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1936 Summer Olympics

March 19, 2023

This article is about the 1936 August Olympics in Berlin. For the planned 1936 August Olympics in Barcelona, see People's Olympiad.

The 1936 Summer Olympics (German: Olympische Sommerspiele 1936), officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad (German: Spiele der XI. Olympiade) and commonly known as Berlin 1936, were an international multi-sport event held from 1 to 16 August 1936 in Berlin, Germany. Berlin won the bid to host the Games over Barcelona at the 29th IOC Session on 26 April 1931. The 1936 Games marked the second and most recent time the International Olympic Committee gathered to vote in a city that was bidding to host those Games. Later rule modifications forbade cities hosting the bid vote from being awarded the games.

Games of the XI Olympiad
Host cityBerlin, Germany
MottoI Call the Youth of the World!
(German: Ich rufe die Jugend der Welt!)
Nations49
Athletes3,963 (3,632 men, 331 women)
Events129 in 19 sports (25 disciplines)
Opening1 August 1936
Closing16 August 1936
Opened by
Chancellor Adolf Hitler[1]
Cauldron
Fritz Schilgen[1]
StadiumOlympiastadion
Summer
Winter

To outdo the 1932 Los Angeles Games, Reich Führer Adolf Hitler had a new 100,000-seat track and field stadium built, as well as six gymnasiums and other smaller arenas. The Games were the first to be televised, with radio broadcasts reaching 41 countries.[2] Filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl was commissioned by the German Olympic Committee to film the Games for $7 million.[2] Her film, titled Olympia, pioneered many of the techniques now common in the filming of sports.

Hitler saw the 1936 Games as an opportunity to promote his government and ideals of racial supremacy and antisemitism, and the official Nazi Party paper, the Völkischer Beobachter, wrote in the strongest terms that Jews should not be allowed to participate in the Games.[3][4] German Jewish athletes were barred or prevented from taking part in the Games by a variety of methods,[5] although some women swimmers from the Jewish sports club Hakoah Vienna did participate. Jewish athletes from other countries were said to have been side-lined to avoid offending the Nazi regime.[6]

Total ticket revenues were 7.5 million Reichsmark, generating a profit of over one million R.M. The official budget did not include outlays by the city of Berlin (which issued an itemized report detailing its costs of 16.5 million R.M.) or outlays of the German national government (which did not make its costs public, but is estimated to have spent US$30 million).[7]

Jesse Owens of the United States won four gold medals in the sprint and long jump events, and became the most successful athlete to compete in Berlin, while Germany was the most successful country overall with 89 medals total, with the United States coming in second with 56 medals. These were the final Olympic Games under the presidency of Henri de Baillet-Latour and the final Games for 12 years due to the disruption of the Second World War. The next Olympic Games were held in 1948 (the Winter Games in St. Moritz, Switzerland and then the Summer Games in London, England).

Host city selection

At the 28th IOC Session, held during 1930, in Berlin, 14 cities announced their intention to bid to host the 1936 Summer Olympic Games. The bidding for these Olympic Games was the first to be contested by IOC members casting votes for their own favorite host cities.[8]

The vote occurred on 26 April 1931, at the 29th IOC Session held in Barcelona, Spain that year. The vote was held 69 days after the declaration of the Second Spanish Republic and during the final years of the Weimar Republic. This was two years before Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party rose to power in Germany, in 1933.

By the time of the 1931 IOC Session, only Barcelona and Berlin were left in contention for the delegate vote. Rome withdrew on the eve of the vote. How other candidates withdrew is unclear, as is the seriousness of intent behind all of the listed candidate cities. The other cities who announced an intention to hold the games, but which withdrew from the race, were Alexandria, Budapest, Buenos Aires, Cologne, Dublin, Frankfurt, Helsinki, Lausanne, Montevideo, Nuremberg, Rio de Janeiro, and Rome. Helsinki, Rome, Barcelona and Rio de Janeiro would go on to host the Olympic Games in 1952, 1960, 1992 and 2016, respectively.[9]

The selection procedure marked the second and final time that the International Olympic Committee would gather to vote in a city which was bidding to host those Games. The only other time this occurred was at the inaugural IOC Session in Paris, France, on 24 April 1894. Then, Athens and Paris were chosen to host the 1896 and 1900 Games, respectively.

The city of Barcelona held a multi-sport festival at the same time as the 1931 IOC Session. This included a football match between Spain and the Irish Free State, which was watched by 70,000 spectators. The political uncertainty around the declaration of the Second Spanish Republic, which had happened days before the IOC Session, was likely to have been a greater factor in the decision taken by delegates regarding the host city for 1936. Berlin prevailed.

After the Nazis took control of Germany, and began instituting anti-Semitic policies, the IOC held private discussions among its delegates about changing the decision to hold the Games in Berlin. However, Hitler's regime gave assurances that Jewish athletes would be allowed to compete on a German Olympic team.[10] One year before the games, the American Olympic Association suggested to change the venue to Rome; they saw Rome as a good replacement because Rome was originally selected to hold the 1908 Summer Olympics.[11]

Organization

Hans von Tschammer und Osten, as Reichssportführer (i.e., head of the Deutscher Reichsbund für Leibesübungen (DRL), the Reich Sports Office, played a major role in the structure and organisation of the Olympics. He promoted the idea that the use of sports would harden the German spirit and instill unity among German youth. At the same time he also believed that sports was a "way to weed out the weak, Jewish, and other undesirables".[12]

Von Tschammer trusted the details of the organisation of the games to Theodor Lewald and Carl Diem, the former president and secretary of the Deutscher Reichsausschuss für Leibesübungen, the forerunner of the Reich Sports Office. Among Diem's ideas for the Berlin Games was the introduction of the Olympic torch relay between Greece and the host nation.

 
Runners carrying the Olympic Flame

Torch relay

Main article: 1936 Summer Olympics torch relay

The 1936 Summer Olympics torch relay was the first of its kind,[13] following on from the reintroduction of the Olympic Flame at the 1928 Games. It pioneered the modern convention of moving the flame via a relay system from Greece to the Olympic venue. Leni Riefenstahl filmed the relay for the 1938 film Olympia.

The sportive, knightly battle awakens the best human characteristics. It doesn't separate, but unites the combatants in understanding and respect. It also helps to connect the countries in the spirit of peace. That's why the Olympic Flame should never die.

— Adolf Hitler, commenting on the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games.[14]

Broadcasting

The games were the first to have live television coverage. The German Post Office, using equipment from Telefunken, broadcast over 70 hours of coverage to special viewing rooms throughout Berlin and Potsdam and a few private TV sets, transmitting from the Paul Nipkow TV Station. They used three different types of TV cameras, so blackouts would occur when changing from one type to another.[15]

Olympic village

The 1936 Olympic village was located at Elstal in Wustermark (at 52°32′10.78″N 13°0′33.20″E / 52.5363278°N 13.0092222°E / 52.5363278; 13.0092222), on the western edge of Berlin. The site, which is 30 kilometres (19 mi) from the centre of the city, consisted of one and two-floor dormitories, a large dining hall, Dining Hall of the Nations, a swimming facility, gymnasium, track, and other training facilities. Its layout was designed and construction overseen by appointed village commander Hauptmann Wolfgang Fürstner beginning in 1934.[16] Less than two months before the start of the Olympic Games, Fürstner was abruptly demoted to vice-commander, and replaced by Oberstleutnant Werner von Gilsa, commander of the Berlin Guard-Regiment. The official reason for the replacement was that Fürstner had not acted "with the necessary energy" to prevent damage to the site as 370,000 visitors passed through it between 1 May and 15 June. However, this was just a cover story to explain the sudden demotion of the half-Jewish officer.[17] The 1935 Nuremberg Laws, passed during the period Fürstner was overseeing the Olympic Village, had classified him as a Jew, and as such, the career officer was to be expelled from the Wehrmacht.[18] Two days after the conclusion of the Berlin Olympics, vice-commander Fürstner had been removed from active Wehrmacht duty,[19] and committed suicide because he realised he had no future under the Nazis.[17]

After the completion of the Olympic Games, the village was repurposed for the Wehrmacht into the Olympic Döberitz Hospital (German: Olympia-Lazarett Döberitz), and Army Infantry School (German: Heeres-Infanterieschule), and was used as such through the Second World War. In 1945 it was taken over by the Soviet Union and became a military camp of the union occupation forces. Late 20th-century efforts were made to restore parts of the former village, but little progress was made.[citation needed] More recently, the vast majority of the land of the Olympic village has been managed by the DKB Foundation, with more success; efforts are being made to restore the site into a living museum. The dormitory building used by Jesse Owens, Meissen House, has been fully restored, with the gymnasium and swimming hall partially restored. Seasonally, tours are given daily to small groups and students.[20]

The site remains relatively unknown even in Germany, but some tournaments are held at the site in an effort to boost knowledge of the venues.[21]

  •  

    Displaying Nazi symbols and swastika

  •  

    Spectators giving the Nazi salute during one of the medal ceremonies as the Nazi flag flies above

  •  

    The Olympic Fire in Berlin

  •  

    The Olympic village

  •  

    US track team house at the Olympic village, 2015

  •  

    Jesse Owens' room at the Olympic village, 2015

  •  

    LZ 129 Hindenburg flying over the village, with the Olympics logo painted on its underside hull

Venues

 
The official poster of the Games of the XI Olympiad

Twenty-two venues were used for the 1936 Summer Olympics. Many were located in the Reich Sportsfeld complex.

