The1936 Summer Olympics (German:Olympische Sommerspiele 1936), officially theGames of the XI Olympiad (German:Spiele der XI. Olympiade) and officially branded asBerlin 1936, were an internationalmulti-sport event held from 1 to 16 August 1936 inBerlin, then capital ofNazi Germany. Berlin won the bid to host the Games overBarcelona at the 29thInternational Olympic Committee meeting on 26 April 1931. The 1936 Games marked the second and most recent time theIOC gathered to vote in a city bidding to host those Games. Later rule modifications forbade cities hosting the bid vote from being awarded the games.
To outdo the1932 Los Angeles Games, ChancellorAdolf Hitler hada new 100,000-seat track and field stadium built, as well as six gymnasiums and other smaller arenas. The Games were the first to betelevised, with radio broadcasts reaching 41 countries.[2] FilmmakerLeni Riefenstahl was commissioned by the German Olympic Committee to film the Games for $7 million.[2] Her film, titledOlympia, 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 andantisemitism, and the officialNazi Party paper, theVölkischer 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 female swimmers from the Jewish sports clubHakoah Vienna did participate. Jewish athletes from other countries were said to have been sidelined to avoid offending the Nazi regime.[6]Lithuania was expelled from the Olympic Games due to Berlin's position regarding Lithuanian anti-Nazi policy, particularly because of the 1934–35Trial of Neumann and Sass in Klaipėda.[7]
Total ticket revenues were 7.5millionReichsmark (equivalent to €17.4 million in 2021), for a profit of over one million ℛ︁ℳ︁. The official budget did not includeoutlays by the city of Berlin (which issued an itemized report detailing its costs of 16.5million R.M.) or the outlays of the German national government (which did not make its costs public, but is estimated to have spent US$30million).[8]
Jesse Owens of theUnited States won four gold medals in the sprint andlong jump events, and became the most successful athlete to compete in Berlin, whileGermany wasthe most successful country overall with 101 medals (38 of them gold); the United States placed a distant second with 57 medals.[9] These were the final Olympic Games under the presidency ofHenri de Baillet-Latour. For the next 12 years, no Olympic Games were held due to the immense world disruption caused by theSecond World War. The next Olympic Games were held in 1948 (theWinter Games inSt. Moritz, Switzerland, and then theSummer Games inLondon, England).
At the 28thIOC Session, held in May 1930 in Berlin, 14 cities announced their intention to bid to host the 1936 Summer Olympic Games.[11] By the time of the 29th IOC Session in Barcelona in April 1931, only Barcelona and Berlin were left in contention. The other cities that announced an intention to hold the games, but withdrew from the race, wereAlexandria,Budapest,Buenos Aires,Cologne,Dublin,Frankfurt,Helsinki,Lausanne,Montevideo,Nuremberg,Rio de Janeiro, andRome.[11] Helsinki, Rome, Barcelona, and Rio de Janeiro would go on to host the Olympic Games in 1952, 1960, 1992, and 2016, respectively.[10] Rome withdrew on the eve of the 1931 Session.[citation needed]
The city of Barcelona held a multi-sport festival at the same time as the 1931 IOC Session. This included a football match betweenSpain and theIrish Free State, which was watched by 50,000 spectators. The political uncertainty around the declaration of theSecond Spanish Republic, which had happened days before the IOC Session, was likely a great factor in the decision taken by delegates regarding the host city for 1936.[12]
The games were the first for which the host was decided by a vote of each individualIOC member.[13][better source needed] The deadline for votes was 13 May 1931, two weeks after the Barcelona Session.[14] Of the 67 voting IOC members, 19 submitted ballots during the Session, and 40 by post to the IOC headquarters in Lausanne; the other 8 abstained. The vote was 43 for Berlin, and 16 for Barcelona.[14]
After theNazis took control of Germany and began institutinganti-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.[15] One year before the games, theAmerican Olympic Association suggested to change the venue to Rome; they saw Rome as a good replacement because Rome was originally selected to hold the1908 Summer Olympics.[16] The proposal was not seriously discussed.
Hans von Tschammer und Osten, asReichssportführer (head of theNational Socialist League of the Reich for Physical Exercise (Deutscher Reichsbund für Leibesübungen, DRL) and 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".[17]
Von Tschammer entrusted the details of the organisation of the Games to the president of the German Olympic Committee,Theodor Lewald,[18] andCarl Diem, the former president and secretary of the DRL, the forerunner of the Reich Sports Office. Among Diem's ideas for the Berlin Games was the introduction of theOlympic torch relay betweenGreece and the host nation.[18] Lewald would be replaced, owing to his paternal grandmother's Jewish roots, by Von Tschammer himself.[18]
The 1936 Summer Olympics torch relay was thefirst of its kind,[19] following on from the reintroduction of theOlympic Flame at the1928 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 filmOlympia.
