The 1936 Berlin Olympics
Overview
In 1931, two years before the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis, the International Olympic Committee designated Berlin, Germany as the host of the 1936 Olympic Games in order to reinstate them as a world power after their defeat in World War I. After Hitler's rise to power in 1933, the Aryan-only policies extended to sports and by April 1933 all Jewish or Gypsy athletes were banned from competing in sporting events. In fact, only one part-Jewish woman from Germany would be given permission to compete in the Olympics in 1936. However, the Olympic Games posed a problem for Hitler, because he realized that the games would shine an international spotlight on Nazi Germany and its racial, anti-Semitic policies.
The Olympic Games
The 1936 Berlin Olympics were an important political opportunity for Hitler to show off not only the superiority of Aryan German athletes, but also to hide his racial policies from the international community. The Nazis realized that with massive numbers of foreigners coming to Berlin, they needed to remove all traces of anti-Semitism, and so for the duration of the games all signs forbidding Jews disappeared. Ironically, in order to clean up the streets of Berlin, many of the Roma (Gypsies) living in Berlin were actually deported to concentration camps prior to the arrival of the international community. However, the Nazis were determined to display Germany in a peaceful, tolerant fashion. In preparation for the Olympic games, the Nazis built a giant sporting complex decked completely with Olympic flags and swastikas in order to once again reaffirm German superiority in everything from bloodlines to architecture. This would be a recurring theme throughout the games: The Nazis were determined to prove that Aryan Germans were the master race- but all their efforts would eventually prove to be in vain.
On August 1, 1936 Hitler opened up the Olympic ceremony and the first torch carrying ceremony was completed. The games had begun, and, as with most Olympic games, the international community was looking for an Olympic "hero". Against the wishes of the Nazis, their hero would turn out not to be a member of the German master race, but instead a 22-year old black American man by the name of Jesse Owens* who would win a total of four gold medals in track and field, more than any other athlete in the 1936 Olympics and the first African American athlete to do so. While Germany took the record for the most number of medals won, their ploy to show the world that Aryans were athletically superior was overthrown by Jesse Owens and other African American athletes.
On August 1, 1936 Hitler opened up the Olympic ceremony and the first torch carrying ceremony was completed. The games had begun, and, as with most Olympic games, the international community was looking for an Olympic "hero". Against the wishes of the Nazis, their hero would turn out not to be a member of the German master race, but instead a 22-year old black American man by the name of Jesse Owens* who would win a total of four gold medals in track and field, more than any other athlete in the 1936 Olympics and the first African American athlete to do so. While Germany took the record for the most number of medals won, their ploy to show the world that Aryans were athletically superior was overthrown by Jesse Owens and other African American athletes.
*Sidenote
It's a common myth that Hitler snubbed Jesse Owens by leaving the stadium and refusing to shake his hand to congratulate him. While this may be false, Hitler had, on the previous day, left the stadium after the announcement of a black winner, but the departure was claimed to be planned rather than abrupt. Owens later claimed that Hitler had shaken his hand behind the podium, and that he was very proud of that moment, but it was not as widely reported as the myth was.