Sailing was held in the Bay of Kiel, which would serve as the sailing venue for the 1972 Summer Olympics held in Munich.[22] The Olympic Stadium would later be part of two FIFA World Cups and then host an IAAF World Championships in Athletics along with undergoing a renovation in the early 2000s to give new life to the stadium. Avus Motor Road (AVUS) was started in 1907, but was not completed until 1921 due to World War I.[23] The track was rebuilt for the 1936 Games.[23] AVUS continued being used after World War II though mainly in Formula 2 racing.[23] The German Grand Prix was last held at the track in 1959.[23] Dismantling of the track first took place in 1968 to make way for a traffic crossing for touring cars that raced there until 1998.[23]

BSV 92 Field was first constructed in 1910 for use in football, handball, athletics, and tennis.[24] The Reich Sports Field, which consisted of the Olympic Stadium, the Dietrich Eckert Open-Air Theatre, the Olympic Swimming Stadium, Mayfield, the Hockey Stadiums, the Tennis Courts, and the Haus des Deutschen Sports, was planned for the aborted 1916 Summer Olympics, but was not completed until 1934.[25] Mayfield was the last venue completed prior to the 1936 Games in April 1936.[25] Deutschland Hall was opened in 1935.[26] Mommenstadion opened in 1930.[27] Basketball was held outdoors at the request of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA).[28][29] The tennis courts were used, which turned to mud during heavy rain at the final.[28] The K-1 1000 m canoeing final was also affected by heavy rain at Grünau that included thunder and lightning.[30] During World War II, Deutschlandhalle suffered heavy aerial bombing damage.[26] After the second world war, the hall was reconstructed and expansion has continued as of 2010.[26] The Deutschlandhalle in Berlin, where the boxing, weightlifting, and wrestling events took place, was used as a venue, but was increasingly closed for repairs, last in 2009 when it was close for repairs, It was demolished in December 2011. the Mommsenstadion was renovated in 1987 and was still in use in 2010.[27]

The Olympic Stadium was used as an underground bunker in World War II as the war went against Nazi Germany's favor.[31] The British reopened the Stadium in 1946 and parts of the stadium were rebuilt by the late 1950s.[32] As a host venue for the 1974 FIFA World Cup, the stadium had its roof partially covered on the North and South Stands.[33] British occupation of the stadium ended in 1994.[34] Restoration was approved in 1998 with a contractor being found to do the work in 2000.[35] This restoration ran from 2000 to 2004.[36] The modernized Stadium reopened in 2004,[37] with a capacity of 74,228 people. The seating has been changed greatly, especially the sections that were reserved for German and international political leaders. The stadium now plays host to Hertha BSC (1963–present), and is expected to remain the home of the team for years to come. For the 2006 FIFA World Cup, the venue was where the final took place between Italy and France.[38] Three years later, the venue hosted the World Athletics Championships.[39]

Venue Sports Capacity Ref.
Avus Motor Road Athletics (marathon, 50 km walk), Cycling (road) Not listed [40]
BSV Field Cycling (track), Handball 1,000 [41]
Dietrich Eckart Open-Air Theatre Gymnastics 20,000 [42]
Döberitz Equestrian (eventing), Modern pentathlon (riding) Not listed [43]
Deutschlandhalle Boxing, Weightlifting, Wrestling 8,630 [44]
Berlin-Grünau Regatta Course Canoeing, Rowing 19,000 [45]
Haus des Deutschen Sports Fencing, Modern pentathlon (fencing) 1200 [46][47]
Hertha BSC Field Football 35,239 [48]
Hockeystadion Field hockey 18,000 [42]
Hockeystadion#2 Field hockey 1600 [42]
Kiel Bay Sailing Not listed [49]
Mayfield Equestrian (dressage), Polo 75,000 [42]
Mommsenstadion Football 15,005 [48]
Olympic Stadium Athletics, Equestrian (jumping), Football (final), Handball (final) 100,000 [42]
Olympic Swimming Stadium Diving, Modern pentathlon (swimming), Swimming, Water polo 20,000 [50]
Police Stadium Handball Not listed [51]
Poststadion Football 45,000 [48]
Ruhleben Modern pentathlon (shooting) Not listed [52]
Tennis Courts Basketball, Fencing (épée) 832 [53]
Tennis Stadium Basketball Not listed [53]
Wannsee Golf Course Modern pentathlon (running) Not listed [54]
Wannsee Shooting Range Shooting Not listed [54]

Games

Opening ceremony

 
Parade of nations

The opening ceremony was held at the Berlin Olympic Stadium on 1 August 1936. A flyover by the German airship Hindenburg flying the Olympic flag behind it was featured early in the opening ceremonies.[55] After the arrival of Hitler and his entourage, the parade of nations proceeded, each nation with its own unique costume. As the birthplace of the Olympics, Greece entered the stadium first. The host nation, Germany, entered last. Some nations' athletes purposefully gave the Nazi salute as they passed Hitler. Others gave the Olympic salute (a similar one, given with the same arm), or a different gesture entirely, such as hats-over-hearts, as the United States, India,[56] and China did. All nations lowered their flags[dubious – discuss] as they passed the Führer, save the United States, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and the Commonwealth of the Philippines. (The United States doing this was explained later as an army regulation.[55]) Writer Thomas Wolfe, who was there, described the opening as an "almost religious event, the crowd screaming, swaying in unison and begging for Hitler. There was something scary about it; his cult of personality."[57]

After a speech by the president of the German Olympic Committee, the games were officially declared open by Adolf Hitler who quoted (in German): "I proclaim open the Olympic Games of Berlin, celebrating the Eleventh Olympiad of the modern era."[55] Hitler opened the games from his own box, on top of others. Writer David Wallechinsky has commented on the event, saying, "This was his event, he wanted to be glorified."[57]

Although the Olympic flame was first introduced in the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, this was the first instance of the torch relay. The Nazis invented the concept of the torch run from ancient Olympia to the host city. Thus as swimmer Iris Cummings later related, "once the athletes were all in place, the torch bearer ran in through the tunnel to go around the stadium". A young man chosen for this task ran up the steps all the way up to the top of the stadium there to light a cauldron which would start this eternal flame that would burn through the duration of the games.[57][58]

But in spite of all the pomp and ceremony, and the glorification of Hitler, all did not go according to plan, and there was a rather humorous aspect in the opening ceremony. U.S. distance runner Louis Zamperini, one of the athletes present, related it on camera:[57]

They released 25,000 pigeons, the sky was clouded with pigeons, the pigeons circled overhead, and then they shot a cannon, and they scared the poop out of the pigeons, and we had straw hats, flat straw hats, and you could heard the pitter-patter on our straw hats, but we felt sorry for the women, for they got it in their hair, but I mean there were a mass of droppings, and I say it was so funny...

Events

129 events in 25 disciplines, comprising 19 sports, were part of the Olympic program in 1936. The number of events in each discipline is noted in parentheses.

Basketball, canoeing, and handball made their debut at the Olympics. Handball did not appear again on the program until the next German summer Olympic games in Munich in 1972. Demonstration sports were Art, Baseball, Gliding, and Wushu.[59] A team from India gave demonstrations of Kabaddi, Mallakhamb and other traditional Indian sports but were not part of India's official Olympic contingent.[60]

Notable achievements

Germany had a successful year in the equestrian events, winning individual and team gold in all three disciplines, as well as individual silver in dressage. In the cycling match sprint finals, the German Toni Merkens fouled Arie van Vliet of the Netherlands. Instead of being disqualified, he was fined 100 ℛℳ and kept his gold. German gymnasts Konrad Frey and Alfred Schwarzmann both won three gold medals.

American Jesse Owens won four gold medals in the sprint and long jump events. His German competitor Luz Long offered Owens advice after he almost failed to qualify in the long jump and was posthumously awarded the Pierre de Coubertin medal for sportsmanship. Mack Robinson, brother of Jackie Robinson, won the 200-meter sprint silver medal behind Owens by 0.4 seconds. Although he did not win a medal, future American war hero Louis Zamperini, lagging behind in the 5,000-meter final, made up ground by clocking a 56-second final lap. In one of the most dramatic 800-meter races in history, American John Woodruff won gold after slowing to jogging speed in the middle of the final in order to free himself from being boxed in.[61] Glenn Edgar Morris, a farm boy from Colorado, won gold in the decathlon. British rower Jack Beresford won his fifth Olympic medal in the sport, and his third gold medal. The U.S. eight-man rowing team from the University of Washington won the gold medal, coming from behind to defeat the Germans and Italians with Hitler in attendance. 13-year-old American sensation Marjorie Gestring won the women's 3 meter diving event.[62]

 
Obverse of John Woodruff's gold medal for winning the 800 metres
 
Reverse of John Woodruff's gold medal while on display at Hillman Library, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA

Jack Lovelock of New Zealand won the 1500 m gold medal, coming through a strong field to win in world record time of 3:47.8.

In the marathon, the ethnic Koreans Sohn Kee-chung and Nam Sung-yong won one gold and one bronze medal; as Korea was annexed by Japan at the time, they were running for Japan.

India won the gold medal in the field hockey event once again (they won the gold in all Olympics from 1928 to 1956), defeating Germany 8–1 in the final. However, Indians were officially considered Indo-Aryans by the Germans so there was no controversy regarding the victory. Rie Mastenbroek of the Netherlands won three gold medals and a silver in swimming. Estonia's Kristjan Palusalu won gold medals in both Men's heavyweight Wrestling styles, marking the last time Estonia competed as an independent nation in the Olympics until 1992.

After winning the middleweight class, the Egyptian weightlifter Khadr El Touni continued to compete for another 45 minutes, finally exceeding the total of the German silver medalist by 35 kg. The 20-year-old El Touni lifted a total of 387.5 kg, crushing two German world champions and breaking the then-Olympic and world records, while the German lifted 352.5 kg. Furthermore, El Touni had lifted 15 kg more than the light-heavyweight gold medalist, a feat only El Touni has accomplished. El Touni's new world records stood for 13 years. Fascinated by El Touni's performance, Adolf Hitler rushed down to greet this human miracle. Prior to the competition, Hitler was said to have been sure that Rudolf Ismayr and Adolf Wagner would embarrass all other opponents. Hitler was so impressed by El Touni's domination in the middleweight class that he ordered a street named after him in Berlin's Olympic village.[citation needed] The Egyptian held the No. 1 position on the IWF list of history's 50 greatest weightlifters for 60 years, until the 1996 Games in Atlanta where Turkey's Naim Süleymanoğlu surpassed him to top the list.

