Violence, discipline and leisure: Sport in penal and internment camps conference

Sport under the specific circumstances of repression, hunger, violence, and killing unsettles most observers. It goes without saying, that sport in such or other penal and internment camps are seen as something coercive that must constitute a part of the repressive system.

The "Violence, discipline and leisure: Sport in penal and internment camps" conference will be held from 23 to 25 September 2015 and is organised by Prof. Dr. Dittmar Dahlmann, (Universität Bonn), Dr. Anke Hilbrenner, (Universität Bonn) and Mr. Gregor Feindt, M.A., (Institut of European History, Mainz).

With the conference they approach the historic reality of sport in camps beyond alienation and metaphors. They will thus scrutinise sport as both a tool of repression and strategy of survival in a broad and comparative perspective. In order to tackle the dynamic of sport in penal and internement camps they will take into account different camp systems, periods of time and geographical regions.