Every five years from 1955 to 1985, mass Czechoslovak gymnastic
demonstrations and sporting parades called Spartakiads were held to
mark the 1945 liberation of Czechoslovakia. Featuring hundreds of
thousands of male and female performers of all ages and held in the
world's largest stadium-a space built expressly for this
purpose-the synchronized and unified movements of the Czech
citizenry embodied, quite literally, the idealized Socialist
people: a powerful yet pliant force directed by the regime. In this
book, Petr Roubal explores the political, social, and aesthetical
dimensions of these mass physical demonstrations, with a particular
focus on their roots in the voelkisch nationalism of the German
Turner movement and the Czech Sokol gymnastic tradition. Roubal
draws on extensive interviews and archival research to investigate
the many facets of this sporting tradition, from the reactions of
ordinary, non-political gymnasts who appropriated and challenged
official rituals to the organizational demands of the Spartakiads,
such as the incredible finances involved and the knowledge and
skills required from hundreds of former Sokol officials. Featuring
an abundance of archival photographs, Spartakiad takes a new
approach to Communist history by opening a window onto the
mentality and mundanity behind the Iron Curtain.
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