ABSTRACT
German-Brazilian gymnastics societies represented a space for sociability and education of the youth in the first decades of the 20th century. They aimed at contributing to the physical, intellectual and moral development of their associates and to the preservation of German culture in Brazil. From 1913 on, in Rio Grande do Sul, they adopt scoutism as one of their practices. This study aims at analyzing the organization of scoutism within these societies in Rio Grande do Sul, trying to comprehend the dialog they established between gymnastics and scoutism as means for youth in the first decades of the 20th century. They developed scoutism in parallel with other similar initiatives of the period, keeping a much closer connection to German institution than to Brazilian ones.
Keywords:
scoutism; associations; gymnastics societies; history of gymnastics