Yuriy Tumak

Chernivtsi National Yuriy Fed’kovych University

Physical education of children and youth – one of the main activities of public and Physical Training Societies in Bukovina XIX-XX centuries

Topicality of the research. Under the conditions of state-forming the conceptual and methodological foundations of the development and practice of the Physical education of modern schoolchildren are reviewed in Ukraine.

Comprehensive school gradually moves away from isolation Physical Training as a school subject, making it impossible to substitute it in the general complex with the other subjects. That is why it is relevant to study the experience of conducting Physical Training lessons in different historical periods of the comprehensive school in Ukraine. The European context of the studying of this issue of investigation in the aspect of theoretical-methodological heritage of foreign pedagogues attracts also great interest. Thence generalization of the native and foreign experience in the above mentioned problem will help to analyze the changes which took place in the educational process of the schools of different ethnic territories, to reveal their reasons and to design the perspective tendencies of providing the effective development for the future.

These issues concern also the history of the development education in Bukovina in general. From the second part of the XIX – the first third of the XX centuries foreign ideas of the education of schoolchildren, counting also Physical Training, penetrated actively into the pedagogic theory and studying process in the post-war comprehensive schools of the Soviet Ukraine. At the same time local pedagogues developed author programs, which were directed to perfection of the system of the physical culture and sport with a glance on the polyethnicity of the Bukovinian region, actively introducing them in the practice of work of town and village schools.

The state of the problem under investigation. Separate aspects of the development of the system of the physical education of schoolchildren in the Bukovinian region of the investigated period, particularly physical culture and sport were studied by I. Kobylianska, D. Penishkevych, I. Petriuk, I. Rusnak and others; the activities of physical education and sport societies were considered by N. Gnes’, O. Tsybaniuk, V. Muzhychok in the context of their own topics of scientific papers; A. Vyhkrushch, B. Stuparyk, D. Drynda, D. Gertsiuk, L. Derevyana etc. analyzed conditions of introduction physical culture in the educational process; T. Zavgorodnia, V. Shuliakevych, S. Vdovych, I. Kovalchuk etc. studied the didactic aspects of the above mentioned problem.

At the same time the problems which followed the physical education of schoolchildren as the main direction of the activity of the public societies in the 2^nd part of the XIX – the first third of the XX centuries require further detailed studying if to take to account some topical reasons. First of all, this is the sheer lowering of the level of health of modern pupils comparing with their peers from the investigated period; the experience of the practical realization of different forms, methods and means of the physical education of schoolchildren in the out-of-school institutions was not studied in the historical-pedagogical science. The analysis of the essence of the above mentioned aspects will make it possible to estimate in a new way and design the influence of the heritage of the theoreticians and practitioners of the physical education and sport on the effective forming of skills of the healthy way of life in the modern pupils both at the urban and rural areas.

The topicality of this problem, absence of its entire historical-pedagogical analysis with the practical application of its foundations in the practice of the activity of modern public organizations, also sport societies not only in one region but in all Ukraine, stipulated the choice of the topic of the dissertation “Physical Education of Children and Youth in Public and Physical Cultural Societies of Bukovina (the 2^nd part of the XIX – the first third of the XX centuries)”.

The object of the investigation – physical education in Bukovina (the 2^nd part of the XIX – the first third of the XX centuries).

The subject of the investigation – physical education of children and youth in public and sport societies of the land in the period of time under investigation.

The objective of the investigation – to justify the topicality of the creative use of the historical experience physical education of children and youth in public and sport societies of the region in the composition of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire and Romania in the modern conditions of the functioning of the educational institutions.

The main material. The historians and researchers of the land O. Dozhanskyi, S. Osachuk noted that by the middle of the XIX century the Bukovinian society though was very much segregated but the national differentiation was not observed.

As we mentioned above, by 1867 the foundation and activity of societies were regulated on the basis of the decree from the October 13, 1813. According to this law only two societies were formed in Bukovina during ten years (1816-1825) – the charitable one (“The Society of the Aid to Poor Members of the Community”) and the physical education (sport) one (“Shooters’ Society in Chernivtsi”) [Statuen des Czernowitzer Privat].

The return to the constitutional monarchy and obtaining by Bukovina the status of the crown land couldn’t help but effect the cultural development of all ethnical groups of the region, their national consciousness. The growth of the public, national and political activity of the public circles and the connected with it need to found different societies required a new reformed law base.

Since the end of 1867 the attitude of the state to the society movements was based on the foundations of the provision of freedom to every citizen, rights to create societies and free participation in their activity. On the 15^th of November 1867 the law about “Society right” was put to action, the principles of which regulated the activity of all public organizations in the Austrian-Hungarian Empire.

