LAWN TENNIS IN GERMANY

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 101, 15 May 1937, Page 6

LAWN TENNIS IN GERMANY

Political Tests For Players NEW NAZI DECREE (Own Correspondent— By Air Mail)' BEBL3N, April 27. The lawn tennis player's lat in Nazl Gexmany is not a happy one. £n future a thorough grounding in Nazi racial and historical theories will be of more importance to the budding champion than the cannon-ball service or a strong forehand drive. The Eeisch League for Physical Exer. cises, which controls all sporting activv ties in Germany, has issued a decree that all members of tennis clubs, front Davis Cup players down to the "rabbits," must submit to the ordeai of a public examination in Nazi philosophy before the end of this month. No^ person who fails to pass will be permitted to take part in any tourna* ment or inter-club match, whatever his or her skill as a player. Members of the Eot-Weiss Club, the most exclusive lawn tennis club in Berlin, were ordered to the club-house this evening to be examined in the preseuce of Herr Sehikora, the local offieial entrusted with the "promotion of nation* al characteristies." They had to show proficiency in the following Subjects: The duty of a German is to main« tain the pnrity of his racial inherit* ance. What is meant by th conceptions "people" and "national characw ter"? How far does the German race ex* tendf Are national and racial frontiers identical? The philo8ophical basis of German physical exercises in the new State. All members were thonghtfully provided with a "crib" to help them to answer the questions. This contained much, interesting information which most certainly have been fresh to the non-Nazi members among them. The meaning of "national charaeter" was explained as follows: "Just as every individual has character, so every people in its entirety has its characteristic traits in speech, song, word, writing, thinking, feeling, loving and hating. "In the people speaks the same racial sonl. In the old customs and morals of the people springs the power to fight against everything that is alien tq us." The number of Germans in the world is given as 96,210,000. Of these 5,000,000 are stated to be found in Holland, a conntry with a total . population of 8,500,000'. The generons totals of 3,790,000 and 1, 383,000 are given for Czeehoslovakia and Alsace Lorraine respectively, while Belgium is said to eontain 3,000,000 "Low German Flemings." The Boers are, surprisingly enough, mentioned as the representatives of the German race in Afica The North Sea and the Baltic in the north and the Alps in the south are given as the boundaries of '"Germanism," while in the east the line tuus from Memel through Pressburg to Fiume, "apart from the Czechs who have burst their way in." In Nazi sporting eircles it is hoped* that the German Davis Cup team, f ortified with this varied information, will go far in the competition this summer.