„We live in a competitive world of rankings and contests. Children and youth are particularly invited to compete, thus making contests an everyday experience for many generations. But why did various societies turn more and more activities – from drawing to science experiments and debating, sports, or music – into competitions? Why did political parties, companies, associations, and schools spend many hours and huge sums to organize such contests? Moreover, how and why did children and youth participate in large numbers?
The talk will discuss youth contests as a specific phenomenon of the 20th and 21st century. Germany is a case in point: Youth contests flourished in Nazi Germany, the socialist GDR, and the capitalist Federal Republic of Germany alike. Using Germany as an example, the presentation will shed light on the similarities and continuities but also the differences and ruptures in the history of youth contests. In this perspective, youth contests appear as a training ground for competitiveness and performance orientation, but also as the highly attractive promise of a meritocratic social order.

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Reinhild Kreis is a professor of contemporary history at the University of Siegen in Germany. Her research combines social, cultural, economic, and political history approaches with a focus on 20th-century Germany and the history of transatlantic relations. In her current project, she researches the history of youth competitions during the 20th century in Germany. She has worked extensively on the history of consumption, focusing on DIY culture and transatlantic relations during the Cold War.“