Grandstand for the stadium at Karlsruhe Polytechnic, design: Hermann Alker, built between 1927 and 1931. KIT South Campus, Engesserstrasse 20.
Today, university sports at KIT encompass recreational and competitive activities offered to students and staff through the Institute of Sports and Sports Science. The scientific role of this institute in research and teaching has a long prehistory. As early as 1833, a gymnastics club was established by students at Karlsruhe Polytechnical College. Before World War I, geology professor Wilhelm Paulcke (1873–1949), an avid mountain sports enthusiast, began advocating physical exercise at Karlsruhe Polytechnic. His efforts only gained significant traction after World War I. With the ban on compulsory military service imposed by the Treaty of Versailles and widespread discontent with the peace terms, conditions became favorable for promoting physical exercise. Students began calling for mandatory physical education as part of their university curriculum, partly to compensate for the training previously conducted in the military. This led to the integration of sports into university life across Germany. There were also specific military elements to it, such as shooting training. By 1931, Karlsruhe Polytechnic had constructed large sports facilities, including a grandstand on Engesserstraße that is still standing today. Designed by Karlsruhe architecture professor Hermann Alker (1885–1967), the grandstand features a self-supporting concrete roof which was a remarkable architectural innovation. With approximately 1,000 seats, it could accommodate most of the student body at Karlsruhe at the time. Film footage of the annual sports festivals shows enthusiastic active and passive participation, with professors seated in the front rows. Winners of the competitions were awarded their prizes with a handshake from the rector. kn
From the perspective of academic sports, the university stadium is a testament to the innovative vision of Rector Wilhelm Paulcke, a key figure in the German Academic Committee for Physical Exercise and founder of several national ski associations. Since 1914, Paulcke had been championing the “minimum requirement of a training ground and a sports instructor” at Karlsruhe Polytechnic, despite resistance from his own department. In his opinion, his colleagues in the Senate initially had “little understanding” for his cause. Paulcke was deeply troubled by what he perceived as the students’ deteriorating health and he was equally concerned about enhancing psycho-social development through physical exercise. When Paulcke became rector of the Polytechnic in the academic year 1919/20, his position gained substantial leverage. Germany’s defeat and the abolition of compulsory military service under the Treaty of Versailles fostered widespread support for university sports, which now suited as an important substitute for military training. The Karlsruhe stadium was built to the latest standards: the grandstand suitably housed facilities for the planned health and physical education institutes besides a large exercise and gymnastics hall still in use today. The plans also included administrative and teaching rooms, well-equipped washrooms, a fatigue pool, and a room for sports medicine treatments. The outdoor facilities, set amidst the greenery of the pheasant garden, were also well-equipped, attracting part of the German Olympic team in preparing for the 1936 Games. This layout reflected Paulcke’s philosophy on health, which emphasized physical activity, proximity to nature, and hygienic practices. The stadium provided a much-needed venue for the burgeoning interest in university sports among Karlsruhe students as well as other interested parties, who had been calling for such facilities years before the stadium was constructed. It soon became a hub of vibrant sporting activity. University sports had meanwhile become obligatory under the responsibility of the first gymnastics and sports teacher in Baden, August Twele (1896–1985). It was further institutionalized with the introduction of a performance book for all students, which recorded their physical achievements each semester and later served as proof of physical fitness for career purposes. Starting in 1924, medical data — including height, weight, and alcohol consumption, for instance — was systematically recorded in special monitoring records on each student. Beginning in the mid-1920s, once a year the stadium became the spotlight of academic life at Karlsruhe on Academic Sports Day. This dies academicus evolved into an athletic festival, like at other universities, providing an annual showcase for students to demonstrate their physical fitness and health. Female students performed round dances; competitive performance was the prerogative of men. The rector proudly presided over the medal ceremonies, with students presenting themselves in formal or fraternity attire to show how much they valued receiving their accolades personally from the rector. “The academic sports festival with its mass exercises became a celebration for the academic family, during which sports competitions were held before the eyes of the entire enthusiastically attentive faculty and civil servants. Only the achievement of the fittest was what counted here […], teachers and students at one, united in harmonious camaraderie.” By the 1930s, academic sports had evolved significantly. Many universities founded academic flying groups, and new disciplines such as grenade throwing, small-caliber shooting, cross-country running, or pack marches were added to the standard disciplines. Swantje Scharenberg