The term “society” was explained by this law as the voluntary community of several people who are regulated by the inner order for the achievement of the defined aim [6, S. 712].

The activity of the society started after the issuing by the local government the official permission. The consideration of the constituent documents was done during four weeks. The government independently decided the question if the newly formed society was non-political on the basis of the documents: the regulations, the characteristics of the founder etc. The police and the local government executed control over the activity of Bukovinian organizations. The interesting forms of control over this activity was the presence of the representatives of the controlling bodies at all events and the analysis of the written reports of the administrative boards of the organizations [5:7, P. 1-2].

The law about “The Societies rights” distinguished two types of societies – general and political. All societies, except those with the financial direction (profit unions, loan-societies), trade unions and religious orders, belonged to the general societies. Let’s single out three main groups among different general societies and unions: charitable, beneficial societies and unions for entertainment.

Great distance of the Bukovinian region from the administrative and cultural centers of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire favored founding of such public communities which would meet social-cultural requirements of all layers of the population. These communities were considered to be one of the most powerful means of support to both material and spiritual culture of the people.

If to generalize the purpose of the activity of charitable organizations of the region of the period under investigation, their aim was the overall aid to poor families, ill citizens of the land, widows and orphans, also financial support for the indigent pupils and craftsmen without limitation according to the national or religious belonging. Such communities (and their general quantity in 60-70s of the XIX cent. was 16) were “The Community of Franz Joseph” (1856), “The Community of Caesar’s daughter Elizabeth” (1857), “The Community of Heir Rudolf” (1866) [3; 12, S.49].

The beneficial societies enclosed the great number of professional, literary-scientific and art unions. Mostly, their purpose was national, cultural and professional areas. Among such communities very specific were: “The Community of the Land Culture in the Dukedom Bukovina” (1851), “The Community of the Support of Education in Chernivtsi” (1869), “The Comrade of the People” (1883), their main purpose was the support of all scientific and cultural initiatives in the land, creation of new sections, local history museums and libraries, studying multinational Bukovinian culture, improvement of the material welfare of the population, particularly rural population [1; 2, S. 25; 8, S. 3].

The most numerous group in the community movement of Bukovina in the 2^nd part of the XIX century were international professional communities of self-aid, which united the representatives of one profession and were aimed at the social and professional protection of their participants. Such organizations satisfied the first-priority social needs of the urban population and were represented by: “The Society of the Doctors in Chernivtsi” (1869), “the Society of Voluntary Firefighters in Chernivtsi” (1869), which later was reformed into the regional unity, “The District Agricultural Society in Radivtsi” (1870), “The first Bukovinian Society of Postmen and Officials” (1870), “The Bukovinian Land Society of Teachers” (1870), the archeological and pedagogical one “Onward” and others.

In 1862 the representatives of the population of the town Chernivtsi founded “The Society of Support of the Musical Art”, later in 80s of the XIX century two more unions were formed: “The Society of Lovers of the Church Music” and “The Choir Society by the Chernivtsi synagogue”. On the initiative of the members of the “Musical Society” the organizational committee was created, the main point of which was to build the concert hall of the organization. In winter 1877 on the occasion of the construction of the building (nowadays it is the building of the Chernivtsi regional Philharmonic Society), the members of the community organized a general art festival with the powerful songs program. The building of the international “Music Society” becomes the cultural center of Bukovina [13, P. 91-92]. In general 13 societies belonged to these organizations, among which were those whose main tendency of their activity was the spiritual perfection through regular physical exercises.

The researcher of the German community movement S. Osachuk notes that these very musical societies were that power which caused international friendly relationships and, in its turn, developed the national spirit. Every national group of the capital of the land had its singing community.

The third group of communities composed those whose main aim was society communication and recreation. These were “Casino-communities” which united men without national distinction. The first issue of the newspaper “Bukowina” defined great need in such institutions, so similar societies appeared in Chernivtsi in 1877 and 1878; Suceava and Radivtsi 1861-1862. Ten or more recreational unions opened in the other towns of the region in 1868-1881.

Beside them, the society elite of the land found entertainment in shooting unions which were acting on the territory of the land: except the capital of the dukedom (79 constant members in 1879), in Kimpling (since 1868), Radivtsi (since 1871), Dornavatra (since 1883), Suceava (since 1886 [5, S. 406-410]).

So, the first half of the XIX century is characterized by the activity of international public societies of different directedness: charitable, professional, art, entertaining, etc.

