ADOLF KOCH: HIS LIFE AND WORK

Let me start my presentation with a personal note: Unfortunately, Adolf Koch did not write his memoirs. It would have been an interesting book, since his life was filled with so many diverse experiences. He had many interests and always new ideas which, if at all feasible, he tried to realize. My life with him was never boring; I always had to be prepared for surprises. He had an immense influence on my development. Most people who came in touch with him or took gymnastics with him experienced the same. I heard that over and over again. Adolf Koch perceived people and the world they inhabited as a unified entity. He fought for a world in peace in which everyone could develop his or her own potential. He believed in the possibility of a better world. But he also met with disappointments: “The power of money is stronger than that of idealism,” he concluded.

Adolf Koch was born in Berlin on April 9, 1897. He attended grade school and soon aspired to become a teacher –but not one who would inflict corporal punishment. From 1911-14 he attended Normal School in preparation for a degree in education. At the outbreak of WWI he and all the other students joined the army. “I joined the Medical Corps in 1914 and these experiences of my early youth totally changed my perceptions of human kind and human existence. I had come from a petit bourgeois family and the traditional religious values handed down to me, the education in my pedagogical seminars in no way reflected the realities I had to confront in the war. In these experiences, in the confessions of dying soldiers I found the essence of human existence, its tragic circumstances and doubts.”

After the end of the war Adolf Koch got together with fellow students of his Teachers College and organized special courses, also obtained the needed textbooks so they all could pass their exams. On Sept. 21, 1920, he passed his first of two Teachers exams. “Even before taking my state accreditation exam I had found a circle of teachers who shared my ideas, who were intent to find ways for releasing body and soul. We also had contact with the teacher Anna Hermann who offered to teach us “physical education” in the true sense of the word. It was a goal which could only be realized by working out in the nude. We were convinced that bodily injuries, especially those suffered by children and the youth during the war, could not perceived under the armour of clothing. All the experts, who had years of experience, know only so well, how many defects and weaknesses can be hidden under even the lightest piece of clothing. They also know that the original defect can easily turn into the opposite extreme if not detected early. (Anna Hermann, 1923). This is how we, the 20 and 30 year olds, arrived at nudity during gymnastics, namely, for biological reasons.”

Adolf Koch also was trained in massage and was an excellent masseur. From 1919-21 Adolf Koch studied pedagogy and medicine at the University of Berlin. He also studied 6 semesters at the Institute of Sexual Science under Magnus Hirschfeld. He did not have the financial resources to finish his studies. His medical knowledge was extensive and recognized by many physicians. During a medial convention I overheard a physician saying: “It is difficult to say whether Adolf Koch is a better educator or if he would have become a better physician.”

Adolf Koch got a job as a teacher in Berlin. AK wrote himself: “Through my Work as a teacher in the working class section of Berlin I had close contact with the families of my students. We started discussion groups which made me acutely aware of shortcomings of our educational system and this reinforced the experiences and insights gained during the war. Working together with the parents we started to address health issues. The first “nude-culture” group was initiated, followed by the “League of Free People” and the youth group “Sonnenland”, whose members were actively involved in creating the later “Adolf-Koch-Institut”. At school and outside school I worked with 10-13 year old boys and girls and their parents, not only as their teacher but also as their friend, and this was confirmed in our way of address, namely the informal DU-form. This was especially important to the children since half of them had lost their fathers in the war. A true inner connection was established which was never at risk in our later struggles with the reactionary elements of our society.” In January, 1924, a cleaning woman peeking through the keyhole watched a FKK youth group doing gymnastics and subsequently reported the incident to a parent group of the school. When the press got wind of this it immediately started a smear campaign, to an extent almost incomprehensible today. Leading newspapers started reporting about “the nude dancing in school conducted by the teacher Adolf Koch” and demanded his immediate dismissal and prosecution. Members of the Federal Diet, the Reichstag, discussed for years this so-called abuse of 200 female school students of a public school in Berlin by the teacher Adolf Koch. Adolf Koch was taken to court but won his case. He resigned his position on his own free will and founded his own, socialist body culture school. “Already then I divined the intricate interconnections and knew that the majority of the people would condemn our need for a free body culture.” “But something good came out of this. Famous intellectuals in the field of education, the legal institutions and in medical community affirmed our goal. Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld offered us facilities in the Prussian Institute for Sexual Science. He did not change his position in spite of his students’ boycott of his lectures. In 1933 the Hirschfeld Institute was reduced to ashes. Dr. Hans Graaz, who later became the official physician of the Adolf Koch Institute, came to our aid and worked with us till his death in 1953. The Free Unions and the Socialist Youth Organization, the Democratic Party, the SPD and cadres of the Communist Party took part in our struggle till 1933. I never gave up my public struggle against this injustice. I have always regretted deeply that the German people had to sink such depths before they could see the light again. I resigned my position (although I was exonerated) on my own volition. We started our own first pedagogical-medical and sociological school by the name “Heilpädagogische-Körperkulturschule Adolf Koch” (Therapeutic Body Culture School). Our curriculum included gymnastics, alternate shower technique, Ultra-light treatment, all these made available in leased swimming pools and camp grounds. Already in 1932 there Adolf Koch Schools and affiliated groups in 13 German cities, also in Hong Kong and New York, led by teachers trained in the Adolf Koch Institute. Quite an accomplishment. Our own research, focusing on hygiene, health, sex life, community, marriage, work, gymnastics and education, strengthened and reaffirmed FKK. Over 5,000 dossiers, carefully recording the medical history of our members, were reviewed in order to give specific advice to our members regarding personal problems, choice of profession, proper nourishment and appropriate exercises. Only a small portion of these documents could be saved from destruction.”

