Jewish studies and antisemitism in Paralympic history – a museum focused approach

• In Event: Disability Rights Without Borders: Law, Citizenship, and the Redefinition of the Jewish Body Politic

Abstract

Dr Ludwig Guttmann, a German-Jewish neuroscientist, escaped Nazi Germany in the late 1930s and went onto establish revolutionary rehabilitation approaches which transformed treatment for spinally injured people. A key aspect of this treatment was sport – an activity initially based in rehabilitation and participation, formalised into national competitions, and later becoming the international Paralympic Games. Dr Guttmann’s Jewish heritage and experiences of antisemitism are often cited in education and publications about the history of the Paralympics – particularly those which wish to focus on the emancipatory legacy of disability sport. However, this connection between antisemitism at the hands of the Nazis, and disablism faced by Guttmann’s patients, is often presented uncritically.

In this paper, I wish to draw on my experience studying disability sport history, and working for the National Paralympic Heritage Trust, a Paralympic heritage organisation based in Stoke Mandeville, UK. The field of Paralympic histories has few existing intersections with Jewish history and studies within academic research, and this exploration presents an opportunity to think critically about the causal connections drawn between antisemitism and disablism. Museum education will inform part of this presentation, based on experiences with local Jewish community groups learning about Dr Guttmann’s experiences. This paper is foregrounded in the author’s previous exploration of disability-Jewish histories, which suggests there are potent social, cultural, and political links between antisemitism and disablism in historic research. This paper will also consider Guttmann’s connections to Israeli physiotherapists and disabled athletes.

Author

• Samuel Brady, National Paralympic Heritage Trust