Sport gave them a sense of freedom and a substitute for normality. It generated emotions and forced them to work on themselves. Even though barbed wire surrounded them, the prisoners of war organised 'games behind the wire'.

The first Olympic Games to be stolen by war were to be held in 1916. Berlin prepared intensively. In June 1913, the future competition arena, Deutsches Stadion, was opened, releasing thousands of doves during the ceremony. The symbolism was clear. But the world was pushing towards war. And this one broke out just a year later. Instead of sporting arenas, the Germans ended up in the trenches. And they weren't the only ones.

Berlin did, however, host the Olympics. In 1936, athletes descended on the city to compete for medals. The 11th Summer Olympics, however, were steeped in propaganda. They were also the last before the Second World War, although the International Olympic Committee chose the organisers of both the summer and winter games for 1940 and 1944. The war ruined these plans.

Tokyo prepared first. The Japanese capital was to be the first non-European and non-American city to host the Olympic competition. In winter, the athletes were to be hosted by Sapporo. Two years before the planned opening ceremony, the IOC had to make adjustments. And so it was decided that, due to the Japan-China war, the Games would be held in Helsinki (summer) and Garmisch-Partenkirchen (winter, for the second time in a row). Four years later, a festival of sport was to be enjoyed by people in London (summer) and Cortina d'Ampenzzo (winter).

The ideas were right, the organisational work was underway and the various national Olympic committees were expressing their desire to participate. As late as January 1939, the "Gazeta Lwowska" reported:

"The Finnish Organising Committee of the Olympics announced that applications from twenty countries had been received so far, namely: Belgium, Costarica, Denmark, Germany, Greece. England, Haiti, the Netherlands, Italy, Yugoslavia, Lichtenstcin, Luxembourg. Norway, Palestine, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia, and Finland".

In May 1939, the Polish Olympians took the oath of office. The team wanted to prepare well for the competition. The greatest athletics ace, Janusz Kusociński, even broke the country's record in the five-kilometre run on a treadmill in Helsinki. Then came 1 September 1939. Hopes for Olympic laurels had to be postponed. This does not mean, however, that sport disappeared from life with the first rifle shot...

Stool bike and 'punishment frog '
After the German army attacked Poland, the ICOL shied away from the decision to cancel the Games. Ba, it did not even do so when the USSR was fighting the Finns in the Winter War in early 1940! The cancellation was officially made in May.

Some of the soldiers fighting on the battlefields were sent to prisoner-of-war camps. Among them were former coaches, athletes or simply sports enthusiasts. The higher-ranking officers were placed in oflags, and the lower-ranking soldiers in stalags. The conditions they had to live in at the time were harsh. Food rations were low, and any visible sign of patriotism was suppressed by the guards. But even so, under such circumstances, a modicum of 'normality' was introduced.

"The prisoners of war made it their goal to stay in good physical condition. The Polish camp commanders also cared about this, as they took into account the possible possibility of escaping, putting up a fight or having to make an evacuation march. Sport and physical education, like other areas of camp life, were also intended to help people survive captivity," wrote Danuta Kiślewicz.

The greatest manifestation of the will to survive was the "games behind the wire". At the turn of August/September 1940, in Stalag XIII Langwaseer near Nuremberg, platoon sergeant Jerzy Słomczyński came up with the idea of organising a sports competition to replace the Olympic Games.

The competition was to be held in strict secrecy from the Germans. After all, the price was too high. The Olympic competitions were announced: volleyball, cycling, archery, long jump, ball throw and the 50-metre "penalty frog" run. POWs from Poland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Yugoslavia, Norway, France and the United Kingdom entered the competition.

"Straw", together with George O'Brein, head of the camp's Olympic committee, took care of the most important symbols of the Games. During the opening ceremony, the Olympic anthem was sung, the torch was lit and the flag was raised. A thoroughly moving moment was the swearing-in ceremony. Teodor Niewiadomski, a participant in those events, recalled it as follows:

"At the discreet nod of 'Straw', Cioch approached the presidium table. His right hand hovered in the air... it was visibly trembling, his fingers trembling, unable to rest on a blue scrap of old faded cloth decorated with five circles cut from cardboard packages of Wachman's 'zigaretten'.