The second part of the XIX century is distinguished for the systematic attempts of grouping by the national distinction. The opportunities for founding cultural and educational societies were widely used by the Romanian community. With the growth of national ideas the main point in the Romanian movement was the statement about the old Roman-Dacian settlement on the territory of Bukovina. On the 1^st of May, 1862 the first solely national “Society of the Romanian literature and culture in Bukovina” was founded in Chernivtsi. The first list of this union composed 183 members, later the quantity rose to 221 people. Referring to the materials of O. Mikhayes, we can define three main tasks of the society: to introduce Romanian literature to the members of the society; to give opportunity to the young generations of Romanians to study in their mother tongue; to study Romanian literature and culture [12, P. 47].

The foundation of the society of the support of the Ukrainian literature “Rus’ka Besida (Rusin Conversation)” in 1869 became the respond of the Ukrainian community to the Romanian union. The regulations of the “Rus’ka Besida” defined their aim in spreading education and well-being of the Ukrainian people (the term “Rusin” identified both Russians and Ukrainians – Yu. T.) in Bukovina. The members of the first Ukrainian society could be any literate “Rusin” according to the regulations. Emergence of the Ukrainian organization in Bukovina caused negative reaction among some part of the Romanians according to the local historians D. Kvitkovskyi, T. Brynza and A. Zhukovskyi. It was one of the reasons of the great number of attempts to compromise the activity of the society, and as the result the indifference of its members was growing, which didn’t let the organization broaden its activity.

Almost at the same with the Romanians, Ukrainians and Poles, the modernization of the national life urged also Bukovinian Germans. It is necessary to note that the German community was in the great privileged condition: the state protected and supported the German language and confessions, to which the Germans belonged. This situation decelerated the unions of Germans and even enlarged the distance between separate groups of Germans.

Nationally conscious circles of Jews of Chernivtsi united in the similar community “The Chernivtsi Jewish Reading Hall” (1887) which main direction was to preserve the national consciousness among Jews, their spiritual and literary background.

It is important to state that at this period 1862-1872 the names of the communities contained the specification – Russian, Romanian, German etc. This circumstance found its reflection in the regulation documents of these unions.

1. Allgemeines Verwaltungs Archiv / Wien. – Unterricht. – Faszikel 15. – ZL. 188821.

2. Allgemeines Verwaltungs Archiv / Wien. – Unterricht. – Faszikel 15. – ZL. 33448.

3. Bericht über den Kaiser-Franz-Josef-Verein nacht 25-jährigen Bestande desselben, erstattet vom Vereins-Comite. – Czernowitz, 1880. – 16 s.

4. Casino-Vereine Bukowina Landes- und Amts-Zeitung. – 1862. – 31 Juli.

5. Festenburg Rückblick auf die Wirksamkeit des Vereins für Landescultur und Landeskunde im Herzogthume Bukowina // Mittelungen des Vereins für Landescultur und Landeskunde im Herzogthume Bukowina. – Bd. 1. – Heft 1. – Czernowitz, 1857. – S. 25.

6. Gezetz vom 15. November 1867 uber das Vereinsrecht // Reichs- Gezetz-Blatt fur das Kaiserthum Osterreich. – Wien, 1867. – S. 377-381.

7. Hauptbericht und Statiatik uber das Herzogthum Bukowina fur die Period vom Jahre 1862 – 1871. – Lemberg, 1872. – S. 406-410.

8. Österreichishes Staatswörterbuch. Handbuch des gesamten österreichishen öffentlichen Rechtes. – Wien, 1909. – Bd.4. – Aufl. – S. 712.

9. Statuten des Czernowitzer Privat Schützen-Vereins. – Czernowitz, 1842. – 32 s.

10. Statuten der Gesellschaft zur Förderung wissenschaftlicher Bildung in Czernowitz. – Czernowitz, 1869. – S.3.

11. Vuerundfunfziger Jahres-Bericht des Schutzencorps-Rathes an die Generallversammlung des Burgerlichen uniformirten Schutzencorps in Czernowitz. – Czernowitz, 1880. – S. 14

12. Worobkewicz E. Die geographisch-statistischen Verhältnisse der Bukowina / Worobkewicz E. – Lemberg, 1893. – S.49

13. Демочко В., Коцур А. До історії виникнення площі філармонії в Чернівцях / Демочко В., Коцур А. // Буковина – мій рідний край. – Чернівці, 1997. – С. 91-92.

14. Міхаєса О. Перше румунське національне товариство на Буковині / Міхаєса О. // Буковинський історико-етнографічний вісник. – Вип.1. – Чернівці, 1996. – С.47.