“We must be more charming than the Parisiennes, more lighthearted than the Viennese, more lively than the Romans, more cosmopolitan than the Londoners and more practical than the New Yorkers,” reported Joseph Goebbels' Berlin propaganda newspaper Der Angriff on July 5, 1936. Just under four more. weeks until the opening of the Summer Olympics in Berlin.
The International Olympic Committee had already assigned the 1936 Games to the German capital in 1931, more than two years before Adolf Hitler and his anti-Semitic NSDAP took power. Hitler himself initially did not like the sports festival. According to Nazi ideology, sport could not be an end in itself but only serve to glorify the "superior Aryan race" and the state. Hitler also didn't like the international character of the Games. States should be in conflict with each other, not take part in a peaceful sporting event together.
Only when countries such as the United States, but also the Netherlands threatened to boycott the Games as a protest against the way Jews were treated in Germany, did Hitler give in.
If the IOC decided to move the Games, it would be very bad for Germany's image. The regime decided to use the organization of the Games to prove that Germany was superior to all other countries.
Half-Jews
The dark sides of the Third Reich therefore had to be made invisible as much as possible. Since the promulgation of the Nuremberg Laws, bullying and open violence against Jews have been the order of the day. That could no longer be tolerated. Overly fanatical Nazis were temporarily silenced. On Hitler's personal orders, anti-Semitic texts, such as the 'Jews not wanted here' signs, which stood along the road in almost every village and town, were removed.
In Berlin, meanwhile, construction, painting and refurbishment were underway at a feverish pace. The magical centerpiece of the Games would be the new Olympic Stadium. When Hitler saw the first design for the stadium, by architect Werner March, he angrily dismissed it as a 'modern glass box'.
Hitler went into one of his usual childish fits of rage and threatened to cancel the Games altogether if he didn't get his way:a more classic and imposing stadium. His house architect and good friend Albert Speer quickly made a new sketch. The largest stadium in the world was to be built in Berlin, but Hitler complained that everything was too small during construction.
Despite the temporary relaxation of anti-Jewish laws, there were no Jews in the German Olympic squad. The sporting leaders had made an attempt to take in Jews, but because Jews were no longer allowed to use professional training facilities since 1933, none of them managed to qualify. In order not to give the impression that Germany was an anti-Semitic country, three 'half-Jews' were selected.
Relay with the flame
The grand opening ceremony was held on August 1. All over Berlin swastika flags hung next to the Olympic rings. The stadium was packed with 110,000 spectators. A huge zeppelin, the Hindenburg ., dragged above their heads , the Olympic flag flying in the air. When Hitler entered the stadium, a choir of 3000 singers raised Deutschland über Alles at. They also sang the Horst Wessellied , the anthem of the National Socialist Party.
When the music stopped, the giant Olympic bell tolled. Many athletes gave the Nazi salute as they passed the podium, with Hitler and other dignitaries on it. The American and British delegations demonstratively did not do that. They also omitted the Olympic salute, which is very similar.
To demonstrate that the future of Europe would lie in Germany, the Nazis had come up with something completely new. The 'Olympic flame' was brought to Berlin by relay runners from Olympia in Greece. Film pioneer Leni Riefenstahl, who after her propaganda film Triumpf des Willens had been commissioned by Hitler to make a similar film about the Games, portrayed this impressively in her film Olympia .
After the opening ceremony, Hitler declared the Games open and 5000 athletes started competing for the medals. When Hitler wanted to congratulate the first German winners, the IOC pointed out that as a guest of honor he should not distinguish between players from different countries. He had to either congratulate everyone or no one.
'Superior physical strength of primitive man'
Hitler, of course, chose not to congratulate anyone, in order to avoid having to shake hands with 'inferior races' such as the American black athlete Jesse Owens, who won no fewer than four gold medals.
Hitler made it clear in private that he was not charmed by Owens' convincing win. He attributed his victory to the "superior physical strength of primitive man." But in the future, things like this wouldn't happen again, he assured his confidants.
If it were up to Hitler, after the war of conquest, which he had long had in mind, the Games would take place permanently in Berlin and non-white athletes would be barred from participating.
All in all, the propaganda-like set-up of the Games was very successful. Fortunately for Hitler, Germany indeed won the most medals. Presumably that's because the regimen made anabolic steroids and testosterone available to its athletes, but hard evidence of this has never been found.
It was also the first time the Games were televised. Albeit that the grainy images could only be seen in Berlin. Radio reporters did report about the Berlin spectacle worldwide. Many international visitors were very impressed with what life was like in Adolf Hitler's 'new Germany'.
Loving embrace
Critical American journalist William Shirer noted this. He wrote:“I am afraid that the Nazis have lived up to their propaganda. First, they have organized the Games on a scale never seen before, and this has pleased the athletes. Secondly, they have made a good impression with the general visitors, especially the businessmen.”
Viktor Klemperer, a German Jew from Dresden who became famous for keeping accurate diaries throughout the Nazi era, noted:
“These Olympics have nothing to do with sports but are a thoroughly political affair. It is constantly instilled in the people and foreign visitors that they are witnessing here the rebirth, the flourishing, the new spirit, the unity, the glory and of course the peaceful nature of the Third Reich. The chants are banned for a while, jewish slurs, warlike language, everything that could discredit Germany is gone until August 16, and just as long swastika flags are fluttering everywhere day and night.”
Klemperer was absolutely right. The loving embrace that the Third Reich radiated to the world was deceptive and temporary. For a moment Germany had to make a friendly impression. It would be the turn of the Jews later.