Italy's football team continued their dominance under head coach Vittorio Pozzo, winning the gold medal in these Olympics between their two consecutive World Cup victories (1934 and 1938). Much like the successes of German athletes, this triumph was claimed by supporters of Benito Mussolini's regime as a vindication of the superiority of the fascist system. Austria won the silver; a controversial win after Hitler called for a rematch of the quarterfinals match to discount Peru's 4–2 win over Austria. The Peruvian national Olympic team refused to play the match again and withdrew from the games. In the quarter-finals of the football tournament, Peru beat Austria 4–2 in extra-time. Peru rallied from a two-goal deficit in the final 15 minutes of normal time. During extra-time, Peruvian fans allegedly ran onto the field and attacked an Austrian player. In the chaos, Peru scored twice and won, 4–2. However, Austria protested and the International Olympic Committee ordered a replay without any spectators. The Peruvian government refused and their entire Olympic squad left in protest as did Colombia.[63]

A remarkable story from the track and field competition was the gold medal won by the US women's 4 × 100 m relay team. The German team were the heavy favourites, but dropped the baton at one hand-off. Of notable interest on the US team was Betty Robinson.[64] She was the first woman ever awarded an Olympic gold medal for track and field, winning the women's 100 m event at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam.[64] In 1931, Robinson was involved in a plane crash, and was severely injured. Her body was discovered in the wreckage and it was wrongly thought that she was dead. She was placed in the trunk of a car and taken to an undertaker, where it was discovered that she was not dead, but in a coma. She awoke from the coma seven months later, although it was another six months before she could get out of a wheelchair, and two years before she could walk normally again.[65] Due to the length of her recovery, she had to miss participating in the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, in her home country.

Participating nations

A total of 49 nations attended the Berlin Olympics, up from 37 in 1932. Five nations made their first official Olympic appearance at these Games: Afghanistan, Bermuda, Bolivia, Costa Rica and Liechtenstein.

  •  

    Nations participating for the first time shown in blue.

  •  

    Number of attending athletes from respective participating countries.

Participating National Olympic Committees
  •   Haiti, also took part in the Opening Ceremony, but its only athlete (a weightlifter) did not compete.[66][67]

Medal count

Main article: 1936 Summer Olympics medal table
 
Volmari Iso-Hollo, 3000 m steeplechase, 1936 Summer Olympics

The ten nations that won most medals at the 1936 Games.

  *   Host nation (Germany)

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1  Germany*383132101
2  United States24211257
3  Hungary101516
4  Italy913527
5  Finland86620
6  France76619
7  Sweden651021
8  Japan641020
9  Netherlands64717
10  Austria57517
11  Switzerland49518
12  Great Britain47314
Totals (12 entries)127114106347

Controversies

Hitler saw the Games as an opportunity to promote his government and ideals of racial supremacy. The official Nazi party paper, the Völkischer Beobachter, wrote in the strongest terms that Jewish and black people should not be allowed to participate in the Games.[3][4] However, when threatened with a boycott of the Games by other nations, he relented and allowed black and Jewish people to participate, and added one token participant to the German team—a Jewish woman, Helene Mayer. In an attempt to "clean up" the host city, the German Ministry of the Interior authorized the chief of police to arrest all Romani and keep them in a "special camp", the Berlin-Marzahn concentration camp.[68]

Political aspects

 
A 1935 political cartoon by Jewish British artist John Henry Amshewitz; Nazi sportsmen trample the Olympic spirit while marching past a concentration camp holding, among others, Jews and a "non-political sportsman". The axe of "Nazi justice" chops away at the tree of sport.

United States Olympic Committee president Avery Brundage became a main supporter of the Games being held in Germany, arguing that "politics has no place in sport", despite having initial doubts.[69]

French Olympians gave a Roman salute at the opening ceremony: known as the salut de Joinville per the battalion, Bataillon de Joinville, the Olympic salute was part of the Olympic traditions since the 1924 games.[70] However, due to the different context this action was mistaken by the crowd for a support to fascism, the Olympic salute was discarded after 1946.[71]

Although Haiti attended only the opening ceremony, an interesting vexillological fact was noticed: its flag and the flag of Liechtenstein were coincidentally identical, and this was not discovered until then. The following year, a crown was added to Liechtenstein's to distinguish one flag from the other.[72]

Marty Glickman and Sam Stoller were originally slated to compete in the American 4x100 relay team but were replaced by Jesse Owens and Ralph Metcalfe prior to the start of the race. There were speculations that their Jewish heritage contributed to the decision "not to embarrass the German hosts"; however, given that African-Americans were also heavily disliked by the Nazis, Glickman and Stoller's replacement with black American athletes does not support this theory. Others said that they were in a better physical condition, and that was the main reason behind the replacement.[73]

In 1937, 20th Century Fox released the film Charlie Chan at the Olympics. The plot concerned members of the Berlin police force helping the Chinese detective apprehend a group of spies (of unnamed nationality) trying to steal a new aerial guidance system. Despite pertaining to the Berlin Olympics, actual Games' footage used by the filmmakers was edited to remove any Nazi symbols.[74]

After the Olympics, Jewish participation in German sports was further limited, and persecution of Jews started to become ever more lethal. The Olympic Games provided a nine-month period of relative calmness.[75]

Antisemitism

Main article: Nazi persecution of Jews during the 1936 Olympic Games

The German Olympic committee, in accordance with Nazi directives, virtually barred Germans who were Jewish or Roma or had such an ancestry from participating in the Games (Helene Mayer, who had one Jewish parent, was the only German Jew to compete at the Berlin Games). This decision meant exclusion for many of the country's top athletes such as shotputter and discus thrower Lilli Henoch, who was a four-time world record holder and 10-time German national champion,[76] and Gretel Bergmann who was suspended from the German team just days after she set a record of 1.60 meters in the high jump.[77][78]

Individual Jewish athletes from a number of countries chose to boycott the Berlin Olympics, including South African Sid Kiel,[79] and Americans Milton Green and Norman Cahners. In the United States, the American Jewish Congress and the Jewish Labor Committee supported a boycott.[80]

Boycott debate

Prior to and during the Games, there was considerable debate outside Germany over whether the competition should be allowed or discontinued. Berlin had been selected by the IOC as the host city in 1931 during the Weimar Republic, but after Adolf Hitler's rise to power in 1933, observers in many countries began to question the morality of going ahead with an Olympic Games hosted by the Nazi regime. A number of brief campaigns to boycott or relocate the Games emerged in the United Kingdom, France, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, the Netherlands, and the United States.[80] Exiled German political opponents of Hitler's regime also campaigned against the Berlin Olympics through pro-Communist newspapers such as the Arbeiter-Illustrierte-Zeitung.

The protests were ultimately unsuccessful; forty-nine teams from around the world participated in the 1936 Games, the largest number of participating nations of any Olympics to that point.[80]

France

Fencer Albert Wolff qualified for the French Olympic Team but boycotted the 1936 Summer Olympics, withdrawing from France's national team on principle because he was Jewish.[81] He said: "I cannot participate in anything sponsored by Adolf Hitler, even for France."[82]

Spain

Main article: People's Olympiad

The Spanish government led by the newly elected left-wing Popular Front boycotted the Games and organized the People's Olympiad as a parallel event in Barcelona. Some 6,000 athletes[83] from 49 "national" delegations registered.[citation needed] However, the People's Olympiad was aborted because of the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War just one day before the event was due to start.[80]

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union had not participated in international sporting events since the 1920 Olympics. The Soviet government was not invited to the 1920 Games, with the Russian Civil War still raging, and they did not participate in the 1924 Olympics and forward on ideological grounds. Instead, through the auspices of the Red Sport International, it had participated in a left-wing workers' alternative, the Spartakiad, since 1928. The USSR had intended to attend the People's Olympiad in Barcelona until it was cancelled; the Soviets did attend the Spartakiad-sponsored 1937 Workers' Summer Olympiad in Antwerp, Belgium.[84] The Soviet Union started competing in the Olympics in 1952, when Soviet leaders realized that they could use the event to fulfil their political and ideological agenda.[85]

Turkey

Halet Çambel and Suat Fetgeri Așani, the first Turkish and Muslim women[86] athletes to participate in the Olympics (fencing), refused an offer by their guide to be formally introduced to Adolf Hitler, saying they would not shake hands with him due to his approach to Jews, as stated by Ms. Çambel in a Milliyet newspaper interview in 2000.[87]

United States

 
Avery Brundage meeting mayor of Berlin Julius Lippert and IOC German Secretary Theodor Lewald in 1936

Traditionally, the United States sent one of the largest teams to the Olympics, and there was a considerable debate over whether the nation should participate in the 1936 Games.[80]

Those involved in the debate on whether to boycott the Olympics included Ernest Lee Jahncke, Judge Jeremiah T. Mahoney, and future IOC President Avery Brundage. Some within the United States considered requesting a boycott of the Games, as to participate in the festivity might be considered a sign of support for the Nazi regime and its antisemitic policies. However, others such as Brundage (see below) argued that the Olympic Games should not reflect political views, but rather should be strictly a contest of the greatest athletes.

Brundage, then of the United States Olympic Committee, opposed the boycott, stating that Jewish athletes were being treated fairly and that the Games should continue. Brundage asserted that politics played no role in sports, and that they should never be entwined. Brundage also believed that there was a "Jewish-Communist conspiracy" that existed to keep the United States from competing in the Olympic Games.[69] Somewhat ironically, Brundage would be later accused of being a Soviet dupe for his controversial stance on the Soviet sports system that allowed them to circumvent the amateur rules.[88][89] On the subject of Jewish discrimination, he stated, "The very foundation of the modern Olympic revival will be undermined if individual countries are allowed to restrict participation by reason of class, creed, or race."[80]

During a fact-finding trip that Brundage went on to Germany in 1934 to ascertain whether German Jews were being treated fairly, Brundage found no discrimination when he interviewed Jews and his Nazi handlers translated for him, and Brundage commiserated with his hosts that he belonged to a sports club in Chicago that did not allow Jews entry, either.[90]

Unlike Brundage, Mahoney supported a boycott of the Games. Mahoney, the president of the Amateur Athletic Union, led newspaper editors and anti-Nazi groups to protest against American participation in the Berlin Olympics. He contested that racial discrimination was a violation of Olympic rules and that participation in the Games was tantamount to support for the Third Reich.

