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Crowd Control: Boxing in Weimar Germany
fact that these contests had a hard time filling even small venues indicated,
perhaps, that a regard for the technical aspects of the sport itself accounted for only
a small part of professional boxing’s popularity during the Weimar Republic. In a
1921 article, Boxsport bemoaned the fact that only the big fights achieved any sort
of public notice, and then largely thanks to the “stylish advertisements.” It also
portrayed boxing as largely a Berlin phenomenon, clearly rooted in the fashionable
milieu of the metropolis and passing by most Germans “with more or less complete
indifference.” 45
Boxsport lobbied for more club fights and for less emphasis on the sensationalism
and commercialism of the big events. In a 1927 front-page article, it wrote,
“What differentiates us from other major boxing centers are the establishment of
permanent small or mid-sized rings. The entire development of boxing in Berlin
is always attuned only to the big fights.” 46 The article criticized the Berlin fans
for focusing on the crass showmanship of these spectacles, and it implicitly blamed
them for the underdeveloped network of boxing clubs and amateur contests.
Boxing commentators regularly criticized this public fixation on showmanship
rather than technique and attributed it to the social background of the spectators.
Kisch, for one, lampooned the perceived spirit of many boxing fans in Weimar
Berlin, who just wanted to see a good scrap, with lots of punches and little attention
to the rules. In one piece, he published a cacophonous pastiche of dialog from a
boxing match, in which fans hurled insults, threw bottles and shouted, “Down with
the referee.” 47 Physical punishment impressed these fans more than the question
of who displayed the best footwork. The journal, Die Leibesübungen, conceded
in 1927 that some spectators at boxing matches truly appreciated the sport and
attended, in part, to enrich their own knowledge of boxing, but it characterized
the majority of spectators as “this mass of beer-drinking, spitting, cigarettesmoking,
loud-mouthed sensation-seekers.” 48 Curt Gutmann, in a 1928 article,
bemoaned the fact that most spectators still did not understand the sport of boxing:
How little the broad masses actually understand about boxing, its essence and its art can
be seen anew with the deepest regret at each fight. They want to see k.o.’s; blood must
flow; they want to see pounding, grabbing, until one or the other boxer or, better yet,
both collapse; the high point would be a ‘double k.o.’ 49
Gutmann’s appraisal indicated, perhaps, the limited pedagogical value of press and
radio coverage and even implicated the media in the generation of precisely this
violent thrill-seeking that the boxing crowds exhibited.
The popular Berlin feuilletonist, Rumpelstilzchen, painted an even darker
picture of boxing spectators and their motivations for attending the matches. He
wrote in 1922, “The eyes of the spectators glimmer. They want to see blood . . .
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