In-between “ Swedish Gymnastics ” and “ Deutsche Turn-kunst : ” Educating “ National ” Citizens through Physical Education in Switzerland in the Last Decades of the Nineteenth Century

In Switzerland, physical education was as important as it was in other European countries during the last decades of the nineteenth century. Different visions of physical education were adapted to the Swiss context to promote national citizens that were strong and healthy and thus capable of protecting their fatherland. Discussions of Per Henrik Ling’s “Swedish system” and Friedrich Ludwig Jahn’s “Deutsche Turnkunst,” both of which were adapted in the francophone and the germanophone parts of Switzerland, dominated the discourse. Until the end of the nineteenth century, patriotic ideals permeated the army-ruled physical education, although methodology and health topics were discussed as well. The national and civic aims of physical education were the same for girls and boys, with one very important exception: boys were prepared for military service, whereas girls were primarily prepared to be good future mothers.


Introduction
When the Swiss confederation, a federal state of cantons, was founded in 1848, the country entered a new phase of nation building.Oliver Zimmer distinguishes between two boundary mechanisms that has influenced the making of national identity in the country.On the one side, voluntarism, which means placing emphasis on the will to belong to a national community, on the other organic and cultural discourses, akin to a form of determinism.National identity in Switzerland can, according to the author, be viewed as a construction of combined voluntary and organic elements. 1ecause of its decentralised political structure, the historical process of national identity formation is complex to grasp in the Swiss case, and becomes even more so when economic and social differences are taken into account. 2Citizenship in Switzerland is often explained as being threefold, comprising of a communal, a cantonal, and a national level.Zimmer explains that republican nationalism emerged in the late eighteenth century in Switzerland and gathered further momentum from the 1830s onward.It finally realised its aspirations in 1848 with the founding of the Swiss

Ingrid Brühwiler is a Postdoctoral Researcher and Head of the Public Schools Department of Canton
Appenzell Ausserrhoden in Switzerland.Email: ingrid.bruehwiler@ar.chnation-state. 3A common history, instead of a common language, was often used as a way to create a sense of belonging to an imagined national community during this period.Despite its special characteristics, Switzerland implemented a public school system in the nineteenth century, partially in order to promote national cohesion.As a part of the curriculum, and in line with other mass educational institutions in Europe, physical education was implemented to strengthen the national body as a whole.This article examines physical education in Switzerland in the last decades of the nineteenth century, when the educators needed to choose between two prevalent systems: the "Swedish system" promoted by Per Henrik Ling and Friedrich Ludwig Jahn's "Deutsche Turnkunst." In this article, I ask how the international ideas of physical education were introduced in Swiss schools in the last decades of the nineteenth century, what type of citizenship it supported, and how this citizenship varied across the federation and according to gender.
The type of national citizenship that was promoted through physical education is vital to explore since it was the only school subject that was governed at the national level since 1874.In this year, it was decided that all boys from the age of ten onwards had to attend physical education classes to become prepared for military service. 4ven presently, it is the only school subject that is organised for public schools at the national level.However, some cantons had the subject of physical education in their curricula long before the federal law came into effect. 5For example, the Canton of Basel-Stadt introduced it in 1852, the Canton of Zurich in 1859, and the Canton of St. Gallen in 1869. 6Thus, the federal law did not create a new school subject but rather attempted to standardise it on a national level.Thus, this subject gives the opportunity to analyse how Switzerland, characterised by different languages, ethnicities, and denominational affiliations, addressed international ideas through the lens of its threefold citizenship.
