Austrian Skiing under National Socialism

The history of National Socialist skiing in Austria did not only begin with the Anschluss in March 1938. Even before that, large parts of organized skiing were closely related to the Nazi movement. An increasing ideologization of sport led to a policy of exclusion in the ÖSV, which found its counterpart in the radicalism of the Nazi dictatorship. The present research examines power structures and scope for action in skiing in Austria before and during the Nazi dictatorship. It examines to what extend skiing supported the National Socialist system. The focus is particularly on the actors involved, their individual patterns of action, participation and interpretation. The publication tells the story of the perpetrators as well as the victims, the marginalized and the persecuted. It also deals with skiing in Austria in the immediate post-war period until 1955 and shows how skiing in Austria, regardless of Nazi crimes, turned into a national sport and its athletes into heroes.