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.[20]
The Games were the first to havelive television coverage in black-and-white.[18] The German Post Office, using equipment fromTelefunken, broadcast over 70 hours of coverage to special viewing rooms throughout Berlin andPotsdam and a few private TV sets, transmitting from thePaul Nipkow TV Station. They used three different types of TV cameras, so blackouts would occur when changing from one type to another.[21] The Games were also the first photographed and filmed in color using newly inventedAgfacolor.[22]
The 1936 Olympic village was located at Elstal inWustermark (at52°32′10.78″N13°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, a gymnasium, track, and other training facilities. Its layout was designed and construction was overseen by the appointed village commanderHauptmannWolfgang Fürstner beginning in 1934.[23] Less than two months before the start of the Olympic Games, Fürstner was abruptly demoted to vice-commander, and replaced byOberstleutnantWerner von Gilsa, commander of theBerlin 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.[24] The 1935Nuremberg 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 theWehrmacht.[25] Two days after the conclusion of the Berlin Olympics, vice-commander Fürstner had been removed from activeWehrmacht duty,[26] and committed suicide a day later because he realised he had no future under the Nazis.[24]
After the completion of the Olympic Games, the village was repurposed for theWehrmacht into the Olympic Döberitz Hospital (German:Olympia-Lazarett Döberitz), and Army Infantry School (German:Heeres-Infanterieschule), and was used as such through theSecond World War. In 1945 it was taken over by theSoviet Union and became a military camp of the Soviet 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 byJesse 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.[27]
The site remains relatively unknown even in Germany, but some tournaments are held at the site to boost knowledge of the venues.[28]
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
BSV 92 Field was first constructed in 1910 for use in football, handball, athletics, and tennis.[31] 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 aborted1916 Summer Olympics, but was not completed until 1934.[32] Mayfield was the last venue completed prior to the 1936 Games in April 1936.[32] Deutschland Hall was opened in 1935.[33] Mommenstadion opened in 1930.[34] Basketball was held outdoors at the request of theInternational Basketball Federation (FIBA).[35][36] The tennis courts were used, which turned to mud during heavy rain at the final.[35] TheK-1 1000 m canoeing final was also affected by heavy rain at Grünau that included thunder and lightning.[37] During World War II,Deutschlandhalle in Berlin, suffered heavy aerial bombing damage.[33] After the war, the hall was reconstructed and expanded.[33] TheDeutschlandhalle was used as a venue, but was increasingly closed for repairs, last in 2009. It was demolished in December 2011.[citation needed] TheMommsenstadion was renovated in 1987 and was still in use as of 2010[update].[34]
The Olympic Stadium was used as an undergroundbunker in World War II as the war went againstNazi Germany's favor.[38] The British reopened the Stadium in 1946 and parts of the stadium were rebuilt by the late 1950s.[39] As a host venue for the1974 FIFA World Cup, the stadium had its roof partially covered on the North and South Stands.[40] British occupation of the stadium ended in 1994.[41] Restoration was approved in 1998 with a contractor being found to do the work in 2000.[42] This restoration ran from 2000 to 2004.[43] The modernized Stadium reopened in 2004,[44] 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 toHertha BSC (1963–present), and is expected to remain the home of the team for years to come. For the2006 FIFA World Cup, the venue was where the final took place between Italy and France.[45] Three years later, the venue hosted theWorld Athletics Championships.[46]
The opening ceremony was held at theBerlin Olympic Stadium on 1 August 1936. A flyover by the German airshipHindenburg flying the Olympic flag behind it was featured early in the opening ceremonies.[62] 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 theNazi salute as they passed Hitler. Others gave theOlympic salute (a similar one, given with the same arm), or a different gesture entirely, such as hats-over-hearts, as the United States, India,[63] and China did. All nations lowered their flags[dubious –discuss] as they passed the Führer, save the United States, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and theCommonwealth of the Philippines. (The United States doing this was explained later as an army regulation, and the country traditionally avoids dipping its flag at the Olympics.[64][62]) WriterThomas 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."[65]
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."[62] This sentence was written by IOC President Baillet-Latour as part of a compromise the IOC struck to prevent Hitler from turning the speech into a propaganda event, and he was to follow it strictly, to which Hitler reportedly joked "Count, I'll take the trouble to learn it by heart".[66] Hitler opened the games from his own box, on top of others. WriterDavid Wallechinsky has commented on the event, saying, "This was his event, he wanted to be glorified."[65]
Although theOlympic flame was first introduced in the1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, this was the first instance of the torch relay. The Germans invented the concept of the torch run from ancientOlympia to the host city. Thus as swimmerIris 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.[65][67]
But despite 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 runnerLouis Zamperini, one of the athletes present, related it on camera:[65]
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...
