Sport played an important role for the National Socialists, although they did not speak of sport, but of physical education. Their primary goal was to promote health and performance for a productive national economy and ultimately to be fit for war.

Individual sport was relegated to the background in favor of the collective, the masses, the so-called national body, to which every German should contribute as an individual in the best possible way. True to Nazi ideology, it was always about strength and fortitude.

"The weak must be hammered away," begins a quote attributed to Adolf Hitler. "In my Ordensburg [educational facilities for the Nazi elite], a youth will grow up that will terrify the world. I want a violent, imperious, fearless, cruel youth. (...) I will have them trained in all physical exercises."

These physical exercises were therefore compulsory in many of Nazi organizations, such as the Deutsches Jungvolk (DJ), the Hitler Youth (HJ), the League of German Girls (BDM) or Strength Through Joy (KdF). It was also recommended that young people join sports clubs.

In the Hitler Youth, but also in school sports, physical exercise was used to teach boys about being a soldier and military behavior, and to filter out young people who could later be considered for a leadership positions in the armed forces.

The Nazis were critical of international competitive sport, especially early on during the Weimar Republic. "Internationality, the Olympic movement, togetherness,........

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