Most African-American newspapers supported participation in the Olympics. The Philadelphia Tribune and the Chicago Defender both agreed that black victories would undermine Nazi views of Aryan supremacy and spark renewed African-American pride. American Jewish organizations, meanwhile, largely opposed the Olympics. The American Jewish Congress and the Jewish Labor Committee staged rallies and supported the boycott of German goods to show their disdain for American participation.[69] The JLC organized the World Labor Athletic Carnival, held on 15 and 16 August at New York's Randall's Island, to protest the holding of the 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany.[91]

Eventually, Brundage won the debate, convincing the Amateur Athletic Union to close a vote in favor of sending an American team to the Berlin Olympics. Mahoney's efforts to incite a boycott of the Olympic games in the United States failed.

US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his administration did not become involved in the debate, due to a tradition of allowing the US Olympic Committee to operate independently of government influence. However, several American diplomats including William E. Dodd, the American ambassador to Berlin, and George Messersmith, head of the US legation in Vienna, deplored the US Olympic Committee's decision to participate in the games.[80]

Last surviving competitor

Upon the death of Joan Langdon on March 15, 2022, Iris Cummings became the last surviving competitor of the 1936 Summer Olympics.[92]

Gallery

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See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d Weimar Republic at the time of bidding; official name in 1871–1945: Deutsches Reich

References

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Further reading

  • Barry, James P. The Berlin Olympics. World Focus Books.
  • Grix, Jonathan, and Barrie Houlihan. "Sports mega-events as part of a nation's soft power strategy: The cases of Germany (2006) and the UK (2012)." British journal of politics and international relations 16.4 (2014): 572–596. online 6 March 2020 at the Wayback Machine
  • Hilton, Christopher. Hitler's Olympics: The 1936 Berlin Olympic Games. (2006)
  • Krüger, Arnd. The Nazi Olympics of 1936, in Kevin Young and Kevin B. Wamsley (eds.), Global Olympics: Historical and Sociological Studies of the Modern Games. Oxford: Elsevier 2005; pp. 43–58.
  • Krüger, Arnd, and William Murray (eds.), The Nazi Olympics: Sport, Politics and Appeasement in the 1930s. (Univ. of Illinois Press 2003).
  • Lehrer, Steven. Hitler Sites: A City-by-city Guidebook (Austria, Germany, France, United States). McFarland, 2002.
  • Large, David Clay. Nazi games: the Olympics of 1936 (WW Norton & Company, 2007).
  • Mandell, Richard D. The Nazi Olympics (University of Illinois Press, 1971).
  • Rippon, Anton. Hitler's Games: The 1936 Olympics. (2012) excerpt
  • Socolow, Michael J. Six Minutes in Berlin: Broadcast Spectacle and Rowing Gold at the Nazi Olympics. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2016.
  • Walters, Guy, Berlin Games – How Hitler Stole the Olympic Dream. (2006) excerpt

External links

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to 1936 Summer Olympics.
  • "Berlin 1936". Olympics.com. International Olympic Committee.
  • Complete official IOC report. Part I 25 June 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  • United States Holocaust Memorial Museum –
  • United States Holocaust Memorial Museum – Library Bibliography: 1936 Olympics
  • Virtual Library: the NAZI Olympics
  • Die XI. Olympischen Sommerspiele in Berlin 1936 at Lebendiges Museum Online. In German
  • 1936 Olympics and the Struggle for Influence on C-SPAN
  • The 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, Germany
  • Nazi Games at PBS International
Summer Olympics
Preceded by XI Olympiad
Berlin
1936 		Succeeded by
Tokyo/Helsinki
cancelled due to World War II

