G E R M A N Y
In this month of December I would like to present to you two rather old postcards from Germany. I am not sure what kind of sport they show, and that is why I would also like to ask you for your opinion. But let's take a look first:
Here is the first example. This
postcard was sent on Feb 10, 1917 (between 9 an 10 am) from Berlin SW to
the Berlin district of Neukölln. The original text reads as follows:
"Herzlichen Glückwunsch sendet zum Geburtstag die Jugend - Abteilung des
Turnvereins "Jahn" Neukölln, Wehle" [Best wishes for your birthday
sends the youth - section of the "Jahn" Sportsclub Neukölln, Wehle]. I
understand that "Whele" might have been the president or sectretary of the
sportsclub. The "inventor" of sports in Germany, Friedrich Ludwig Jahn,
set up his first sportsfield precisley in this Berlin district of
"Neukölln", at the people´s park "Hasenheide", in 1811.
On the front side of the postcard, which was printed by Albert Hoffmann,
Kunstanstalt, Magdeburg, you can read the text "Gut Heil !" and you can
see a rope dividing two teams of sportsmen and some spectators. There seem
to be a ball flying in the air. It is partly covered by the letter "G".
And here is the second example. It was sent from Bretzenheim in Rheinhessen to Kronberg in the Taunus region. As far as I can read the cancel it was sent on the 13th day in the year 1921. I cannot see the month. On the picture side of the card you can see Friedrich Ludwig Jahn, a stone-throwing athlete as well as two time throwing a ball over a rope which is fixed to two wooden posts.
In both cases I do not think that it is "Faustball" [fistball], a sport played mainly in Germany, Austria and German speaking regions all over the world (Italy, Namibia, Brazil, ...). I do not really consider it to be Volleyball either, but I would like to receive your comments on these two items.
