''Morgnshtern'' (מאָרגןשטערן,

Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ve ...

for 'Morning Star', sometimes also known by its

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

name ''Jutrznia'') was a Jewish sports organisation in

interbellum In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the First World War to the beginning of the Second World War. The interwar period was relative ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

, politically linked to the Bund. It was founded in the end of 1926. ''Morgnshtern'' increased significantly in influence in the period just preceding the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. In 1937 the organisation had 107 local branches in different parts of the country. Its largest branch was based in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

. In 1936, the Warsaw branch had 956 active members, in 1937 he membership reached around 1500 (making it the largest local sporting organisation in Poland) and 1855 in 1938.Brenner, Michael, and Gideon Reuveni. ''Emancipation Through Muscles: Jews and Sports in Europe''.

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincol ...

: University of Nebraska Press, 2006. p. 97, 100Kugelmass, Jack. ''Jews, Sports, and the Rites of Citizenship''.

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: University of Illinois Press, 2007. p. 119-120 ''Morgnshtern'' was repeatedly targeted by the Polish authorities; between 1929 and 1934, 23 local ''Morgnshtern'' branches were closed down. In 1937 ''Morgnshtern'' had prepared a delegation to take part in the Workers Olympics in Antwerp,

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, but the Polish government refused to give travel visas to the athletes. The development of socialist sports was markedly affected by the rise of

fascism Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy an ...

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

. The socialist sport movement took a more paramilitary character, in order to mobilize anti-fascist defense. In the case of ''Morgnshtern'', the Bund already had experiences from organizing militias against pogroms. Bernand Goldstein, the president of the ''Morgnshtern'' in Warsaw was also the chief of the Bundist Defense Corps (Goldstein himself did however later downplay his role in ''Morgnshtern'', stating that the presidency was merely an honorary position). ''Morgnshtern'' ceased to function as Poland was occupied by

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. Many of the athletes of the organisation became resistance fighters during the war. ''Morgnshtern'' was revived after the war. Warsaw "Jutrznia-Morgnshtern" is the only remaining ''Morgnshtern'' branch.

Socialist sporting

''Morgnshtern'' espoused principles of

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

sporting, seeking to promote proletarian camaraderie and collective achievements, rather than individual competition. These principles had been formulated in the book ''Sport und Politik'' ('Sports and Politics') by

Julius Deutsch Julius Deutsch (February 2, 1884, Lackenbach, Austria-Hungary – January 17, 1968, Vienna, Austria) was a politician of the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria, member of Parliament between 1920-1933 and co-founder and leader of the Socia ...

. Initially the organisation mainly organised sports were large numbers of people could participate at the same time, such as

cycling Cycling, also, when on a two-wheeled bicycle, called bicycling or biking, is the use of cycles for transport, recreation, exercise or sport. People engaged in cycling are referred to as "cyclists", "bicyclists", or "bikers". Apart from t ...

gymnastics Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, s ...

and

hiking Hiking is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century.AMATO, JOSEPH A. "Mind over Foot: Romantic Walking and Rambling." In ''On Foot: A Histor ...

.Kugelmass, Jack. ''Jews, Sports, and the Rites of Citizenship''.

: University of Illinois Press, 2007. p. 115-116 The most popular activity of ''Morgnshtern'' was gymnastics. This was followed by ''ritmika'' ( eurythmics), which mainly had female participants. However, in order to increase recruitment the organisation eventually began opening up for more individually oriented competitive sports such as football,

table tennis Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...

and

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermine ...

. ''Morgnshtern'', although officially disliking football as a sport which glorified individual champions, had a few football teams affiliated to it already in the 1920s. Still though, compared to the '' Shtern'' federation of the Poale Zion Left or bourgeois Jewish sports organisations, ''Morgnshtern'' put very little emphasis on football. In 1930 the Central Organising Committee of ''Morgnshtern'' adopted a resolution on the 'football question', which concluded that the sport could be collective and inclusive if addressed in the right way. In the early 1930s, there were several football teams in Warsaw city affiliated to ''Morgnshtern''. Following the adoption of the 1930 football resolution, the organisation began forming teams for table tennis (a ''Morgnshtern'' athlete formed part of the Polish national delegation at the 1938

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

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), handball,

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

and

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Sum ...

. The organisation was even more vocally opposed to boxing, and had proposed banning boxing from the Socialist Workers' Sport International at the 1929 SWSI congress.Kugelmass, Jack. ''Jews, Sports, and the Rites of Citizenship''.

: University of Illinois Press, 2007. p. 117 However, the Warsaw branch of ''Morgnshtern'' set up a boxing club in late December 1935, which was rather successful in the late 1930s.

Relations with ZRSS and SWSI

A delegation of ''Morgnshtern'' participated in the 1927 congress of the

Socialist Workers' Sport International Socialist Workers' Sport International (german: Sozialistische Arbeitersport Internationale, SASI) was an international socialist sporting organisation, based in Lucerne. It was founded in 1920, and consisted of six national federations (with a co ...

.Brenner, Michael, and Gideon Reuveni. ''Emancipation Through Muscles: Jews and Sports in Europe''.

: University of Nebraska Press, 2006. p. 51-53 ''Morgnshtern'' had a complicated relationship with the Polish Workers' Sport Federation (ZRSS), due to political antagonism between the Bund and the

Polish Socialist Party The Polish Socialist Party ( pl, Polska Partia Socjalistyczna, PPS) is a socialist political party in Poland. It was one of the most important parties in Poland from its inception in 1892 until its merger with the communist Polish Workers' ...

(which dominated the ZRSS). The two organisations clashes at the 1929

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

congress of the Socialist Workers' Sports International, as ''Morgnshtern'' demanded to be recognized as a separate section and not as an affiliate of the Polish ZRSS. In the end, the congress accepted the demand. ''Morgnshtern'' sent its own delegation to the 1931 Workers Olympics in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Cultural and social activities

Apart from physical training, ''Morgnshtern'' also organized cultural activities. A mandolin orchestra and a theatre group were run by ''Morgnshtern'' in

Vilna Vilnius ( , ; see also #Etymology and other names, other names) is the capital and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the munic ...

. The ''Morgnshtern'' branch in Warsaw organized visits to cinemas and theatres. The summers ''Morgnshtern'' would rent a swimming pool, and offer swimming lessons to its members. In the winters, from 1933 onwards, the organisation had an ice-skating rink in Warsaw.

Name

The full name of the organization was in Yiddish, and in Polish. After the 1929 congress of the Socialist Workers' Sport International, the organisation added and 'Jewish section of the Workers' Sports International' () to its name.Kugelmass, Jack. ''Jews, Sports, and the Rites of Citizenship''.

: University of Illinois Press, 2007. p. 123

Emblem

The emblem of ''Morgnshtern'' featured a

javelin throw The javelin throw is a track and field event where the javelin, a spear about in length, is thrown. The javelin thrower gains momentum by running within a predetermined area. Javelin throwing is an event of both the men's decathlon and the wom ...

er, illustrated in the style of a classic Greek statue, in front of belching smokestacks. The emblem also had the name of the organisation in Yiddish and Polish.

References

{{reflist Bundism in Europe Jewish anti-Zionism in Poland Jewish sports organizations Sports organisations of Poland