March 19, 2023
1936, summer, olympics, this, article, about, 1936, august, olympics, berlin, planned, 1936, august, olympics, barcelona, people, olympiad, german, olympische, sommerspiele, 1936, officially, known, games, olympiad, german, spiele, olympiade, commonly, known, . This article is about the 1936 August Olympics in Berlin For the planned 1936 August Olympics in Barcelona see People s Olympiad The 1936 Summer Olympics German Olympische Sommerspiele 1936 officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad German Spiele der XI Olympiade and commonly known as Berlin 1936 were an international multi sport event held from 1 to 16 August 1936 in Berlin Germany Berlin won the bid to host the Games over Barcelona at the 29th IOC Session on 26 April 1931 The 1936 Games marked the second and most recent time the International Olympic Committee gathered to vote in a city that was bidding to host those Games Later rule modifications forbade cities hosting the bid vote from being awarded the games Games of the XI OlympiadHost cityBerlin GermanyMottoI Call the Youth of the World German Ich rufe die Jugend der Welt Nations49Athletes3 963 3 632 men 331 women Events129 in 19 sports 25 disciplines Opening1 August 1936Closing16 August 1936Opened byChancellor Adolf Hitler 1 CauldronFritz Schilgen 1 StadiumOlympiastadionSummer Los Angeles 1932London 1948 Tokyo 1940 Winter Garmisch 1936St Moritz 1948 Sapporo 1940 To outdo the 1932 Los Angeles Games Reich Fuhrer Adolf Hitler had a new 100 000 seat track and field stadium built as well as six gymnasiums and other smaller arenas The Games were the first to be televised with radio broadcasts reaching 41 countries 2 Filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl was commissioned by the German Olympic Committee to film the Games for 7 million 2 Her film titled Olympia pioneered many of the techniques now common in the filming of sports Hitler saw the 1936 Games as an opportunity to promote his government and ideals of racial supremacy and antisemitism and the official Nazi Party paper the Volkischer Beobachter wrote in the strongest terms that Jews should not be allowed to participate in the Games 3 4 German Jewish athletes were barred or prevented from taking part in the Games by a variety of methods 5 although some women swimmers from the Jewish sports club Hakoah Vienna did participate Jewish athletes from other countries were said to have been side lined to avoid offending the Nazi regime 6 Total ticket revenues were 7 5 million Reichsmark generating a profit of over one million R M The official budget did not include outlays by the city of Berlin which issued an itemized report detailing its costs of 16 5 million R M or outlays of the German national government which did not make its costs public but is estimated to have spent US 30 million 7 Jesse Owens of the United States won four gold medals in the sprint and long jump events and became the most successful athlete to compete in Berlin while Germany was the most successful country overall with 89 medals total with the United States coming in second with 56 medals These were the final Olympic Games under the presidency of Henri de Baillet Latour and the final Games for 12 years due to the disruption of the Second World War The next Olympic Games were held in 1948 the Winter Games in St Moritz Switzerland and then the Summer Games in London England Contents 1 Host city selection 2 Organization 2 1 Torch relay 2 2 Broadcasting 2 3 Olympic village 3 Venues 4 Games 4 1 Opening ceremony 4 2 Events 4 3 Notable achievements 4 4 Participating nations 5 Medal count 6 Controversies 6 1 Political aspects 6 2 Antisemitism 6 3 Boycott debate 6 3 1 France 6 3 2 Spain 6 3 3 Soviet Union 6 3 4 Turkey 6 3 5 United States 7 Last surviving competitor 8 Gallery 9 See also 10 Notes 11 References 12 Further reading 13 External linksHost city selection EditAt the 28th IOC Session held during 1930 in Berlin 14 cities announced their intention to bid to host the 1936 Summer Olympic Games The bidding for these Olympic Games was the first to be contested by IOC members casting votes for their own favorite host cities 8 The vote occurred on 26 April 1931 at the 29th IOC Session held in Barcelona Spain that year The vote was held 69 days after the declaration of the Second Spanish Republic and during the final years of the Weimar Republic This was two years before Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party rose to power in Germany in 1933 By the time of the 1931 IOC Session only Barcelona and Berlin were left in contention for the delegate vote Rome withdrew on the eve of the vote How other candidates withdrew is unclear as is the seriousness of intent behind all of the listed candidate cities The other cities who announced an intention to hold the games but which withdrew from the race were Alexandria Budapest Buenos Aires Cologne Dublin Frankfurt Helsinki Lausanne Montevideo Nuremberg Rio de Janeiro and Rome Helsinki Rome Barcelona and Rio de Janeiro would go on to host the Olympic Games in 1952 1960 1992 and 2016 respectively 9 The selection procedure marked the second and final time that the International Olympic Committee would gather to vote in a city which was bidding to host those Games The only other time this occurred was at the inaugural IOC Session in Paris France on 24 April 1894 Then Athens and Paris were chosen to host the 1896 and 1900 Games respectively The city of Barcelona held a multi sport festival at the same time as the 1931 IOC Session This included a football match between Spain and the Irish Free State which was watched by 70 000 spectators The political uncertainty around the declaration of the Second Spanish Republic which had happened days before the IOC Session was likely to have been a greater factor in the decision taken by delegates regarding the host city for 1936 Berlin prevailed After the Nazis took control of Germany and began instituting anti Semitic policies the IOC held private discussions among its delegates about changing the decision to hold the Games in Berlin However Hitler s regime gave assurances that Jewish athletes would be allowed to compete on a German Olympic team 10 One year before the games the American Olympic Association suggested to change the venue to Rome they saw Rome as a good replacement because Rome was originally selected to hold the 1908 Summer Olympics 11 1936 Summer Olympics bidding result 9 City Country Round 1Berlin Germany a 43Barcelona Spain 16Abstentions 8Withdrawn bidsAlexandria Egypt 0Budapest Hungary 0Buenos Aires Argentina 0Cologne Germany a 0Dublin Ireland 0Frankfurt Germany a 0Helsinki Finland 0Lausanne Switzerland 0Montevideo Uruguay 0Nuremberg Germany a 0Rio de Janeiro Brazil 0Rome Italy 0Organization EditHans von Tschammer und Osten as Reichssportfuhrer i e head of the Deutscher Reichsbund fur Leibesubungen DRL the Reich Sports Office played a major role in the structure and organisation of the Olympics He promoted the idea that the use of sports would harden the German spirit and instill unity among German youth At the same time he also believed that sports was a way to weed out the weak Jewish and other undesirables 12 Von Tschammer trusted the details of the organisation of the games to Theodor Lewald and Carl Diem the former president and secretary of the Deutscher Reichsausschuss fur Leibesubungen the forerunner of the Reich Sports Office Among Diem s ideas for the Berlin Games was the introduction of the Olympic torch relay between Greece and the host nation Runners carrying the Olympic Flame Torch relay Edit Main article 1936 Summer Olympics torch relay The 1936 Summer Olympics torch relay was the first of its kind 13 following on from the reintroduction of the Olympic Flame at the 1928 Games It pioneered the modern convention of moving the flame via a relay system from Greece to the Olympic venue Leni Riefenstahl filmed the relay for the 1938 film Olympia The sportive knightly battle awakens the best human characteristics It doesn t separate but unites the combatants in understanding and respect It also helps to connect the countries in the spirit of peace That s why the Olympic Flame should never die Adolf Hitler commenting on the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games 14 Broadcasting Edit The games were the first to have live television coverage The German Post Office using equipment from Telefunken broadcast over 70 hours of coverage to special viewing rooms throughout Berlin and Potsdam and a few private TV sets transmitting from the Paul Nipkow TV Station They used three different types of TV cameras so blackouts would occur when changing from one type to another 15 Olympic village Edit The 1936 Olympic village was located at Elstal in Wustermark at 52 32 10 78 N 13 0 33 20 E 52 5363278 N 13 0092222 E 52 5363278 13 0092222 on the western edge of Berlin The site which is 30 kilometres 19 mi from the centre of the city consisted of one and two floor dormitories a large dining hall Dining Hall of the Nations a swimming facility gymnasium track and other training facilities Its layout was designed and construction overseen by appointed village commander Hauptmann Wolfgang Furstner beginning in 1934 16 Less than two months before the start of the Olympic Games Furstner was abruptly demoted to vice commander and replaced by Oberstleutnant Werner von Gilsa commander of the Berlin Guard Regiment The official reason for the replacement was that Furstner had not acted with the necessary energy to prevent damage to the site as 370 000 visitors passed through it between 1 May and 15 June However this was just a cover story to explain the sudden demotion of the half Jewish officer 17 The 1935 Nuremberg Laws passed during the period Furstner was overseeing the Olympic Village had classified him as a Jew and as such the career officer was to be expelled from the Wehrmacht 18 Two days after the conclusion of the Berlin Olympics vice commander Furstner had been removed from active Wehrmacht duty 19 and committed suicide because he realised he had no future under the Nazis 17 After the completion of the Olympic Games the village was repurposed for the Wehrmacht into the Olympic Doberitz Hospital German Olympia Lazarett Doberitz and Army Infantry School German Heeres Infanterieschule and was used as such through the Second World War In 1945 it was taken over by the Soviet Union and became a military camp of the union occupation forces Late 20th century efforts were made to restore parts of the former village but little progress was made citation needed More recently the vast majority of the land of the Olympic village has been managed by the DKB Foundation with more success efforts are being made to restore the site into a living museum The dormitory building used by Jesse Owens Meissen House has been fully restored with the gymnasium and swimming hall partially restored Seasonally tours are given daily to small groups and students 20 The site remains relatively unknown even in Germany but some tournaments are held at the site in an effort to boost knowledge of the venues 21 Displaying Nazi symbols and swastika Spectators giving the Nazi salute during one of the medal ceremonies as the Nazi flag flies above The Olympic Fire in Berlin The Olympic village US track team house at the Olympic village 2015 Jesse Owens room at the Olympic village 2015 LZ 129 Hindenburg flying over the village with the Olympics logo painted on its underside hullVenues Edit The official poster of the Games of the XI Olympiad Twenty two venues were used for the 1936 Summer Olympics Many were located in the Reich Sportsfeld complex Sailing was held in the Bay of Kiel which would serve as the sailing venue for the 1972 Summer Olympics held in Munich 22 The Olympic Stadium would later be part of two FIFA World Cups and then host an IAAF World Championships in Athletics along with undergoing a renovation in the early 2000s to give new life to the stadium Avus Motor Road AVUS was started in 1907 but was not completed until 1921 due to World War I 23 The track was rebuilt for the 1936 Games 23 AVUS continued being used after World War II though mainly in Formula 2 racing 23 The German Grand Prix was last held at the track in 1959 23 Dismantling of the track first took place in 1968 to make way for a traffic crossing for touring cars that raced there until 1998 23 BSV 92 Field was first constructed in 1910 for use in football handball athletics and tennis 24 The Reich Sports Field which consisted of the Olympic Stadium the Dietrich Eckert Open Air Theatre the Olympic Swimming Stadium Mayfield the Hockey Stadiums the Tennis Courts and the Haus des Deutschen Sports was planned for the aborted 1916 Summer Olympics but was not completed until 1934 25 Mayfield was the last venue completed prior to the 1936 Games in April 1936 25 Deutschland Hall was opened in 1935 26 Mommenstadion opened in 1930 27 Basketball was held outdoors at the request of the