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.
Nude statues of male and female bodies, installed in the streets of Berlin on the occasion of the 1936 Summer Games
Germany had a successful year inthe equestrian events, winning individual and team gold in all three disciplines, as well as individual silver in dressage. In the cycling match sprint finals, GermanToni Merkens fouledArie van Vliet of the Netherlands. Instead of being disqualified, he was fined 100 ℛℳ and kept his gold. German gymnastsKonrad Frey andAlfred Schwarzmann both won three gold medals.
AmericanJesse Owens won four gold medals in the sprint andlong jump events. His German competitorLuz Long offered Owens advice after he almost failed to qualify in the long jump.Mack Robinson, brother ofJackie Robinson, won the 200-meter sprint silver medal behind Owens by 0.4 seconds. Although he did not win a medal, future American war heroLouis Zamperini, lagging behind in the 5,000-meter final, made up ground by clocking a 56-second final lap. In one of the most dramatic800-meter races in history, AmericanJohn Woodruff won gold after slowing to jogging speed in the middle of the final to free himself from being boxed in.[74]Glenn Edgar Morris, a farm boy from Colorado, won gold in the decathlon. BritishrowerJack Beresford won his fifth Olympic medal in the sport, and his third gold medal. The U.S. eight-man rowing team from theUniversity of Washington won the gold medal, coming from behind to defeat the Germans and Italians with Hitler in attendance. 13-year-old American sensationMarjorie Gestring won thewomen's 3 meter diving event.[75]
India won the gold medal in thefield hockey event once again (they won the gold in all Olympics from 1928 to 1956), defeating Germany 8–1 in the final. Indians were consideredIndo-Aryans by the German authorities and there was no controversy regarding the victory.
Rie Mastenbroek of theNetherlands won three gold medals and a silver in swimming.Estonian heavyweightwrestlerKristjan Palusalu won two gold medals, and he became the first and only wrestler in Olympic history ever to win both the Greco-Roman and freestyle heavyweight events. Berlin 1936 marked the last timeEstoniacompeted as an independent nation in the Olympics until 1992.
After winning the middleweight class, theEgyptian weightlifterKhadr 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 thatRudolf 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 theIWF list of history's 50 greatest weightlifters for 60 years, until the1996 Games inAtlanta whereTurkey'sNaim Süleymanoğlu surpassed him to top the list.
Italy's football team continued their dominance under head coachVittorio Pozzo, winning the gold medal in these Olympics between their two consecutiveWorld Cup victories (1934 and1938). Much like the successes of German athletes, this triumph was claimed by supporters ofBenito 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 discountPeru's 4–2 win overAustria. The Peruvian national Olympic team refused to play the match again and withdrew from the games. In the quarter-finals of thefootball tournament, Peru beat Austria 4–2 in extra-time. Peru had 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.[76]
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 wasBetty Robinson.[77] 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.[77] 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.[78] Due to the length of her recovery, she had to miss participating in the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, in her home country.
Historical sign, 'Jews Not Welcome', Germany, 1933–39, Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin. Such signs were removed for the Olympics.
Hitler saw the Games as an opportunity to promote his government and ideals of Aryan racial supremacy. The official Nazi party paper, theVölkischer 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—Helene Mayer, a woman of Jewish descent. Hitler was an adroit player of sexual affairs and he used his liaison withUnity Mitford to good advantage in the public sphere, for example when he gave her a private Olympic stadium box, to which she invited her connections in British high society.[84] In an attempt to "clean up" the host city,[18] theGerman Ministry of the Interior authorized the chief of police to arrest allRomani and keep them in a "special camp", theBerlin-Marzahn concentration camp.[85] The 'Jews Not Welcome' signs were removed for the duration of the Olympics.[18]
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.
