The German Alpine Club (german: links=no, Deutscher Alpenverein, DAV for short) is the world's largest climbing association and the eighth-largest sporting association in

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 betwee ...

. It is a member of the

German Olympic Sports Confederation The German Olympic Sports Confederation (german: Deutscher Olympischer Sportbund or DOSB) was founded on 20 May 2006 by a merger of the ''Deutscher Sportbund'' (DSB), and the ''Nationales Olympisches Komitee für Deutschland'' (NOK) which dates ...

and the competent body for sport and competition climbing,

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 ...

mountaineering Mountaineering or alpinism, is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending tall mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas. Indoor climbing, sport climbing, ...

, hill walking, ice climbing, mountain expeditions, as well as

ski mountaineering Ski mountaineering (abbreviated to skimo) is a skiing discipline that involves climbing mountains either on skis or carrying them, depending on the steepness of the ascent, and then descending on skis. There are two major categories of equipmen ...

. It is an association made up of local branches known as 'sections'.

History

The German Alpine Club was founded as on 9 May 1869 in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and ...

by 36 former members of the

Austrian Alpine Club The Austrian Alpine Club (german: Österreichischer Alpenverein) has about 573,000 members in 196 sections and is the largest mountaineering organisation in Austria. It is responsible for the upkeep of over 234 alpine huts in Austria and neighbo ...

around the Ötztal curate Franz Senn. It was founded in order to promote the development of tourism in the Eastern Alps through the building of

mountain hut A mountain hut is a building located high in the mountains, generally accessible only by foot, intended to provide food and shelter to mountaineers, climbers and hikers. Mountain huts are usually operated by an Alpine Club or some organization ...

s, and establishment of hiking

trail A trail, also known as a path or track, is an unpaved lane or small road usually passing through a natural area. In the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, a path or footpath is the preferred term for a pedestrian or hiking trail. ...

s, and via ferratas. The association had a large membership from the beginning, attracting 1,070 members in the first ten months. Hüttenschild

The German and the Austrian societies merged in 1873 to form the

German and Austrian Alpine Club The German and Austrian Alpine Club (german: Deutscher und Österreichischer Alpenverein, DuÖAV) was a merger of the German, Austrian and German Bohemian Alpine Club that existed from 1873 to 1938. History In 1862 the ''Sektion Austria'' was fou ...

(DÖAV). By the late 19th century, the association's policies became increasingly nationalistic and

anti-Semitic Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

. In 1899, the

Brandenburg Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an area of 29,480 squ ...

section amended an "

Aryan paragraph An Aryan paragraph (german: Arierparagraph) was a clause in the statutes of an organization, corporation, or real estate deed that reserved membership and/or right of residence solely for members of the "Aryan race" and excluded from such rights a ...

" to exclude non-Christian members, followed by the

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

section in 1905 and the Alpine associations of Vienna in 1907 and Munich in 1910. After

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, Jewish members, including Viktor Frankl and Fred Zinnemann, who made up one third of the membership, were banned in most branches. They, in turn, established a separate '' Donauland'' section, insisting on recognition by the DÖAV. The ''Donauland'' members were officially ousted in 1924. Jews were even banned from using the DÖAV mountain huts.Helmuth Zebhauser: ''Alpinismus im Hitlerstaat'', München 1998, . Neueres zum Antisemitismus des Vereins in ''Panorama. Mitteilungsblatt des DAV'' Heft 1/2007, S. 60–62, von Nicholas Mailänder, siehe Weblinks: Donaulandaffäre Following Austrian ''

Anschluss The (, or , ), also known as the (, en, Annexation of Austria), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into the German Reich on 13 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a " Greater Germa ...

