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Why did Prussian authorities ban gymnastics fields and clubs in 1819?

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Simone Biles of Team United States performs a flip above the balance beam during the Women's Balance Beam Final at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. — gymnastics Simone Biles performing on the balance beam at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games (delayed until 2021). She won a bronze medal in the event.

In 1819, Prussian authorities banned gymnastics fields (Turnplatz) and clubs (turnverein) due to the government's deep suspicion of the nationalist sentiments fostered within them.1

The movement, led by Friedrich Ludwig Jahn, encouraged young men to pursue physical fitness while simultaneously indoctrinating them with ideals of German unification, defense of the fatherland, and the removal of foreign influence. These activities became closely linked with radical student organizations known as Burschenschaften, which advocated for civil freedoms and a constitutional government.123

The ban was triggered by the assassination of the conservative playwright August von Kotzebue by a member of a Burschenschaft who was also a gymnast. In response, the Prussian king Frederick William III closed approximately 100 gymnastics centers as part of the broader, reactionary Carlsbad Decrees, which aimed to suppress liberal and nationalist movements across the German states. Jahn was subsequently arrested and imprisoned, and the national ban on gymnastics remained in effect until 1842.1342