The Maccabiah is the largest international Jewish sporting event and the third largest sporting event in the world - after the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
In 1895 the first Jewish gymnastics club was founded in Constantinople, the second in 1898 in Berlin. Germany, and Berlin in particular, played a central role in the formation of the Zionist gymnastics clubs and in the formation of the Maccabiad (the largest international Jewish sporting event held in Israel every four years). In the course of the Berlin association, other associations were founded throughout Germany and abroad.
Until the 19th century, Jews were represented in large numbers in European gymnastics clubs. The establishment of Jewish associations is justified by two effects. On the one hand, Jews were pushed out of national gymnastics clubs due to growing anti-Semitism. A drastic example of this is Austria; there, in 1901, the Jews were excluded from the gymnastics clubs. On the other hand, the emerging nationalism motivated some Jews to join Jewish associations.
In 1921, the Maccabi World Union was founded at the 21st Zionist Congress in Karlsbad, Czechoslovakia. dr Heinrich Kuhn from Germany became President. In the Maccabi associations, Zionism was to be brought closer to the Jewish youth. In 1929 Maccabi comprised 22 regions with over 100,000 members.
beginnings:
The first Maccabiah took place from March 28 to March 31, 1932 with 20.000 visitors in Palestine. The country's first sports stadium was built near Tel Aviv for the first Maccabiah. About 390 athletes from 14 countries took part in the competitions.
Three years later, from April 2nd to 7th, 1935, the second Maccabiah took place with 40.000 to 50.000 visitors and 1.350 athletes from 28 countries. The 2nd Maccabiah was also the last before the outbreak of World War II and was already marked by the National Socialist persecutions. Some of the 2 athletes from 1.350 countries who traveled to the Maccabiah took the opportunity and stayed in the country despite threats from the English mandate, which feared an intensification of the conflicts between Jews and Arabs. The third Maccabiah planned for 28 was not carried out due to the Arab rebellion. After that, due to the Nazi horrors, World War II, and Israel's independence, Maccabiah never happened again.
20th century:
It wasn't until 1950 that a Maccabiah was held again. The next followed in 1953. After that, a rhythm of four years was set, analogous to the Olympic Games. Today, German MAKKABI teams regularly take part in the Maccabiah and the European Maccabi Games.