1936 Summer Olympics
by Marci RanzerThe 1936 Summer Olympics, were held in Berlin, Germany. Berlin was chosen as the Olympic city over Barcelona by the International Olympic Committee in 1931. This was beneficial for Germany’s reputation especially after their defeat in the first World War. Hitler and his Nazi government believed holding the Olympics in Berlin was the perfect opportunity to promote their Nazi ideology. Berlin had become the focal point of world interest in 1936 when the summer Olympics were held in Hitler’s Germany.
In 1933, Hitler established an “Aryans only” policy in all of Germany’s athletic institutions. This meant that Jews and Romani were forbidden from participating in German sports including the Olympic Games. Germany expertly endorsed the “Aryan” athletes as the ideal by printing posters in which the Germans were compared to the athletes of ancient Greece. Jewish athletes from various countries boycotted the Berlin Olympics including athletes in the United States. However, more people might have protested the games if they were aware of Hitler’s horrendous plans. Hitler attempted to hide his racist policies as Olympic host. He temporarily toned down his racist propaganda on signs and in the newspapers during the course of the Berlin Olympics.
1936 marked the first time in the modern games that the Olympic flame was carried from its ancestral home in Greece. As the torch was lit, German athlete Rudolph Ishmayr took the Olympic oath for all the athletes in attendance. The opening of the 1936 Berlin Olympics games meant that Hitler’s “master race” was on display.
Hitler’s ideas of racial superiority were about to be repudiated by the performance of the African American athlete, Jesse Owens. Owens was a track star from Ohio State University, known for his stunning athletic ability. When the track and field competitions began, Hitler was in attendance expecting his German team to dominate their opponents. Not only did he want to show off his nation to the world, but he wanted to prove on the athletic field, the superiority of his Aryan Race. Hitler even congratulated the first three gold medal winners. But, when Jesse Owens, Cornelius Johnson, and other African American athletes were awarded their gold medals, Hitler was noticeably absent. However, the German athlete, Luz Long did openly interacted with Owens in front of the Nazis. Although reasons for Hitler’s absence were not explained, many observers felt he wished to avoid the humiliation of admitting that someone he considered inferior had just beaten a German.
Jesse Owens shocked Hitler and the world when he won his 4th gold medal at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Jesse Owens went on to win gold medals in the 100-meter dash, the 200-meter dash, the long jump, and in the 400-meter relay.
Hitler’s claim of Aryan superiority was invalidated not only by Owens, but by the 13 medals won by African American men on the track and field of the 1936 summer Olympics. While Germany did dominate the games, the many wins by citizens of other nations were seen as an affliction to the racist Nazi philosophies. Jesse Owens, the grandson of a slave would go down in history not only for his incredible athletic achievement, but for his repudiation of Hitler’s racial ideas.
When the Olympic Games came to an end, Adolf Hitler’s policies only worsened. He went ahead with his plans to expand Germany and continued to ruthlessly persecute the Jews. The Holocaust and World War II followed almost immediately after his attempt to hide his racist agendas at the Olympics in Berlin.