Before I address the main issue of this article, I will say something about the terms, theoretical concepts and source materials used.In the consulted research literature, physical education is also called "physical exercise, " "Turnen" or "gymnastics, " but it is clearly distinguished from the English term "sports, " given that the latter is oriented toward competitions, whereas "physical education" is linked to ideas of nationality and citizenship. 7Theoretically, this article is framed by the idea that school subjects can be viewed as "living organisms" ("organismes vivants"): subjects are born and developed, become transformed, disappear, devour each other, become attracted, evolve, are rejected, united and competed against, are in relationship to other subjects and exchange information.They have a name that identifies them, even if identical contents are sometimes hidden under different names and vice versa.They can also be implemented in different ways in different national contexts, although under the same name.Additionally, the name has social and academic transmissions.Thus, with these changes, transformations and interactions, subjects are sources of power ("discipline scolaire comme source de pouvoir"), which means that disciplines emerge as sources of power in social and academic fields, hierarchical fields, characterised by domination and hegemony, dependence and subjugation. 8y investigation into the relations between the forming of a national citizenship and physical education starts in 1874, when the federal law was enacted, and ends at the end of the nineteenth century.The sources consist of the federal law of 1874, the two textbooks published in 1876 and 1898 as a result of this law, and the nineteenth century literature addressing physical education in Switzerland, e.g., Ballet's book titled De la gymnastique suédoise: son introduction en Suisse, organisation et programme de cet enseignement à l'école primaire (Swedish gymnastics and its introduction in Switzerland, organisation and program in teaching primary education of 1896) and Balsiger's work published in 1886, concerning the physical education school subject as a preparation for the army.In addition, several teacher journals, textbooks for physical education from 1876 and 1898 and other books is consulted.Moreover, reports about physical education as well as school regulations is analysed. 9n sum, I argue that, during the investigated period, physical education was as important in Switzerland as it was in other countries.Different pedagogical ideas were however adapted in different parts of the decentralised Swiss state, albeit with the same goal and basic idea to construct national citizens, who had to be strong and healthy to protect their fatherland.The debate on physical education focused on two systems.The first was the so-called "Ling-Rothstein" system, which was the Swedish gymnastics created by Per Henrik Ling (1776−1839) as promoted by the Prussian officer and gymnast Hugo Rothstein (1810−1865).The second was the "Jahn-Spiess" system, promoted by Friedrich Ludwig Jahn (1778−1852) and Adolf Spieß (1810−1858).Despite debating these two systems, patriotic ideals in relation to the army ruled physical education during the nineteenth century, although methodology and health topics were discussed as well.The aim of physical education was the same for girls and boys, with one very important exception: boys were to be prepared for military service, whereas girls were to be prepared for childrearing and for being good future mothers, capable of educating future children to be good citizens.

The Swiss system-in between "Jahn-Spieß" and "Ling-Rothstein"
Physical education was a well discussed topic in most European countries in the nineteenth century.Germany played a crucial role in this movement, and the ideas of "Turnvater Jahn" was adapted in Switzerland as well. 10Jahn promoted physical exercises which include fencing, games, swimming, hiking, and exercises on gym-nastic apparatus.The pupils should get strong to defend their fatherland.The book by Friedrich Ludwig Jahn and Ernst Eiselen, published in 1816 under the title Die Deutsche Turnkunst zur Einrichtung der Turnplätze (The German "Turnkunst" to establish gymnastic fields),11 was extensively cited and was adapted, for example, for Adolf Spieß's publications and Johannes Niggeler's works. 12he first textbooks on physical education in Switzerland was published by Adolf Spieß, who emigrated from Germany to Switzerland in 1833 and published four textbooks on physical education between 1840 and 1846.Together with Phokion Heinrich Clias (1782−1854) and Johannes Niggeler (1810−1858), Spieß is recognised as one of the "founders" of physical education in schools in Switzerland. 13As Clias and Niggeler, Spieß explicitly promoted physical education for girls. 14he Swiss system of physical education was influenced both by those educational ideas promoted by Jahn and Spieß, and the system promoted by "Ling-Rothstein." Ling promoted the so-called Swedish gymnastics which includes pedagogical, military, medical and aesthetical aspects.The performance of the movements had to be correct.Later on medical gymnastics got important but as in Jahn's system military aspects were essential.Although these systems exhibited great similarities, there were recurrent conflicts between the proponents of each system.In Prussia, such disputes lead to the so-called "bars' conflict" (Barrenstreit) in 1860. 15lthough no such conflict occurred in Switzerland, the educational debate nevertheless exhibited different opinions on these systems.Some educationalist was in favour of the "Jahn-Spieß" system.In 1862, Wilhelm Jenny, a gymnastics teacher at the girls' school in Basel, noted in his presentation to the teachers of Basel that, around 1851, Ling's system, or rather Rothstein's interpretation of this system, were predominant throughout Prussia.Since the system was widely criticised, Jenny suggested that, in Switzerland, the method of "Ling-Rothstein"16 might be replaced by the "Jahn-Spieß" ideas for physical education. 