Carl Diem's "Organisation plan for Physical Education in Bulgaria" 1937 = “Plan de organización de la educación física en Bulgaria” de Carl Diem, 1937

Abstract

In the middle of the 1930s, sport in young Bulgaria was in a deficient state not only in the eyes of its government, but also in those of foreign observers. The “Law on the Physical Education of Youth”, passed in 1931, did not seem to fulfill the expectations placed in it, which is why the government asked for advice and the preparation of a general plan by an expert to be sent by the German Reich. Carl Diem, internationally known and respected at least since the 1936 Olympic Games, stayed in the country in the fall of 1937 and drafted the requested plan, which contained a concept for the future organisation of national sports, the construction of sports facilities and the training of “gymnastics teachers” on more than 60 pages, including annexes and an analysis of the current situation. The present study attempts a synoptic-descriptive presentation of this “Organisation Plan for Physical Education in Bulgaria”, which was groundbreaking for national sports.