Adolf Koch published a series of socialist body culture magazines and books and was contributing editor to other reformist publications.

At the many gatherings Adolf Koch organized, lots of practical work was done. After one of these congresses the school received the wonderful grounds in Selchow near Berlin (1930).

All this was accomplished through members’ fees, always kept small, so that those who did not have much money could also participate. The continuing medical services provided by Dr. Hans Graaz were most important.

All this work came to a halt in 1933. The Adolf Koch school was the first that was closed down. Koch’s books were put on the index of prohibited and anti-German publications. The large library as well as other pamphlets and books written about Adolf Koch were reduced to ashes in 1934. The campground in Selchow and Adolf Koch’s private possessions were confiscated. Because of his continuous anti-Nazi activities Adolf Koch was continuously harassed by the Gestapo.

In 1935, Adolf Koch secretly opened an Institute for Eubiotics and worked undercover with physicians, teachers and masseurs, none of which was a member of the Nazi party.

In 1939, Adolf Koch was enlisted in the German Army as a trainer for medical therapists and a teacher of remedial for the wounded and disabled. He also managed the Berlin Institute in spite of mounting difficulties, because hundreds of socialists met at the institute and many non-Aryans could be helped there.

After the war friends returned and helped resurrect the new Adolf Koch Institute out of the rubbles in the Hasenheide in Berlin-Kreuzberg. It was self-supporting and received no government grants. No state office wanted to assume responsibility for an institution teaching health, physical education and general education. Adolf Koch often said: “There is no ministry for the whole human being – if there were one, it would certainly pertain to us.” Dr. Graaz stated that the Adolf Koch Institute offered special health pedagogical services which equal to those rendered by the health education and health centres in England and the USA. It was the first health centre in Germany.

Adolf and I got married in August, 1950. He faced the future with great hope and vitality.

Every Thursday evening there were public lectures about free body culture and other related subjects. That happened at a time when no one admitted being a FKK member and when FKK organizations and their leadership could only be reached via a post office box.

The German FKK federation, functioning as an umbrella organization for all smaller clubs, excluded Adolf Koch and his family from membership and refused Adolf Koch’s followers entry to their clubs and participation in their activities.

The losses Adolf Koch suffered during the reign of terror between 1933 and 1945 could not be overcome completely. For these reasons and economic ones, and due to the special status of Berlin, Adolf Koch could not expand his activities nor obtain a tract of land.

On February 2, 1970, Adolf Koch died quite unexpectedly. Too early. He had just entered on the first planning stages of an extensive opus about his work with gymnastics. He died of complication of the flu and pneumonia and a leg injury he had suffered in WWI. Due to the after-effects of cholera also suffered in the war he never could enjoy the camping grounds. In summertime he always had a fever but never did he miss one class.

Today nudity on beaches is accepted here as well as in many other countries. It cannot be denied that the acceptance of nudity is in part due to Adolf Koch’s life and his struggle for body acceptance. This is what counts, after all, and all the small and big betrayals Adolf Koch had to suffer mean nothing in the light of his perseverance as the champion of free body culture.

With the help of faithful friends I continued the work of the Institute besides working as a teacher in Berlin-Kreuzberg till 1975. When the landlord of the Hasenheide cancelled our lease and we could not rent new facilities for financial reasons, the Institute, a place for making friends, for developing bodily expression and maintaining health and vigour, had to be closed. In December, 1975, we had our last gymnastics hour at Hasenheide. Already in January, 1976, we continued our work in the newly established HAUS DER FAMILIE in Berlin-Kreuzberg, Mehring Damm. We had a new home.

And we continue in the tradition of Adolf Koch. Gymnastics, swimming, water gymnastics, volleyball, meetings, hiking, trips to West and East Germany, evenings of entertainment and parties. We offer a great deal and that with the full support of our faithful members.

Irmgard Koch-Richter
(1923-2009)

(Source: Napóra/Zegar Słoneczny,
Vol.2 No. 1, November, 1991)