17Niggeler also clearly preferred the Jahn-Spieß method to the Ling-Rothstein system.Niggeler argued that Jahn's and Spieß's approaches were complementary because Jahn created physical education for male juveniles, and Spieß established physical education for male and female pupils of all ages. 18ther educationalist preferred the Swedish system.Among these were the medical doctor Alcide Jentzer, who visited the Ling institute (Gymnastiska Central Insti-In-between "Swedish Gymnastics" and "Deutsche Turnkunst"   tutet) in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1892 and again in 1895, 19 with two colleagues from other cantons. 20Jentzer also organised courses to train teachers in this method, and the first course started in 1893 and was attended by 26 female teachers.Additionally, in Geneva, in 1895, a gymnastic hall based on Jentzer's concept was installed and, in Lausanne, wall bars were established in a college. 21Jentzer stressed the importance of Ling's system: I'm happy to point out to some advantages of Ling's system compared to our national physical education, which I don't want to combat, as I've already said, but which could be improved […].In effect, the system of Swedish physical education has some analogies with the system used in Switzerland and Germany, and it could even be said that if we only have a look at the general form of the exercises, they seem to be very similar.But… they are different concerning their spirits and tendencies, in addition to differences concerning their results. 22 continues by stating that Ling's gymnastic is a mixture of exercises, including medical gymnastics, popular games and customs. 23He further observes differences in the lesson structure, in the access opportunities for all students, in the choice and design of the apparatus and in the different styles of military gymnastics.Furthermore, he highlights that games are important and that medical aspects are even more essential. 24Jentzer was very well known for his competencies in medical and social hygiene. 25he fact that physical education was a sensitive matter is perhaps best illustrated by a report published by Paul Kipfer and Gerhard Pfund.In 1899, Kipfer and Pfund who were both officers of the Swiss Army, visited the famous Ling institute in Stockholm.Kipfer and Pfund published a report about their study trip in the journal Monatsblättern für das Schulturnen (Monthly journal for physical education in schools).Although the report was published, the editors added critical remarks in footnotes to indicate that they disagreed with the content of the article. 26

What type of national citizen was desired in nineteenth century Switzerland?
Following 1874, and in cooperation with the military department, the federal government published textbooks for physical education in schools and declared them compulsory. 27The first textbook was published under the title L'école de gymnastique pour l'instruction militaire préparatoire de la jeunesse suisse de l'âge de dix à vingt ans (Physical Education for the Instruction of the Military Pre-Education of Swiss Youth From Ten to Twenty Years of Age) in 1876. 28The introduction to this textbook, influenced by many well-known authors, such as Ling and Jahn, states that the content describes the minimum that should be taught in each school, but it is possible to pursue higher aims on one's own initiative.
This textbook became criticised, for example for not being useful for everyday life at school. 29This led to the publication of a new textbook in 1898, with many subsequent revisions, due to the criticism regarding its content. 30Similar to the old textbook, this new federal textbook was based on the work of many authors and included a minimum program that should be fulfilled.Furthermore it includes a systematic arrangement of different exercise styles, and classifies two different degrees for different age groups instead of three, as in the old textbook.Furthermore, the age group was limited to 10-15 year-olds and thus no longer included older boys.In the preface, the changes to the old textbook are explained: to facilitate the work of teachers and to assist in the preparation for physical education lessons.Most importantly, systematic order of the old textbook was changed, focusing primarily on methodological advice.
Additionally, the editors emphasised that adaptations to local circumstances are needed because they had written the book for schools in rural areas providing normal conditions.Moreover, they explain that order exercises (Ordnungsübungen) had been reduced and that they were adapted to Swiss drill regulations. 31Thus, both textbooks still contained military exercises, but their scope was reduced in the second textbook.Also, in the preface to the latter, no military terms appear to guide the pupils, and the introduction in the textbook of 1898 is followed by seven pages of methodological advice.
A comparison of the two textbooks reveals that methodological advice was more important in the textbook of 1898.Additionally, the part with games is much longer than in the first edition, and they are explained in much more detail.In the first edition, some names of games are listed on a few lines, such as "Katze und Maus" (Cat and mouse), along with the remark that the description can be found in the works of Niggeler or Kloss. 32In the second edition, for example, the game Fussball (soccer) is described across five pages, with an illustration and explanations to plan games and additional remarks. 33These changes might indicate that, at the end of the nineteenth century in Switzerland, "sports" started to be important as well, which would mean that the English idea of competition was gradually being adopted.However, the description emphasises "virtues" and not "competition." "Competition" would be in line with the English idea of "sports, " as explained in the introduction of this article, whereas "virtues" fit strongly with educational aims.The editors of the textbook of 1898 point firmly to using soccer as an educational tool: The good soccer player is fast, purposeful, vigorous, but definitely altruistic and is only concerned with the overall game.Thereof can be deduced what educational value belongs to the soccer game. 34e textbook of 1898 became "a bible" for physical education across the country.