International Basketball Federation FIBA 28 29 The tennis courts were used which turned to mud during heavy rain at the final 28 The K 1 1000 m canoeing final was also affected by heavy rain at Grunau that included thunder and lightning 30 During World War II Deutschlandhalle suffered heavy aerial bombing damage 26 After the second world war the hall was reconstructed and expansion has continued as of 2010 update 26 The Deutschlandhalle in Berlin where the boxing weightlifting and wrestling events took place was used as a venue but was increasingly closed for repairs last in 2009 when it was close for repairs It was demolished in December 2011 the Mommsenstadion was renovated in 1987 and was still in use in 2010 27 The Olympic Stadium was used as an underground bunker in World War II as the war went against Nazi Germany s favor 31 The British reopened the Stadium in 1946 and parts of the stadium were rebuilt by the late 1950s 32 As a host venue for the 1974 FIFA World Cup the stadium had its roof partially covered on the North and South Stands 33 British occupation of the stadium ended in 1994 34 Restoration was approved in 1998 with a contractor being found to do the work in 2000 35 This restoration ran from 2000 to 2004 36 The modernized Stadium reopened in 2004 37 with a capacity of 74 228 people The seating has been changed greatly especially the sections that were reserved for German and international political leaders The stadium now plays host to Hertha BSC 1963 present and is expected to remain the home of the team for years to come For the 2006 FIFA World Cup the venue was where the final took place between Italy and France 38 Three years later the venue hosted the World Athletics Championships 39 Venue Sports Capacity Ref Avus Motor Road Athletics marathon 50 km walk Cycling road Not listed 40 BSV Field Cycling track Handball 1 000 41 Dietrich Eckart Open Air Theatre Gymnastics 20 000 42 Doberitz Equestrian eventing Modern pentathlon riding Not listed 43 Deutschlandhalle Boxing Weightlifting Wrestling 8 630 44 Berlin Grunau Regatta Course Canoeing Rowing 19 000 45 Haus des Deutschen Sports Fencing Modern pentathlon fencing 1200 46 47 Hertha BSC Field Football 35 239 48 Hockeystadion Field hockey 18 000 42 Hockeystadion 2 Field hockey 1600 42 Kiel Bay Sailing Not listed 49 Mayfield Equestrian dressage Polo 75 000 42 Mommsenstadion Football 15 005 48 Olympic Stadium Athletics Equestrian jumping Football final Handball final 100 000 42 Olympic Swimming Stadium Diving Modern pentathlon swimming Swimming Water polo 20 000 50 Police Stadium Handball Not listed 51 Poststadion Football 45 000 48 Ruhleben Modern pentathlon shooting Not listed 52 Tennis Courts Basketball Fencing epee 832 53 Tennis Stadium Basketball Not listed 53 Wannsee Golf Course Modern pentathlon running Not listed 54 Wannsee Shooting Range Shooting Not listed 54 Games EditOpening ceremony Edit Parade of nations The opening ceremony was held at the Berlin Olympic Stadium on 1 August 1936 A flyover by the German airship Hindenburg flying the Olympic flag behind it was featured early in the opening ceremonies 55 After the arrival of Hitler and his entourage the parade of nations proceeded each nation with its own unique costume As the birthplace of the Olympics Greece entered the stadium first The host nation Germany entered last Some nations athletes purposefully gave the Nazi salute as they passed Hitler Others gave the Olympic salute a similar one given with the same arm or a different gesture entirely such as hats over hearts as the United States India 56 and China did All nations lowered their flags dubious discuss as they passed the Fuhrer save the United States the United Kingdom Switzerland and the Commonwealth of the Philippines The United States doing this was explained later as an army regulation 55 Writer Thomas Wolfe who was there described the opening as an almost religious event the crowd screaming swaying in unison and begging for Hitler There was something scary about it his cult of personality 57 After a speech by the president of the German Olympic Committee the games were officially declared open by Adolf Hitler who quoted in German I proclaim open the Olympic Games of Berlin celebrating the Eleventh Olympiad of the modern era 55 Hitler opened the games from his own box on top of others Writer David Wallechinsky has commented on the event saying This was his event he wanted to be glorified 57 Although the Olympic flame was first introduced in the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam this was the first instance of the torch relay The Nazis invented the concept of the torch run from ancient Olympia to the host city Thus as swimmer Iris Cummings later related once the athletes were all in place the torch bearer ran in through the tunnel to go around the stadium A young man chosen for this task ran up the steps all the way up to the top of the stadium there to light a cauldron which would start this eternal flame that would burn through the duration of the games 57 58 But in spite of all the pomp and ceremony and the glorification of Hitler all did not go according to plan and there was a rather humorous aspect in the opening ceremony U S distance runner Louis Zamperini one of the athletes present related it on camera 57 They released 25 000 pigeons the sky was clouded with pigeons the pigeons circled overhead and then they shot a cannon and they scared the poop out of the pigeons and we had straw hats flat straw hats and you could heard the pitter patter on our straw hats but we felt sorry for the women for they got it in their hair but I mean there were a mass of droppings and I say it was so funny Events Edit 129 events in 25 disciplines comprising 19 sports were part of the Olympic program in 1936 The number of events in each discipline is noted in parentheses Aquatics Diving 4 Swimming 11 Water polo 1 Athletics 29 Basketball 1 Boxing 8 Canoeing 9 Cycling Road 2 Track 4 Equestrian Dressage 2 Eventing 2 Show jumping 2 Fencing 7 Field hockey 1 Football 1 Gymnastics 9 Handball 1 Modern pentathlon 1 Polo 1 Rowing 7 Sailing 4 Shooting 3 Weightlifting 5 Wrestling Freestyle 7 Greco Roman 7 Basketball canoeing and handball made their debut at the Olympics Handball did not appear again on the program until the next German summer Olympic games in Munich in 1972 Demonstration sports were Art Baseball Gliding and Wushu 59 A team from India gave demonstrations of Kabaddi Mallakhamb and other traditional Indian sports but were not part of India s official Olympic contingent 60 Notable achievements Edit Germany had a successful year in the equestrian events winning individual and team gold in all three disciplines as well as individual silver in dressage In the cycling match sprint finals the German Toni Merkens fouled Arie van Vliet of the Netherlands Instead of being disqualified he was fined 100 ℛℳ and kept his gold German gymnasts Konrad Frey and Alfred Schwarzmann both won three gold medals American Jesse Owens won four gold medals in the sprint and long jump events His German competitor Luz Long offered Owens advice after he almost failed to qualify in the long jump and was posthumously awarded the Pierre de Coubertin medal for sportsmanship Mack Robinson brother of Jackie Robinson won the 200 meter sprint silver medal behind Owens by 0 4 seconds Although he did not win a medal future American war hero Louis Zamperini lagging behind in the 5 000 meter final made up ground by clocking a 56 second final lap In one of the most dramatic 800 meter races in history American John Woodruff won gold after slowing to jogging speed in the middle of the final in order to free himself from being boxed in 61 Glenn Edgar Morris a farm boy from Colorado won gold in the decathlon British rower Jack Beresford won his fifth Olympic medal in the sport and his third gold medal The U S eight man rowing team from the University of Washington won the gold medal coming from behind to defeat the Germans and Italians with Hitler in attendance 13 year old American sensation Marjorie Gestring won the women s 3 meter diving event 62 Obverse of John Woodruff s gold medal for winning the 800 metres Reverse of John Woodruff s gold medal while on display at Hillman Library University of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh PA Jack Lovelock of New Zealand won the 1500 m gold medal coming through a strong field to win in world record time of 3 47 8 In the marathon the ethnic Koreans Sohn Kee chung and Nam Sung yong won one gold and one bronze medal as Korea was annexed by Japan at the time they were running for Japan India won the gold medal in the field hockey event once again they won the gold in all Olympics from 1928 to 1956 defeating Germany 8 1 in the final However Indians were officially considered Indo Aryans by the Germans so there was no controversy regarding the victory Rie Mastenbroek of the Netherlands won three gold medals and a silver in swimming Estonia s Kristjan Palusalu won gold medals in both Men s heavyweight Wrestling styles marking the last time Estonia competed as an independent nation in the Olympics until 1992 After winning the middleweight class the Egyptian weightlifter Khadr El Touni continued to compete for another 45 minutes finally exceeding the total of the German silver medalist by 35 kg The 20 year old El Touni lifted a total of 387 5 kg crushing two German world champions and breaking the then Olympic and world records while the German lifted 352 5 kg Furthermore El Touni had lifted 15 kg more than the light heavyweight gold medalist a feat only El Touni has accomplished El Touni s new world records stood for 13 years Fascinated by El Touni s performance Adolf Hitler rushed down to greet this human miracle Prior to the competition Hitler was said to have been sure that Rudolf Ismayr and Adolf Wagner would embarrass all other opponents Hitler was so impressed by El Touni s domination in the middleweight class that he ordered a street named after him in Berlin s Olympic village citation needed The Egyptian held the No 1 position on the IWF list of history s 50 greatest weightlifters for 60 years until the 1996 Games in Atlanta where Turkey s Naim Suleymanoglu surpassed him to top the list Italy s football team continued their dominance under head coach Vittorio Pozzo winning the gold medal in these Olympics between their two consecutive World Cup victories 1934 and 1938 Much like the successes of German athletes this triumph was claimed by supporters of Benito Mussolini s regime as a vindication of the superiority of the fascist system Austria won the silver a controversial win after Hitler called for a rematch of the quarterfinals match to discount Peru s 4 2 win over Austria The Peruvian national Olympic team refused to play the match again and withdrew from the games In the quarter finals of the football tournament Peru beat Austria 4 2 in extra time Peru rallied from a two goal deficit in the final 15 minutes of normal time During extra time Peruvian fans allegedly ran onto the field and attacked an Austrian player In the chaos Peru scored twice and won 4 2 However Austria protested and the International Olympic Committee ordered a replay without any spectators The Peruvian government refused and their entire Olympic squad left in protest as did Colombia 63 A remarkable story from the track and field competition was the gold medal won by the US women s 4 100 m relay team The German team were the heavy favourites but dropped the baton at one hand off Of notable interest on the US team was Betty Robinson 64 She was the first woman ever awarded an Olympic gold medal for track and field winning the women s 100 m event at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam 64 In 1931 Robinson was involved in a plane crash and was severely injured Her body was discovered in the wreckage and it was wrongly thought that she was dead She was placed in the trunk of a car and taken to an undertaker where it was discovered that she was not dead but in a coma She awoke from the coma seven months later although it was another six months before she could get out of a wheelchair and two years before she could walk normally again 65 Due to the length of her recovery she had to miss participating in the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles in her home country Participating nations Edit A total of 49 nations attended the Berlin Olympics up from 37 in 1932 Five nations made their first official Olympic appearance at these Games Afghanistan Bermuda Bolivia Costa Rica and Liechtenstein Nations participating for the first time shown in blue Number of attending athletes from respective participating countries Participating National Olympic Committees Afghanistan 14 Argentina 51 Australia 32 Austria 176 Belgium 120 Bermuda 5 Bolivia 1 Brazil 73 Bulgaria 24 Canada 96 Chile 40 Republic of China 54 Colombia 5 Costa Rica 1 Czechoslovakia 162 Denmark 116 Egypt 54 Estonia 33 Finland 107 France 201 Germany 