In the nineteenth century and in the first half of twentieth century, the area of Central Pomerania was inhabited primarily by Germans. In the first post-war years, there was a multi-million migration related to the settlement of the so-called Recovered Territories. Rapid development and settlement of the largest number of Poles in the area became one of the most important tasks after the end of hostilities, as a result of which these areas were significantly damaged, therefore there was no housing base for arriving migrants. It was also a significant problem in the organization and creating administrative structures in the field of physical culture management. When the Koszalin Voivodship was founded in 1950 and the administrative provincial authorities of physical culture management were appointed, the Provincial Committee of Physical Culture was created. Organizational structures of physical culture and sport in Koszalin region were formed in accordance with the state policy. In the first half of the 1950s, physical culture in the Koszalin Province experienced a regression. It was not until 1967 that the activities revived in the field of broadly understood physical culture. The County and Municipal Committee of Physical Culture and Tourism activated cooperation with social organizations, e.g. the Society for the Promotion of Physical Culture and district sports associations.
After the Second World War, physical culture in Poland undoubtedly became an instrument for strengthening the position of communist authorities in public. However, despite the unfavourable political aspects, participation in mass sport has definitely contributed to the integration of local community, followed by collective social initiatives. The rebuilding of structures of physical culture in Pomerania proceeded differently in comparison to other areas of our country. Several factors contributed to this, including economic, social and demographic changes that took place after the end of warfares, which were closely related to the process of settling and developing the Regained Territories. The Society of Physical Culture Propagation had the most important role in the dissemination of physical culture. It was followed by: Provincial Sports, Tourism and Leisure Center named Balt-Tourist, with its counterparts at the lower organizational level, The Municipal Sport, Tourism and Recreation Centers of Gdańsk, Gdynia and Sopot, which often organized Saturday and Sunday leisure time as well as The Polish Tourist – Sightseeing Society, while among youth organizations the Polish Scouting Association. The term “mass sport” was a product of the PRL period, to a large extent its existence was a fiction, along with the progressing ideologisation of physical culture, based on the Soviet model. At the same time, the proposed activities were a form of spending free time and the possibility of joint family activities, integration of the local community.
In the first post-war years, in the Koszalin region there was a multi-million migration related to the settlement of the so-called Recovered Territories. Rapid development and settlement of the largest number of Poles in the area became one of the most important tasks after the end of hostilities. It should be noted that the population that came to the so-called The Recovered Territories, built from scratch, living conditions and certain areas of social life, including cultural and sporting life. Among the settlers who arrived in Koszalin, there were pre-war sports activists, players, members of associations and clubs who, apart from professional activities, took up the organization of sport. In a new, uneasy situation, Poles’ environments organized their cultural and sporting lives without closing to the emerging and mixed communities. The first organizational units of physical culture in Central Pomerania were sports clubs, which primarily formed at selected professional groups, the most active were groups of railwaymen, militiamen and craftsmen. Sport in this area was more than just competition or “fun for the body and soul”, it also served to integrate the settled population. This applied not only to rivals competing with each other, but also fans watching sporting events, which became a way of spending time and an opportunity to celebrate together. Not only, however, they also influenced the formation of social bonds. Cooperative works for the development of sport formed the foundation of a new social life.
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