- What about our Jas?

Moist eyes, nervous face cramps. Mouth tightened into a frown. Finally... "On behalf of all the athletes whose stadiums have been fenced off with barbed wire...".

Then the struggles began. First there was volleyball. The court was marked out around two trees connected by a clothesline. The match began. The excitement was so great that the German medic, who stood nearby and shouted, was not noticed. The prisoners stopped playing and the medic reported everything to the guards.

It was the turn of the cyclists. The bicycle was constructed from two stools that were connected by an old frame. The venue for the competition was a 'typhoid' chamber. The riders were allowed in every hour by the judge, Roger Virion. And they had to cover as many kilometres as possible (the inmates even constructed a special counter!). The "cat's cradle", i.e. the cobblestones they had acquired, were used for the ball push. The long jump also had little in common with the modern version. The competitors jumped over a ditch of water, it was about three metres long. The winner was the one who took the shortest run-up.

And the "penalty frog", a competition taken directly from the German guards. This was an exercise that they often ordered the unruly inmates to do. The prisoners had to squat down, put their hands out in front of them or interlocked behind their heads, and rhythmically jump up and down in this position. During the Games in the camp, those willing to do so covered 50 metres. The fastest, Teodor Niewiadomski, won. Later, in his memoirs, he wrote about the moment of triumph as follows:

"Once again an Englishman comes up to me. The touching words: 'Congratulation' is accompanied by a hearty hug. This always phlegmatic son of Albion's eyes are wet. I wipe away my tears with my free hand."

The Games officially closed on 8 September 1940. Some of the awards received, handmade by the athletes involved, ended up in the Museum of Sport and Tourism in Warsaw after the war.

In 1940, the POWs also competed at Oflag II B Arnswalde. For two days they played volleyball, football, ran, jumped, threw and tug-of-war.

1944
With the end of their games, the prisoners surely hoped that in another four years they would already be following the right ones. Unfortunately, in 1944 the war continued. At Oflag II D Gross-Born and Oflag II C Woldenberg, it was therefore decided to try the Olympic competition once more. The Germans, who were no longer so strong on the fronts, in order to warm up their image a little, agreed to the prisoners' proposal. At Woldenberg, the Association of Military Sports Clubs came up with the proposal. The camp management only forbade pole vaulting - for fear of attempts to jump over the wires - and the javelin throw.

They took off on 23 August 1944. Among those involved were former Olympic athletes, as well as people who had come into contact with Poland's top athletes. Just to name a few, Lieutenant Antoni Grzesik, who gave orders to Kusociński himself in 1939.

And just as four years earlier, Olympic traditions and symbols were preserved at Woldenberg. The opening ceremony was legal, held in a specially prepared stadium. The flag was hung on the flagpole. The Olympic anthem was played. The torch was lit. And the competition was punctuated by a minute's silence in tribute to the Warsaw uprising.

The competition in boxing, basketball, athletics, football, handball and volleyball could be watched by 5,000 people. This was the capacity of the stadium. The sporting rivalry was also joined by that in art, literature, visual arts and music. In fact, the camp postal service issued occasional stamps to mark the event!

The Olympic athletes representing the once sporting clubs displayed a great level of sportsmanship. How else can one describe a situation in which often undernourished, frail enthusiasts achieve almost outstanding results. Take the 100-metre run. Lieutenant Spreżyk-Widawski, achieved a result of 11.5 seconds. Only just over a second worse than the world record!

Similar initiatives were taken by the inmates of Oflag II D Gross-Born, except that in this camp the Germans forbade the embroidering of five Olympic circles on the flag. In Stalag XIII C Hammelburg/Meinfranke, Poles organised the "Olympics 44" competition. In Oflag VII A Murnau it was similar. In all these places, the time of sporting rivalry and preparation, often conspiratorial, was the most fondly remembered period of captivity. Kazimierz Rudzki wrote the following in Przegląd Sportowy, shortly after the end of the Second World War:

"And that is why this bizarre 1944 Olympics at Woldenberg - represented something more than sporting fun. It was a symbol of faith in the value and sense of the Olympic idea, in spite of everything and in spite of everything that happened beyond the reach of the camp's barbed wire".