Danish sport has been associated with Europe and the World; not least through I.P. Muller and Niels Bukh and the Danish Gymnastics revolution with its emphasis on male aesthetics and hygiene in the first half of the twentieth century. At the same time, Denmark has stood apart from Europe in the early moments of its history of sport with the rural revolution of the farming communities as a statement of political independence and assertion. However, during the German occupation of Denmark, Danish sport was part of a European collaboration which characterized a number of the occupied countries not least in the Nordic area. After the Second World War, Denmark embraced international body cultures with other European nations in particular Eastern martial arts. Denmark too, as part of trends in the European region and the world, became caught up in sport as a powerful contemporary political statement. This book was previously published as a special issue of the International Journal of the History of Sport.

Danish sport has been associated with Europe and the World; not least through I.P. Muller and Niels Bukh and the Danish Gymnastics revolution with its emphasis on male aesthetics and hygiene in the first half of the twentieth century. At the same time, Denmark has stood apart from Europe in the early moments of its history of sport with the rural revolution of the farming communities as a statement of political independence and assertion. However, during the German occupation of Denmark, Danish sport was part of a European collaboration which characterized a number of the occupied countries not least in the Nordic area. After the Second World War, Denmark embraced international body cultures with other European nations in particular Eastern martial arts. Denmark too, as part of trends in the European region and the world, became caught up in sport as a powerful contemporary political statement. This book was previously published as a special issue of the International Journal of the History of Sport.

In comparison with sports in other occupied countries, Danish sport had the most widespread collaboration with the Germans during World War II. Football with a Foe shows that the first years of the German occupation of Denmark became a "golden age" of Danish-German collaborative sports that was far more intense than any period before or since. Banners with the Nazi swastika flew side by side with the Danish flag, while German competitors gave the 'heil' salute accompanied by the Nazi Horst Wesselsong. However, later on, at a match against the Viennese team Admira, the Danish supporters poured scorn on the heil gestures of the guests and attacked uniformed German soldiers among the crowd. The riot at the stadium infuriated the German authorities to a degree that they had the Danish Minister of Justice dismissed. After the war, sport was again used for political purposes, now to demonstrate Denmark's emotional integration in the Allied club, culminating in a sold-out game at Idr tsparken on July 10, 1945 between a professional English and a select Danish team in the presence of the British chief commanding officer in Denmark, General Dewing. (In 2007, the Danish version of Football with the Foe was awarded as "the Danish history book of the year.")

The first international biography of Niels Bukh (1880-1950), the charismatic founder of the special Danish school of modern gymnastics. His team of young elite gymnasts travelled around the world demonstrating his gymnastics, and in Japan his school is still attracting thousands of pupils. Bukh's private life and his fascination with the German Nazi party makes him a very controversial figure even fifty years after his death. Includes a DVD with 131 film clips in Danish, English and Japanese.

Languages: Danish, English and Japanese. Niels Bukh and his elite gymnasts from the Academy of Physical Education in Ollerup (Denmark) toured the world during the first half of the 20th century showing their modern gymnastics. On these travels they had an extraordinary ability to arrive right in the middle of the international community's hot spots: in the Soviet Union during forced collectivisation; in Japan, China and Korea during the Japanese occupation of Manchuria; in Germany shortly after Hitler's succession to power; and in South Africa amid the eruption of the Second World War and the escalating struggle between white sections of the populations. All this and much more is documented in the photographs and unique film footage contained on this DVD. Approximate running time: 122 minutes.