The state of HEMA in 2021: The German & Austrian HEMA census

To understand the Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA) community, its weapon disciplines, organisational structure and gender, a HEMA census was conducted in 2021 for Germany and Austria and in 2019 for Germany. The 2021 census captures 3186 HEMA practitioners training in 124 locations in German...

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Main Author: Alexander Fürgut
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Bern Open Publishing 2023-05-01
Series:Acta Periodica Duellatorum
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Online Access:https://bop.unibe.ch/apd/article/view/9013
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author Alexander Fürgut
author_facet Alexander Fürgut
author_sort Alexander Fürgut
collection DOAJ
description To understand the Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA) community, its weapon disciplines, organisational structure and gender, a HEMA census was conducted in 2021 for Germany and Austria and in 2019 for Germany. The 2021 census captures 3186 HEMA practitioners training in 124 locations in Germany and 801 practitioners training in 34 locations in Austria. It is the most comprehensive and detailed dataset of its kind to date. It shows that most HEMA groups are organised as an independent Verein or as part of an umbrella Verein.1 The pandemic had an average effect on the number of practitioners and primarily impacted commercial schools with a 20% reduction in membership. 20% (Germany) and 27.5% (Austria) of all practitioners are identified as female, while 0.75% (Germany) and 3.9% (Austria) of practitioners are identified as nonbinary. Longsword is the most popular weapon discipline, being trained at over 88% of locations in both countries. Runner-up disciplines trained at 40% to 44% of locations include Long Knife, Dagger, Sword & Buckler, Historical Wrestling (Germany), and Dagger, Sword & Buckler and Polearms (Austria). Two-handed swords saw the biggest increase in training locations during the pandemic. HEMA hotspots are in South Germany (Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg), where nearly 39% of all German practitioners train, and in Eastern Austria (Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland), where over 55% of all Austrian practitioners train.
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spelling doaj-art-1ec7d879517342fdb9bef911062da6472025-08-20T02:42:05ZengBern Open PublishingActa Periodica Duellatorum2064-04042023-05-0110110.36950/apd-2022-007The state of HEMA in 2021: The German & Austrian HEMA censusAlexander Fürgut0Independent researcher To understand the Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA) community, its weapon disciplines, organisational structure and gender, a HEMA census was conducted in 2021 for Germany and Austria and in 2019 for Germany. The 2021 census captures 3186 HEMA practitioners training in 124 locations in Germany and 801 practitioners training in 34 locations in Austria. It is the most comprehensive and detailed dataset of its kind to date. It shows that most HEMA groups are organised as an independent Verein or as part of an umbrella Verein.1 The pandemic had an average effect on the number of practitioners and primarily impacted commercial schools with a 20% reduction in membership. 20% (Germany) and 27.5% (Austria) of all practitioners are identified as female, while 0.75% (Germany) and 3.9% (Austria) of practitioners are identified as nonbinary. Longsword is the most popular weapon discipline, being trained at over 88% of locations in both countries. Runner-up disciplines trained at 40% to 44% of locations include Long Knife, Dagger, Sword & Buckler, Historical Wrestling (Germany), and Dagger, Sword & Buckler and Polearms (Austria). Two-handed swords saw the biggest increase in training locations during the pandemic. HEMA hotspots are in South Germany (Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg), where nearly 39% of all German practitioners train, and in Eastern Austria (Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland), where over 55% of all Austrian practitioners train. https://bop.unibe.ch/apd/article/view/9013HEMA censusHEMA zensussports statisticsHistorical European Martial Arts (HEMA)
spellingShingle Alexander Fürgut
The state of HEMA in 2021: The German & Austrian HEMA census
Acta Periodica Duellatorum
HEMA census
HEMA zensus
sports statistics
Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA)
title The state of HEMA in 2021: The German & Austrian HEMA census
title_full The state of HEMA in 2021: The German & Austrian HEMA census
title_fullStr The state of HEMA in 2021: The German & Austrian HEMA census
title_full_unstemmed The state of HEMA in 2021: The German & Austrian HEMA census
title_short The state of HEMA in 2021: The German & Austrian HEMA census
title_sort state of hema in 2021 the german austrian hema census
topic HEMA census
HEMA zensus
sports statistics
Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA)
url https://bop.unibe.ch/apd/article/view/9013
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