only athletic but also political, reflecting their origin in similar ethnocentric "national gymnastic" organizations in Europe (such as the Czech Sokol), who were participants in various national movements for independence. The Turner movement in Germany was generally liberal in nature, and many Turners took part in the Revolutions of 1848.[1]

Group portrait of the St. Louis, Missouri Turnverein in 1860

After the failure of the 1848 Revolution in Germany, the Turner movement was suppressed, and many Turners left Germany, some emigrating to the United States, especially to the Ohio Valley region, Wisconsin, Missouri, and Texas. Several of these Forty-Eighters went on to become Union soldiers, and some became Republican politicians.[2] Besides serving as physical education, social, political, and cultural organizations for German immigrants, Turners were also active in public education and labor movements.[3][4][5] They were leading promoters of gymnastics in the United States as a sport and as a school subject.[6] In the United States, the movement declined after 1900, and especially after 1917.[7]

  1. ^ Claire E. Nolte. "The German Turnverein". Encyclopedia of 1848 Revolutions. Retrieved January 9, 2011.
  2. ^ Gruen, Mardee. "Milwaukee Turners, local Jews go back 141 years." Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle April 29, 1994; p. 6, col. 1
  3. ^ Annette R. Hofmann (August 3, 1998). "150 years of Turnerism in the United States". Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis Max Kade Center.
  4. ^ John B. Jentz. "Turnvereins". Encyclopedia of Chicago. Retrieved July 20, 2019.
  5. ^ Mary Lou LeCompte. "TURNVEREIN MOVEMENT". Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved January 9, 2011.
  6. ^ George Eisen; David Kenneth Wiggins (1995). Ethnicity and Sport in North American History and Culture. ABC-CLIO. p. 28. ISBN 9780275954512.
  7. ^ Annette R. Hofmann, "Transformation and Americanization: The American Turners and their new identity." International Journal of the History of Sport 19.1 (2002): 91-118.