With the federal law as its background and the possibility of creating one textbook for the entire nation, the textbook unified and standardised Swiss physical education teaching in schools. 35In both textbooks, military aspects can be detected.Still, in the second edition, other topics such as pedagogy, health and individuality also become important, at least in the introduction.
As noted above, a closer examination of the arguments for why physical education was important is still needed to answer the question of what type of citizenship was intended.One recurrent argument was that physical education was needed due to the changing political, cultural and social conditions that the nation was experiencing.The entire child, mind and body, now had to be educated and all children had to be formed in the same way: 36 "It is not a spirit or a body we should educate: it is a human being, and we shouldn't make two of them." 37 Another recurrent argument was that physical education promoted and increased the power of the nation, supported other educational efforts, and realised national and humane educational purposes. 38In particular, physical education prepared for military service, 39 which was highly important, given that national defence was promoted as the highest civic task and was said to grow stronger with physical education. 40In both the French-speaking and the German-speaking parts of Switzerland, these arguments were very common.Another argument that was also very dominant in both investigated language groups was the societal benefits of healthy and powerful bodies: Health, P o w e r , agility and endurance of the musculoskeletal system and thus physical prowess to all professions, all performances and all businesses.A reorganization of people's life, concerning the mental, moral and material state, to the good of the nation, would be an inevitable fruit of the general implementation of physical education. 41nerally, gymnastics was about creating a strong citizen prepared for public life and public duties, such as military service.But, in my view, these formulations have to be seen in the light of prevailing notions of gender at the time.Even though the text used the concept "the people, " it silently implied that it was a community of men that were envisioned.Many scholars have argued that the male body can be viewed as a socially constructed phenomenon that has been culturally codified as "male" through a complex process of knowledge production, combining medicine, biology, social hygiene and health. 42In the quote above, health, power and the military duties of a male future citizen were emphasised and constructed.In the view of people such as Jentzer, following Ling's ideas, health was connected to promoting hygiene and to growing strong (male) people for a strong nation, which fits the idea of a socially constructed phenomenon of a "male citizen." However, the strengthening of the male body goes far beyond the topic of social hygiene; it was mainly a way to build character and to foster hegemonic masculine virtues. 43In the investigated period, such debates were very common. 44n summary, the federal law did not mark the beginning of physical education in Swiss schools, given that in some cantons this subject had been compulsory for decades.However, it points to the strong relationship between this subject and the building of a stronger national army.Furthermore, physical education acquired a national dimension and was subject to standardisation as a school subject.Both federal textbooks underline this effort.Differences between these textbooks can be observed in the methodological approach of the second edition, in which military exercises were also diminished, and students were addressed on an individual level.Moreover, in the introduction, health and pedagogical aspects were noted.Physical education in Switzerland at the end of the nineteenth century was influenced by European ideas and was oriented toward those aims.The most important goal was to educate the future male citizen into being a soldier so that the relatively young nation could prosper.The installed order should be kept or even improved, and juveniles should love the fatherland and meet its needs.For some, health was as important, and was thus promoted alongside the ideas of the fatherland.Another argument was that schools must support the "entire child, " not only the spirit or the body, but both.This argument includes aesthetic aspects, which are explained in more detail in the next section.

The physical education of girls
In the previous section, the close connection between physical education in Swiss schools and the army was demonstrated, and one might think that, for this reason, physical education for girls was not very important in the nineteenth century Switzerland.However, in this section, the opposite will be demonstrated: physical education was very much promoted, albeit by very different authors, who were view that girls had to receive physical education to become good and healthy future mothers.