American Olympic Committee presidentAvery Brundage became a main supporter of the Games being held in Germany, arguing that "politics has no place in sport", despite having initial doubts.[86]
French Olympians gave aRoman salute at the opening ceremony: known as thesalut de Joinville per the battalion,Bataillon de Joinville, theOlympic salute was part of the Olympic traditions since the 1924 games.[87] However, due to the different context this action was mistaken by the crowd for a support to fascism, and theOlympic salute was discarded after 1946.[88]
AlthoughHaiti attended only the opening ceremony, an interestingvexillological fact was noticed:its flag and theflag 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.[89]
Marty Glickman andSam Stoller were originally slated to compete in the American 4x100 relay team but were replaced byJesse Owens andRalph 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.[90]
The German Olympic Committee, in accordance with Nazi directives, virtually barred Germans who were Jewish orRoma 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 asshotputter anddiscus throwerLilli Henoch, who was a four-time world record holder and 10-time German national champion,[91] andGretel Bergmann who was suspended from the German team just days after she set a record of 1.60 meters in the high jump.[92][93]Daniel Prenn,Erich Seelig andJohann Trollmann were also excluded.[18]
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 theWeimar Republic, but afterAdolf 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 theUnited Kingdom,France,Sweden,Czechoslovakia, theNetherlands, and theUnited States.[94] Exiled German political opponents of Hitler's regime also campaigned against the Berlin Olympics through pro-Communist newspapers such as theArbeiter-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.[94]
FencerAlbert 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.[95] He said: "I cannot participate in anything sponsored by Adolf Hitler, even for France."[96]
TheSoviet Union had not participated in international sporting events since the1920 Summer Olympics. The Soviet government was not invited to the 1920 Games, with theRussian Civil War still raging, and they did not participate in the1924 Summer Olympics and forward on ideological grounds. Instead, through the auspices of theRed Sport International, it had participated in a left-wing workers' alternative, theSpartakiad, since 1928. The USSR had intended to attend the People's Olympiad in Barcelona until it was cancelled; the Soviets did attend the Spartakiad-sponsored1937 Workers' Summer Olympiad in Antwerp,Belgium.[100] The Soviet Union started competing in the Olympics in1952, whenJoseph Stalin realized that they could use the event to fulfil their political and ideological agenda.[101]
Halet Çambel andSuat Fetgeri Așani, the firstTurkish and Muslim women[102] athletes to participate in the Olympics (fencing), refused an offer by their guide to be formally introduced toAdolf Hitler, saying they would not shake hands with him due to his approach to Jews, as stated by Ms. Çambel in aMilliyet newspaper interview in 2000.[103]
Avery Brundage meeting the mayor of BerlinJulius 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.[94] AmericansMilton Green andNorman Cahners refused to attend, and theAmerican Jewish Congress and theJewish Labor Committee supported a boycott.[94]
Those involved in the debate on whether to boycott the Olympics includedErnest Lee Jahncke, JudgeJeremiah T. Mahoney, and futureIOC PresidentAvery 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 American 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.[86] Somewhat ironically, Brundage would be lateraccused of being a Soviet dupe for his controversial stance on the Soviet sports system that allowed them to circumvent the amateur rules.[104][105] 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."[94]
During a trip 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 he commiserated with his hosts that he belonged to a sports club in Chicago that did not allow Jews entry, either.[106]
Unlike Brundage, Mahoney supported a boycott of the Games. Mahoney, the president of theAmateur 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 PhiladelphiaTribune and theChicago 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. TheAmerican Jewish Congress and theJewish Labor Committee staged rallies and supported the boycott of German goods to show their disdain for American participation.[86] 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.[107]
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, although some athletes like Harvard University track starMilton Green chose to sit at home.[18]
US PresidentFranklin 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 includingWilliam E. Dodd, the American ambassador to Berlin, andGeorge Messersmith, head of the US legation in Vienna, deplored the US Olympic Committee's decision to participate in the games.[94]
In 1937,20th Century Fox released the filmCharlie Chan at the Olympics. The plot concerned members of theBerlin police force helping the Chinese detective apprehends 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.[108]
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.[109]
^"Jewish Athletes – Marty Glickman & Sam Stoller".Ushmm.org. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Retrieved7 October 2016.A controversial move at the Games was the benching of two American Jewish runners, Marty Glickman and Sam Stoller. Both had trained for the 4x100-meter relay, but on the day before the event, they were replaced byJesse Owens and Ralph Metcalfe, the team's two fastest sprinters. Various reasons were given for the change. The coaches claimed they needed their fastest runners to win the race. Glickman has said that Coach Dean Cromwell and Avery Brundage were motivated by antisemitism and the desire to spare the Führer the embarrassing sight of two American Jews on the winning podium. Stoller did not believe antisemitism was involved, but the 21-year-old described the incident in his diary as the 'most humiliating episode' in his life.
^Stout, J. (2020). The Berlin Games and the Boycott. In: The Popular Front and the Barcelona 1936 Popular Olympics. Mega Event Planning. Palgrave Pivot, Singapore.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-8071-6_2
^Vernik, Aleksandr."Olympic Vote History". Archived from the original on 25 May 2008. Retrieved1 July 2008.
^abWallechinsky, David and Jaime Loucky (2008). "Basketball: Men". InThe Complete Book of the Olympics: 2008 Edition. London: Aurum Press Limited. pp. 399–400.
^Wallechinsky, David and Jaime Loucky (2008). "Canoeing: Men's Kayak Singles 1000 Meters". InThe Complete Book of the Olympics: 2008 Edition. London: Aurum Press Limited. p. 471.
^Arnd Krüger. "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
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