'' to

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

in 1938, the DÖAV, under the leadership of Arthur Seyss-Inquart, was renamed as the ''Deutscher Alpenverein'' (DAV) and was incorporated into the '' Nationalsozialistischer Reichsbund für Leibesübungen'' (National Socialist League of the Reich for Physical Exercise) as its mountaineering association. After

World War II 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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, the DAV was dissolved by the Allied authorities. Its assets were held by the

, acting as trustees. The German Alpine Club was re-established in 1952. It joined the in 1992. After leaving the Union Internationale des Associations d'Alpinisme in 2008 due to differences of opinion regarding competitive and recreational sports, the German and Austrian Alpine Clubs rejoined the Union Internationale des Associations d'Alpinisme in 2013.

Structure

The DAV is an umbrella organization comprising 358 legally independent regional

sections Section, Sectioning or Sectioned may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Section (music), a complete, but not independent, musical idea * Section (typography), a subdivision, especially of a chapter, in books and documents ** Section sig ...

with a total of around 1.3 million DAV in Zahlen
members. Every branch is a registered

voluntary association A voluntary group or union (also sometimes called a voluntary organization, common-interest association, association, or society) is a group of individuals who enter into an agreement, usually as volunteers, to form a body (or organization) to ac ...

('' Eingetragener Verein'', e.V.) in its own right and solely responsible for admitting members. The collective body of the branches is represented by the general assembly, association council, and presidium. The primary task of the Club is the maintenance of its

s through its sections which currently provide 321 alpine club huts for hikers and mountaineersDAV in Zahlen
as well as 207

indoor climbing A climbing wall is an artificially constructed wall with grips for hands and feet, usually used for indoor climbing, but sometimes located outdoors. Some are brick or wooden constructions, but on most modern walls, the material most often used ...

gyms.DAV in Zahlen
The DAV publishes Alpine Club maps and ''

Alpine Club Guide The ''Alpine Club Guides'' (german: Alpenvereinsführer, commonly shortened to ''AV Führer'' or ''AVF'') are the standard series of Alpine guides that cover all the important mountain groups in the Eastern Alps. They are produced jointly by the Ge ...

s'' in cooperation with

Bergverlag Rother Bergverlag Rother is a German publisher with its headquarters in Oberhaching, Upper Bavaria. Since 1950 the company, that formerly went under the name of ''Bergverlag Rudolf Rother'', has published the Alpine Club Guides in cooperation with the G ...

, organises hill walks and alpine-style tours, makes mountaineering equipment available to rent and arranges collective insurance. It also runs the Alpine Museum on Prater Island in

. In recent years, the Club's policies have shifted towards

habitat conservation Habitat conservation is a management practice that seeks to conserve, protect and restore habitats and prevent species extinction, fragmentation or reduction in range. It is a priority of many groups that cannot be easily characterized in ter ...

, with a particular focus on the protection of the fauna and flora of the Alps.

References

Sources

* Anneliese Gidl: ''Alpenverein. Die Städter entdecken die Alpen. Der Deutsche und Österreichische Alpenverein von der Gründung bis zum Ende des Ersten Weltkrieges''. Böhlau, Wien u. a. 2007, .
Rezension
* Holt, Lee Wallace. ''Mountains, Mountaineering and Modernity: A Cultural History of German and Austrian Mountaineering, 1900-1945''. ProQuest, 2008. * Nicholas Mailänder: ''Im Zeichen des Edelweiß. Die Geschichte Münchens als Bergsteigerstadt''. Zürich 2006. * Rainer Amstädter: ''Der Alpinismus. Kultur, Organisation, Politik''. Wien 1996.

External links

Official website of the German Alpine Club

Overview of the branches of the DAV

Official website of the youth division of German Alpine Club (JDAV)

''The Danube land affair of the DuOeAV: The darkest chapter of our club history'' (select: Donaulandaffäre) {{Authority control Sports organisations of Germany Alpine clubs Nature conservation organisations based in Germany Hiking organisations in Germany Sports clubs established in 1869 Mountaineering in Germany 1869 establishments in Bavaria Hiking governing bodies Deutscher Naturschutzring