In the nineteenth century literature on girls' physical education, most authors argue that physical education is important for girls because they will be mothers in the future and, therefore, must be strong and healthy. 45Most authors cite Clias, Spieß and Niggeler, who had promoted physical education for girls since the beginning of the nineteenth century.In 1829, Clias published a book for girls titled Kalisthenie oder Uebungen zur Schönheit und Kraft für Mädchen (Calisthenics Or Exercises for Beauty and Power for Girls). 46In the introduction, he notes that physical education is needed for girls for health reasons and for shaping their bodies.The exercises promote their vitality and help avoid pampering.He added that the healthier the girl is in body and mind, the more easily she will give birth to children. 47Thus, the most important task for girls was to become good and healthy mothers because the mother educates future citizens.Clias notes: And if we look at the importance of woman in most nations, it has to be admitted that on her true education depends the progress and moral purity of the nation as well as peace in the family. 48e same argumentation appears in the presentation by Wilhelm Jenny approximately thirty years later, in 1862.He particularly emphasises Ling's ideas and states that, if it is questioned whether girls and women should have physical education, the reply is again and again: "Let them do g y m n a s t i c s !G y m n a s t i c s make beautiful!" 49pproximately thirty years later, Jentzer in 1895 and Kipfer/Pfund in 1900 promoted girls' physical education, also based on Ling's ideas.While girl's role as the future mother is still deemed important, dancing to become healthy or to maintain physical and mental health is promoted as well. 50Additionally, the argument that there is no need for a direct relationship with military duties for girls was maintained.Thus, some argued that direct military aims should be kept out of the lessons because, usually, until the age of twelve, boys and girls had physical education together. 51s noted above, physical education for boys became compulsory as a result of the federal law of 1874; for girls, the legislative decision came approximately 100 years later, in 1972. 52However, some cantons had legally mandated the subject of physical education for both boys and girls.For example, in the Canton of Fribourg, girls in secondary schools received physical education from 1848 to 1856.For Fribourg, financial restrictions were the most important challenge to introducing gymnastics for girls, given that neither the federal military department nor the cantonal department of home affairs supported this school subject. 53In the cantons of Vaud and Fribourg, gymnastics for boys and girls were introduced simultaneously; thus, no gender differences in the way they were taught in schools can be observed.Very often, however, gymnastics was a subject only in higher schools, and was sometimes voluntary.In the Canton of Vaud, physical education became compulsory in all girls' high schools in 1869.Due to the official status of this school subject, it was standardised in the canton.Initially, however, the new subject was offered to socially privileged classes, given that such schools were not attended by all girls.Subsequently, the subject was introduced for all pupils. 54o summarise, the argumentation in support of physical education for girls was very similar to that for boys, except that there was no direct link to military duties.Women's main task in support of the nation was motherhood.As girls were viewed as future mothers, they must have strong and healthy bodies to pass on those characteristics to the future citizens of the fatherland.Moreover, they had to be mentally and physically healthy to manage these important tasks for the fatherland.Aesthetic arguments were important as well, and physical education was perceived as a method for creating beautiful women.
Due to the lack of a federal law, standardisation occurred much later at the cantonal level, which means that, for a long period of time, there were enormous differences in the way physical education for girls was approached in Switzerland.Forging a nation clearly required both women and men, but with a strict division in the tasks.As noted in the introduction, the idea that school subjects are "living organisms" and therefore adapt their systems to different circumstances can be detected in the analysis herein: boys' physical education was directly supported by the army and thus had some unique aspects that did not apply to girls' physical education.The nation imagined as a gendered political community in which the male citizen was the norm is supported in this investigation as well, given that, for example, girls' physical edu-50 Jentzer (1895), 10-11; Kipfer and Pfund (1900), 3-10.51 Egg (1874), 24.52 Bron (1983), 70.53 Eva Kleisli, "Mädchenerziehung und Turnen in Freiburg um die Jahrhundertwende, " Freiburger Geschichtsblätter 72 (1995), 97.54 Véronique Czáka, "Société de gymnastique, éducation physique et politique : Contribution aux débuts de l'histoire de la gymnastique dans le Canton de Vaud.Histoire du sport dans le canton de  Vaud, " Revue Historique Vaudoise 117 (2008), 28.In-between "Swedish Gymnastics" and "Deutsche Turnkunst"   cation was not standardised on the same national level as that for boys because there was no direct link to military service.

Conclusions
This article aimed to answer the question of how international ideas of physical education were introduced in schools in Switzerland in the last decades of the nineteenth century and what type of citizenship was supported.As evident from above, physical education was a well discussed topic in Switzerland, as in other European countries at that time.Two dominant systems, called "Ling-Rothstein" and "Jahn-Spieß, " were promoted by different actors.Both systems, however, strongly pushed for military aspects and a sense of nationality, and were cited in both French-speaking and German-speaking parts of Switzerland.Physical education in schools in Switzerland in the nineteenth century was oriented toward European ideas of physical education.In this sense, this school subject was similar to others, given that it promised to educate the "new citizen." Thus, patriotic ideas of how to educate the "new citizen" were adopted from one country to another, aligning them to the respective national practices and traditions. 55Important was to educate the future male citizens into being strong soldiers and the future female citizens into being good mothers.55 Horlacher (2016), 96.