1936: The 'Nazi Olympics': Adolf Hitler tried to turn the Berlin games into a showcase for 'Aryan superiority.' but a black American track-and-field star spoiled his party.

AuthorPotts, Courtney
PositionTIME PAST

To go or not to go? That was the dilemma facing the United States in 1936, when German Chancellor Adolf Hitler hosted the Olympic Games in Berlin.

There were plenty of reasons to stay home. Hitler's theories about the genetic superiority of blue-eyed, blond-haired "Aryans" were well known. German Jews were being persecuted in nearly every aspect of German life, and had, in effect, been banned from competing at the Games.

In short, Hitler's racist rhetoric and anti-Semitic policies flew in the face of the spirit of the Games. Would participating implicitly condone those ideas?

Reasoning that the Games should first and foremost be about athletics, the U.S. decided to attend--even though it was clear that Hitler's agenda had little to do with sports.

Hitler wanted to prove his theories of Aryan supremacy to the world. But by turning the Olympics into a two-week propaganda spectacle, he set the stage for one of the most famous moments in Olympic history: the brilliant performance of black track-and-field star Jesse Owens, who became the first American to win four gold medals in a single Olympiad--and shattered Hitler's Aryan dreams for the Games in the process.

Seventy-five years later, the "Nazi Olympics" are remembered for Owens's remarkable feat against the backdrop of the racial and political tension surrounding the Games, just three years before Germany invaded Poland to start World War II. The 1936 Games are also considered the start of the politicization of the modern Olympics.

"From the standpoint of the Games as a propaganda venue, it starts big-time in 1936," says Olympic historian John Hoberman.

Hitler's Rise

Germany had been selected to host the 1936 Olympics in 1931. At the time, it had a democratic government known as the Weimar (VY-mahr) Republic, which had been in power since Germany's defeat in World War I in 1918.

But when Hitler, the charismatic and anti-Semitic leader of the National Socialist (Nazi) Party, came to power, he turned Germany into a police state. Hitler had built his political movement from the ground up, starting in the 1920s. Germany and its economy were in ruins after the war, and Hitler, a persuasive speaker, promised a return to the powerful, militaristic Germany of the past, blaming the nation's ills, especially its ailing economy, on the Jews.

Through careful maneuvering, Hitler was appointed chancellor (similar to prime minister) in January 1933. Two months later, he forced through legislation that effectively made him dictator.

Once in power, Hitler wasted no time in remilitarizing Germany and carrying out his anti-Semitic program. In April 1933, the Nazis called for a boycott of Jewish businesses. Less than a week later, the Reichstag (parliament) passed a law requiring the removal of Jews and other non-Aryans from government jobs.

In 1935, the Nuremberg Race Laws stripped German Jews of their citizenship and prohibited them from marrying non-Jews. Hundreds of similar laws were passed, all with the goal of excluding Jews from German society.

Fearing that Jewish athletes would not be treated fairly in Berlin, the International Olympic Committee (I.O.C.) considered moving the 1936 Games to Rome or Tokyo. But committee members were persuaded by Additional reporting by Patricia Smith. German promises of fair competition for all athletes.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

In the U.S., President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was up for re-election in 1936, never weighed in on the issue. After...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT