The Nazi Olympics
The story of the 1936 Summer Olympics
It was the first Olympics to be broadcast on TV. Sports such as basketball, handball, or kayaking were included in the games.
In 1936, there were still art competitions, so besides classical sports, medals were also awarded in categories such as literature, music, painting, architecture, and graphics. In addition to the host Germans and the USA, the third most successful country was Hungary.
So although the event was used by the National Socialists primarily for propaganda purposes, the Berlin Olympics remained memorable for several reasons.
But why Berlin?
In 1894, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) was formed. The founders hoped that the revival of antique games could improve international relations. So the first Olympics in modern history took place in 1896 in Athens.
In 1927, the IOC decided to award Berlin the right to host the 1936 Games. In the second half of the 1920s, Germany began to break out of its isolation and become a full member of European politics. These may also have played a role in the decision, which was confirmed by the IOC in 1931.
However, in 1933, the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (NSDAP) came to power, and Adolf Hitler, as Germany’s chancellor, set about transforming Germany into a one-party dictatorship by abolishing the Weimar regime.
Boycott and civil war
After Hitler came to power, the morality of supporting the Berlin Olympics arose more and more in Western democracies, especially in the United States, which then led various movements to boycott the event. Although Germany has promised the IOC that there will be no discrimination in compliance with the Olympic Charter, opponents of the Berlin Olympics have maintained their position.
They wanted a counter-Olympics to be held in 1936 in Barcelona. In the meantime, however, the Spanish Civil War broke out and the Counter-Olympics couldn’t take place.
The Berlin Olympics
The iconic Olympic flame was first lit at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics, but the first torch relay had to wait until 1936.
The flame was carried by more than 3,000 athletes from the city of Olympia to Berlin. The flame visited cities like Athens, Sofia, Belgrade, Budapest, Vienna, and Dresden. However, in front of Berlin, the path of the torch was obstructed in several ways.
The Austrian Nazis organized a demonstration in favor of the Anschluss. While in Prague, there was a minor clash for a German Olympic poster, which depicting the Sudetenland as part of Germany. Also, the flame went out in the Czech capital for a short time.
The opening of the Olympic Games took place on August 1, 1936, at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, which had a capacity of 110,000 people at the time. According to the protocol, Adolf Hitler could not give a speech, so he only announced the opening of the games, but the Führer was still greeted with a huge ovation and enthusiastic crowd. One of the highlights of the opening ceremony was the arrival of the last torch runner, who then used the torch to ignite the Olympic flame in the stadium.
A total of 49 countries were represented at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, which was an absolute record at the time.
The largest teams were fielded by Germany and the USA, the Soviet Union did not participate in the Olympics. Previously, there was talk of newly introduced games (handball and basketball, kayaking), but besides, there was a sport that featured in the five-ring games for the first and last time.
It was field handball, which was a handball played on a soccer field, and which was especially popular in Germany and Austria — so it’s no surprise that in the final, the Germans won 10: 6 against the Austrians.
Propaganda and racial issues
After 1933, German sports associations could only have Aryan members, so “non-Aryan” athletes were gradually excluded not only from associations but also from sports facilities.
Jewish athletes, for example, were grouped into separate federations, and although they could use various segregated facilities, their quality was incomparably inferior to that used by German associations.
Anti-Semitic inscriptions disappeared from the streets of Berlin during the Olympics, and Germany sought to give the appearance of a peaceful, tolerant state.
That’s why Helene Mayer, a Jewish fencer, was allowed to represent Germany, who, although celebrating her silver medal with Nazi salute (like other German athletes), returned to the United States after the Olympics. However, no other Jewish athletes besides Mayer competed in German colors. A total of nine athletes of Jewish origin won medals, of which five were Hungarians.
The Man Who Stole The Show
“When I came back, after all those stories about Hitler and his snub, I came back to my native country, and I could not ride in the front of the bus. I had to go to the back door. I couldn’t live where I wanted. Now what’s the difference?” — Jesse Owens
One of the most memorable moments of the Berlin Olympics was the run of Jesse Owens, who won by a huge advantage in the 100-meter sprint race and ran a time that also toppled the world record at the time. Owens later earned 3 more gold, and his performance was seen by several as a kind of symbolic response to the superiority-Aryan ideology spread by the host Germans.
The relationship between the athlete and Adolf Hitler also developed interestingly. Hitler didn’t congratulate anyone publicly, but Owens said the chancellor stood up and waved at him as the athlete passed in front of him. In the absence of evidence, it is not known what the truth is, but it is certain that Owens was not welcomed after his return and was more upset that President Franklin D. Roosevelt (D-New York) did not congratulate him (FDR feared losing the support of racist voters in southern states).
For Germany, the domestic Olympics were an absolute success, as most of the medals were won by German athletes. During the event, a number of foreign journalists were in Berlin, who, thanks to propaganda, had a positive impression of the situation in the country and believed that there was peace and no problems in Germany.