433 host Great Britain 207 Greece 40 Hungary 209 Iceland 12 India 27 Italy 182 Japan 153 Latvia 24 Liechtenstein 6 Luxembourg 44 Malta 11 Mexico 34 Monaco 6 Netherlands 128 New Zealand 7 Norway 72 Peru 40 Philippines 28 Poland 112 Portugal 19 Romania 53 South Africa 25 Sweden 150 Switzerland 174 Turkey 48 United States 310 Uruguay 37 Yugoslavia 93 Haiti also took part in the Opening Ceremony but its only athlete a weightlifter did not compete 66 67 Medal count EditMain article 1936 Summer Olympics medal table Volmari Iso Hollo 3000 m steeplechase 1936 Summer Olympics The ten nations that won most medals at the 1936 Games Host nation Germany RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal1 Germany 3831321012 United States242112573 Hungary1015164 Italy9135275 Finland866206 France766197 Sweden6510218 Japan6410209 Netherlands6471710 Austria5751711 Switzerland4951812 Great Britain47314Totals 12 entries 127114106347Controversies EditHitler saw the Games as an opportunity to promote his government and ideals of racial supremacy The official Nazi party paper the Volkischer Beobachter wrote in the strongest terms that Jewish and black people should not be allowed to participate in the Games 3 4 However when threatened with a boycott of the Games by other nations he relented and allowed black and Jewish people to participate and added one token participant to the German team a Jewish woman Helene Mayer In an attempt to clean up the host city the German Ministry of the Interior authorized the chief of police to arrest all Romani and keep them in a special camp the Berlin Marzahn concentration camp 68 Political aspects Edit A 1935 political cartoon by Jewish British artist John Henry Amshewitz Nazi sportsmen trample the Olympic spirit while marching past a concentration camp holding among others Jews and a non political sportsman The axe of Nazi justice chops away at the tree of sport United States Olympic Committee president Avery Brundage became a main supporter of the Games being held in Germany arguing that politics has no place in sport despite having initial doubts 69 French Olympians gave a Roman salute at the opening ceremony known as the salut de Joinville per the battalion Bataillon de Joinville the Olympic salute was part of the Olympic traditions since the 1924 games 70 However due to the different context this action was mistaken by the crowd for a support to fascism the Olympic salute was discarded after 1946 71 Although Haiti attended only the opening ceremony an interesting vexillological fact was noticed its flag and the flag of Liechtenstein were coincidentally identical and this was not discovered until then The following year a crown was added to Liechtenstein s to distinguish one flag from the other 72 Marty Glickman and Sam Stoller were originally slated to compete in the American 4x100 relay team but were replaced by Jesse Owens and Ralph Metcalfe prior to the start of the race There were speculations that their Jewish heritage contributed to the decision not to embarrass the German hosts however given that African Americans were also heavily disliked by the Nazis Glickman and Stoller s replacement with black American athletes does not support this theory Others said that they were in a better physical condition and that was the main reason behind the replacement 73 In 1937 20th Century Fox released the film Charlie Chan at the Olympics The plot concerned members of the Berlin police force helping the Chinese detective apprehend a group of spies of unnamed nationality trying to steal a new aerial guidance system Despite pertaining to the Berlin Olympics actual Games footage used by the filmmakers was edited to remove any Nazi symbols 74 After the Olympics Jewish participation in German sports was further limited and persecution of Jews started to become ever more lethal The Olympic Games provided a nine month period of relative calmness 75 Antisemitism Edit Main article Nazi persecution of Jews during the 1936 Olympic Games The German Olympic committee in accordance with Nazi directives virtually barred Germans who were Jewish or Roma or had such an ancestry from participating in the Games Helene Mayer who had one Jewish parent was the only German Jew to compete at the Berlin Games This decision meant exclusion for many of the country s top athletes such as shotputter and discus thrower Lilli Henoch who was a four time world record holder and 10 time German national champion 76 and Gretel Bergmann who was suspended from the German team just days after she set a record of 1 60 meters in the high jump 77 78 Individual Jewish athletes from a number of countries chose to boycott the Berlin Olympics including South African Sid Kiel 79 and Americans Milton Green and Norman Cahners In the United States the American Jewish Congress and the Jewish Labor Committee supported a boycott 80 Boycott debate Edit Prior to and during the Games there was considerable debate outside Germany over whether the competition should be allowed or discontinued Berlin had been selected by the IOC as the host city in 1931 during the Weimar Republic but after Adolf Hitler s rise to power in 1933 observers in many countries began to question the morality of going ahead with an Olympic Games hosted by the Nazi regime A number of brief campaigns to boycott or relocate the Games emerged in the United Kingdom France Sweden Czechoslovakia the Netherlands and the United States 80 Exiled German political opponents of Hitler s regime also campaigned against the Berlin Olympics through pro Communist newspapers such as the Arbeiter Illustrierte Zeitung The protests were ultimately unsuccessful forty nine teams from around the world participated in the 1936 Games the largest number of participating nations of any Olympics to that point 80 France Edit Fencer Albert Wolff qualified for the French Olympic Team but boycotted the 1936 Summer Olympics withdrawing from France s national team on principle because he was Jewish 81 He said I cannot participate in anything sponsored by Adolf Hitler even for France 82 Spain Edit Main article People s Olympiad The Spanish government led by the newly elected left wing Popular Front boycotted the Games and organized the People s Olympiad as a parallel event in Barcelona Some 6 000 athletes 83 from 49 national delegations registered citation needed However the People s Olympiad was aborted because of the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War just one day before the event was due to start 80 Soviet Union Edit The Soviet Union had not participated in international sporting events since the 1920 Olympics The Soviet government was not invited to the 1920 Games with the Russian Civil War still raging and they did not participate in the 1924 Olympics and forward on ideological grounds Instead through the auspices of the Red Sport International it had participated in a left wing workers alternative the Spartakiad since 1928 The USSR had intended to attend the People s Olympiad in Barcelona until it was cancelled the Soviets did attend the Spartakiad sponsored 1937 Workers Summer Olympiad in Antwerp Belgium 84 The Soviet Union started competing in the Olympics in 1952 when Soviet leaders realized that they could use the event to fulfil their political and ideological agenda 85 Turkey Edit Halet Cambel and Suat Fetgeri Așani the first Turkish and Muslim women 86 athletes to participate in the Olympics fencing refused an offer by their guide to be formally introduced to Adolf Hitler saying they would not shake hands with him due to his approach to Jews as stated by Ms Cambel in a Milliyet newspaper interview in 2000 87 United States Edit Avery Brundage meeting mayor of Berlin Julius Lippert and IOC German Secretary Theodor Lewald in 1936 Traditionally the United States sent one of the largest teams to the Olympics and there was a considerable debate over whether the nation should participate in the 1936 Games 80 Those involved in the debate on whether to boycott the Olympics included Ernest Lee Jahncke Judge Jeremiah T Mahoney and future IOC President Avery Brundage Some within the United States considered requesting a boycott of the Games as to participate in the festivity might be considered a sign of support for the Nazi regime and its antisemitic policies However others such as Brundage see below argued that the Olympic Games should not reflect political views but rather should be strictly a contest of the greatest athletes Brundage then of the United States Olympic Committee opposed the boycott stating that Jewish athletes were being treated fairly and that the Games should continue Brundage asserted that politics played no role in sports and that they should never be entwined Brundage also believed that there was a Jewish Communist conspiracy that existed to keep the United States from competing in the Olympic Games 69 Somewhat ironically Brundage would be later accused of being a Soviet dupe for his controversial stance on the Soviet sports system that allowed them to circumvent the amateur rules 88 89 On the subject of Jewish discrimination he stated The very foundation of the modern Olympic revival will be undermined if individual countries are allowed to restrict participation by reason of class creed or race 80 During a fact finding trip that Brundage went on to Germany in 1934 to ascertain whether German Jews were being treated fairly Brundage found no discrimination when he interviewed Jews and his Nazi handlers translated for him and Brundage commiserated with his hosts that he belonged to a sports club in Chicago that did not allow Jews entry either 90 Unlike Brundage Mahoney supported a boycott of the Games Mahoney the president of the Amateur Athletic Union led newspaper editors and anti Nazi groups to protest against American participation in the Berlin Olympics He contested that racial discrimination was a violation of Olympic rules and that participation in the Games was tantamount to support for the Third Reich Most African American newspapers supported participation in the Olympics The Philadelphia Tribune and the Chicago Defender both agreed that black victories would undermine Nazi views of Aryan supremacy and spark renewed African American pride American Jewish organizations meanwhile largely opposed the Olympics The American Jewish Congress and the Jewish Labor Committee staged rallies and supported the boycott of German goods to show their disdain for American participation 69 The JLC organized the World Labor Athletic Carnival held on 15 and 16 August at New York s Randall s Island to protest the holding of the 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany 91 Eventually Brundage won the debate convincing the Amateur Athletic Union to close a vote in favor of sending an American team to the Berlin Olympics Mahoney s efforts to incite a boycott of the Olympic games in the United States failed US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his administration did not become involved in the debate due to a tradition of allowing the US Olympic Committee to operate independently of government influence However several American diplomats including William E Dodd the American ambassador to Berlin and George Messersmith head of the US legation in Vienna deplored the US Olympic Committee s decision to participate in the games 80 Last surviving competitor EditUpon the death of Joan Langdon on March 15 2022 Iris Cummings became the last surviving competitor of the 1936 Summer Olympics 92 Gallery Edit See also Edit Olympic Games portal1936 Winter Olympics Olympic Games celebrated in Germany 1936 Winter Olympics Garmisch Partenkirchen 1936 Summer Olympics Berlin 1972 Summer Olympics MunichList of IOC country codes Olympic Games Decoration Race 2016 film National Socialist League of the Reich for Physical ExerciseNotes Edit a b c d Weimar Republic at the time of bidding official name in 1871 1945 Deutsches ReichReferences Edit a b Factsheet Opening Ceremony of the Games f the Olympiad PDF Press release International Olympic Committee 13 September 2013 Archived PDF from the original on 14 August 2016 Retrieved 22 December 2018 a b Rader Benjamin G American Sports From the Age of Folk Games to the Age of Televised Sports 5th Ed a b Hitlerland p 188 a b David Clay Large Nazi Games The Olympics of 1936 p 58 The Nazi Olympics Berlin 1936 Ushmm org United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Retrieved 7 October 2016 Jewish Athletes Marty Glickman amp Sam Stoller Ushmm org United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Retrieved 7 October 2016 Zarnowski C Frank Summer 1992 A Look at Olympic Costs PDF Citius Altius Fortius 1 1 16 32 Archived from the original PDF on 28 May 2008 Retrieved 24 March 2007 Olympic Vote History Archived from the original on 25 May 2008 Retrieved 1 July 2008 a b Past Olympic host city election results GamesBids Archived from the original on 24 January 2011 Retrieved 17 March 2011 Kessler Mario 2011 Berlin 1936 nur Spiele der Nazis Olympia zwischen Sport und Politik Jahrbuch fur Forschungen zur Geschichte der Arbeiterbewegung II Les Jeux Olympiques de 1936 a Rome The 1936 Olympic Games in Rome L Equipe in French 27 July 1935 p 1 Nazification of Sport Ushmm org United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archived from the original on 7 June 2013 Retrieved 16 November 2015 The Olympic torch s shadowy past BBC News 5 April 2008 Weigant Chris The Olympic Torch Relay s Nazi Origin Huffington Post Retrieved 16 November 2015 Large Davic Clay 2007 Nazi Games The Olympics of 1936 W W Norton amp Company Inc ISBN 978 0 393 05884 0 The History Place Triumph of Hitler The Berlin Olympics Historyplace com Archived from the original on 11 September 2012 Retrieved 14 October 2016 a b Rippon Anton 2006 Hitler s Olympics The Story of the 1936 Nazi Games Pen and Sword p 216 ISBN 9781781597378 Wolfgang Lehrer Steven 2006 The Reich Chancellery and Fuhrerbunker Complex An Illustrated History of the Seat of the Nazi Regime McFarland Jefferson NC pp 47 48 ISBN 0 7864 7733 4 The Nazi Olympics Berlin 1936 Continuing Persecution Ushmm org Retrieved 14 October 2016 Offnungszeiten und Fuhrungen im Olympischen Dorf von 1936 Dkb stiftung de Archived from the original on 3 February 2014 Retrieved 13 October 2016 Hitler s Olympic Village Faces Conservation Battle Voice of America 26 August 2012 1972 Summer Olympics official report Archived 18 November 2008 at the Wayback Machine Volume 2 Part 2 pp 162 7 209 11 Accessed 17 October 2010 a b c d e Kolumbus fi profile of German race tracks Accessed 17 October 2010 The first 50 years of BSV92 1892 1943 Archived 18 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine Accessed 17 October 2010 in German a b 1936 Summer Olympics Archived 25 June 2008 at the Wayback Machine Volume 1 pp 129 140 Accessed 17 October 2010 a b c Messe Berlin history Archived 31 October 2010 at the Wayback Machine Accessed 17 October 2010 a b Mommenstadion profile Accessed 17 October 2010 in German a b Wallechinsky David and Jaime Loucky 2008 Basketball Men In The Complete Book of the Olympics 2008 Edition London Aurum Press Limited pp 399 400 1936 Summer Olympics official report Archived 6 April 2008 at the Wayback Machine Volume 2 p 1074 Wallechinsky David and Jaime Loucky 2008 Canoeing Men s Kayak Singles 1000 Meters In The Complete Book of the Olympics 2008 Edition London Aurum Press Limited p 471 History Olympic Stadium Berlin 1937 45 Archived 22 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine Accessed 17 October 2010 History Olympic Stadium Berlin 1946 56 Archived 22 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine Accessed 17 October 2010 History Olympic Stadium Berlin 1957 88 Accessed 17 October 2010 History Olympic Stadium Berlin 1989 97 Archived 22 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine Accessed 17 October 2010 History Olympic Stadium Berlin 1998 9 Archived 22 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine Accessed 7 October 2010 History Olympic Stadium Berlin 2000 4 Accessed 17 October 2010 History Olympic Stadium Berlin 2004 Archived 22 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine Accessed 17 October 2010 History Olympic Stadium Berlin 2006 Archived 22 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine Accessed 17 October 2010 History Olympic Stadium Berlin 2009 Archived 22 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine Accessed 17 October 2009 1936 Summer Olympics official report Archived 6 April 2008 at the Wayback Machine Volume 2 pp 644 7 682 5 932 5 Accessed 17 October 2010 1936 Summer Olympics official report Archived 6 April 2008 at the Wayback Machine Volume 2 pp 926 1067 73 Accessed 17 October 2010 a b c d e 1936 Summer Olympics official report Archived 25 June 2008 at the Wayback Machine Volume 1 pp 141 9 154 62 Accessed 17 October 2010 1936 Summer Olympics official report Archived 6 April 2008 at the Wayback Machine Volume 2 pp 830 894 Accessed 17 October 2010 1936 Summer Olympics official report Archived 6 April 2008 at the Wayback Machine Volume 2 pp 705 737 Accessed 17 October 2010 1936 Summer Olympics official report Archived 6 April 2008 at the Wayback Machine Volume 2 pp 996 1029 Accessed 17 October 2010 1936 Summer Olympics official report Archived 25 June 2008 at the Wayback Machine Volume 1 pp 163 4 Accessed 17 October 2010 1936 Summer Olympics official report Archived 6 April 2008 at the Wayback Machine Volume 2 pp 752 815 830 6 Accessed 17 October 2010 a b c 1936 Summer Olympics official report Archived 6 April 2008 at the Wayback Machine Volume 2 pp 1047 56 Accessed 17 October 2010 1936 Summer Olympics official report Archived 6 April 2008 at the Wayback Machine Volume 2 pp 1031 8 Accessed 17 October 2010 1936 Summer Olympics official report Archived 25 June 2008 at the Wayback Machine Volume 1 pp 150 3 498 Accessed 17 October 2010 1936 Summer Olympics official report Archived 6 April 2008 at the Wayback Machine Volume 2 pp 1067 73 Accessed 17 October 2010 1936 Summer Olympics official report Archived 6 April 2008 at the Wayback Machine Volume 2 pp 827 36 Accessed 17 October 2010 a b 1936 Summer Olympics official report Archived 25 June 2008 at the Wayback Machine Volume 1 pp 162 3 Accessed 17 October 2010 a b 1936 Summer Olympics official report Archived 6 April 2008 at the Wayback Machine Volume 2 pp 817 36 Accessed 17 October 2010 a b c Birchall Frederick T 1 August 1939 100 000 Hail Hitler U S Athletes Avoid Nazi Salute to Him The New York Times Retrieved 13 October 2016 When Indian Olympians Refused to Salute Hitler and the Nazis The Better India 19 August 2020 Retrieved 8 September 2020 a b c d Jesse Owens TV documentary WGBH Educational Foundation 2012 Presented on YLE TV 1 9 July 2014 Hitler s Berlin Games Helped Make Some Emblems Popular Sports gt Olympics The New York Times 14 August 2004 Retrieved 27 March 2010 1936 Berlin Summery Olympics Sport Olympic When a kabaddi team from India left Hitler Mahatma in awe at 1936 Olympics Business Standard Press Trust of India 2 December 2018 Litsky Frank 1 November 2007 John Woodruff an Olympian Dies at 92 The New York Times Retrieved 26 August 2010 Ross Albion 13 August 1936 Women Divers of U S Score Olympic Sweep The New York Times Retrieved 1 May 2021 Berlin 1936 Fifa com Federation Internationale de Football Association FIFA Archived from the original on 1 October 2007 Retrieved 16 November 2015 a b Schwartz Elizabeth Robinson Anb org Retrieved 16 November 2015 Joe Gergen 2014 First Lady of Olympic Track The Life and Times of Betty Robinson Northwestern University Press ISBN 0 8101 2958 2 pp 146 47 1936 Summer Olympics official report Archived 25 June 2008 at the Wayback Machine Volume 1 pp 186 552 Accessed 22 July 2021 1936 Summer Olympics official report Archived 6 April 2008 at the Wayback Machine Volume 2 pp 707 Accessed 22 July 2021 The Facade of Hospitality United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archived from the original on 9 October 2008 Retrieved 4 July 2008 In a move to clean up Berlin before the Olympics the German Ministry of Interior authorized the chief of the Berlin Police to arrest all Gypsies prior to the Games On 16 July 1936 some 800 Gypsies were arrested and interned under police guard in a special Gypsy camp in the Berlin suburb of Marzahn a b c The Nazi Party The Nazi Olympics Jewishvirtuallibrary org Jewish Virtual Library Retrieved 16 November 2015 Droit Jean 1924 Paris 1924 Jeux Olympiques Olympic Games Museum Retrieved 15 March 2010 The Berlin Olympics Historyplace com The History Place Archived from the original on 11 September 2012 Retrieved 16 November 2015 flag of Liechtenstein Britannica com Retrieved 14 February 2022 Holocaust Museum exhibit Washington DC Hanke Ken 2004 Charlie Chan at the Movies History Filmography and Criticism McFarland pp 89 97 ISBN 0 7864 1921 0 Arnd Kruger Once the Olympics are through we ll beat up the Jew German Jewish Sport 1898 1938 and the Anti Semitic Discourse in Journal of Sport History 1999 Vol 26 No 2 p 353 375 www library la84 org SportsLibrary JSH JSH1999 JSH2602 jsh2602g pdf Paul Taylor 2004 Jews and the Olympic Games the clash between sport and politics with a complete review of Jewish Olympic medalists Sussex Academic Press ISBN 1 903900 88 3 Retrieved 2 November 2011 Hipsh Rami 25 November 2009 German film helps Jewish athlete right historical wrong Haaretz Retrieved 19 August 2012 Sandomir Richard 7 July 2004 Hitler s Pawn on HBO An Olympic Betrayal The New York Times Retrieved 4 July 2008 And she remembers with restrained anger the isolation she felt as a Jewish athlete denied basic rights in Hitler s Germany and how despite equaling a national record in the high jump a month before the 1936 Berlin Summer Games she was excluded from the German Olympic team because she was a Jew Players South Africa Sid Kiel ESPNcricinfo Retrieved 2 May 2015 a b c d e f g The Movement to Boycott the Berlin Olympics of 1936 Holocaust Encyclopedia United States Holocaust Memorial Museum June 2013 Archived from the original on 2 February 2014 Retrieved 8 February 2014 David Clay Large Nazi Games The Olympics of 1936 29 October 1948 Jewish Post Gounot Andre 24 February 2015 Caritey Benoit Jallat Denis eds L Olympiade populaire de Barcelone 1936 entre nationalisme catalan esprit olympique et internationalisme proletarien Les politiques au stade Etude comparee des manifestations sportives du xixe au xxie siecle Histoire in French Rennes Presses universitaires de Rennes pp 125 143 ISBN 978 2 7535 3002 7 retrieved 18 February 2023 Richard D Mandell The Nazi Olympics University of Illinois Press 1987 ISBN 0 252 01325 5 p 68 The Soviet Union and the Olympics Guided History Blogs bu edu Retrieved 14 February 2022 Sattar Marium New fields to conquer for Muslim sportswomen The Daily Star Retrieved 16 November 2015 GULE GULE TORUNUM Goodbye grandson in Turkish Retrieved 16 November 2015 Central Intelligence Agency Information Report Soviet Sports as an Instrument of Political Propaganda PDF Cia gov Archived PDF from the original on 9 October 2022 Retrieved 14 February 2022 Central Intelligence Agency Information Report Soviet Sports and Intelligence Activities PDF Cia gov Archived PDF from the original on 9 October 2022 Retrieved 14 February 2022 Nagorski Andrew Hitlerland American Eyewitnesses to the Nazi Rise to Power New York Simon and Schuster 2012 p 190 Jewish Labor Committee 1936 Anti Nazi World Labor Athletic Carnival Held in NYC Jewishlaborcommittee org Retrieved 8 August 2021 WR SETTING SWIMMER JOAN MCLAGAN PENULTIMATE SURVIVING PRE WAR OLYMPIAN DIES swimswam com 22 March 2022 Retrieved 30 March 2022 Further reading EditBarry James P The Berlin Olympics World Focus Books Grix Jonathan and Barrie Houlihan Sports mega events as part of a nation s soft power strategy The cases of Germany 2006 and the UK 2012 British journal of politics and international relations 16 4 2014 572 596 online Archived 6 March 2020 at the Wayback Machine Hilton Christopher Hitler s Olympics The 1936 Berlin Olympic Games 2006 Kruger Arnd The Nazi Olympics of 1936 in Kevin Young and Kevin B Wamsley eds Global Olympics Historical and Sociological Studies of the Modern Games Oxford Elsevier 2005 pp 43 58 Kruger Arnd and William Murray eds The Nazi Olympics Sport Politics and Appeasement in the 1930s Univ of Illinois Press 2003 Lehrer Steven Hitler Sites A City by city Guidebook Austria Germany France United States McFarland 2002 Large David Clay Nazi games the Olympics of 1936 WW Norton amp Company 2007 Mandell Richard D The Nazi Olympics University of Illinois Press 1971 Rippon Anton Hitler s Games The 1936 Olympics 2012 excerpt Socolow Michael J Six Minutes in Berlin Broadcast Spectacle and Rowing Gold at the Nazi Olympics Urbana IL University of Illinois Press 2016 Walters Guy Berlin Games How Hitler Stole the Olympic Dream 2006 excerptExternal links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to 1936 Summer Olympics Berlin 1936 Olympics com International Olympic Committee Complete official IOC report Part I Archived 25 June 2008 at the Wayback Machine Complete official IOC report Part II United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Online Exhibition Nazi Olympics Berlin 1936 United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Library Bibliography 1936 Olympics Virtual Library the NAZI Olympics Die XI Olympischen Sommerspiele in Berlin 1936 at Lebendiges Museum Online In German 1936 Olympics and the Struggle for Influence on C SPAN The 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin Germany Nazi Games at PBS InternationalSummer OlympicsPreceded byLos Angeles XI OlympiadBerlin1936 Succeeded byTokyo Helsinki cancelled due to World War II Portals Olympics Germany Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title 1936 Summer Olympics amp oldid 1144581780, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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