By: Hasan Belgaumi, a HISTOYOUTH Writer
The Olympics are a time of global camaraderie. A friendly yet fierce competition between nations. Beginning in 776 BC in Ancient Greece, the games have since grown into an international spectacle, where countries show off their best athletes.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) awards the games to a host city. Hosting the Olympic games is well sought after by cities around the world. Being the host provides international recognition, and is often seen as a symbol of prosperity. In 1931, the IOC awarded Berlin the 1936 Olympic games. The choice of Berlin was significant. It had been less than two decades since the first world war, in which Germany faced humiliating defeat. The choice of Berlin represented a new era for Germany, one separate from the horrors of the first world war. An era of democracy, a prosperous country’s return to the world stage. However, by 1936, that was no longer the case.
Germany, formally known as the Weimar Republic, was a democratic, multi-parliamentary republic. However, under President Von Hindenburg, the weak and young democracy struggled to deal with Germany’s many issues. The Treaty of Versailles at the end of the first world war humiliated Germany. The country, destroyed by years of war, was forced to pay extreme reparations to the victors and cede land. It didn’t help that Germany was only dragged into the war by the now-dissolved Austria-Hungary. Humiliated by the terms of the treaty, coupled with economic strain due to the reparations and the Great Depression (1929-1939), the German people were upset. As support for the weak republic dwindled, many turned to the Nazi party, headed by Adolf Hitler. The young man, fuelled with nationalism for his country, promised to return Germany to its future glory. He promised to undo the Treaty of Versailles, which he fulfilled once he rose to power. Hitler’s rise to power in Germany is a complex one, but essentially, the young politician was able to establish himself as Chancellor with the support of his followers, and declared himself Führer for life. By 1934, Germany was effectively a dictatorship, with complete Nazi dominance.
As the 1936 Olympic games neared, many in the US considered dropping out. There were concerns that athletes (especially those considered non-aryan by Germany) would not be treated fairly while competing in Berlin. In 1934, President of the US Olympic Committee, traveled to Germany to examine whether Jewish athletes were being treated fairly, and he asserted that they were, and supported American participation in the 1936 games. This was found not to be true, with many well-performing Jewish athletes not being able to participate in the German olympic team, with meaning leaving Germany. Toward the end of 1935, the Amateur Athletic Union, representing the US in the international sports federation, decided to allow American athletes to participate by a narrow vote. Other countries followed suit.
The games opened on the first of August, 1936. One of the most successful athletes at the games was African American Jesse Owens. He was the only American athlete to win four gold medals at a single Olympic game. Nazi propaganda was rampant, and the ideology rested on the superiority of the Aryan race. The idea that aryans - tall, blonde and with blue eyes - were mentally and physically superior to all others races, and Jews were the most inferior. However, the success of athletes such as Owens contradicted Hitler’s myth of aryan superiority. It is reported that Hitler left the games once Owens won his first medal, and refused to shake hands with African-American athletes. Although Owens originally denied being ‘snubbed’ by Hitler, he later admitted it. However, Owens did claim he was ‘snubbed’ by American President Roosevelt, who allegedly only invited white athletes to the White House in 1936. In 2016, Barack Obama invited the athletes’ relatives to commemorate their accomplishment in 1936.
Many debate on whether it was ethical for the United States to have competed in the 1936 games. Especially knowing now what took place just five years later. Perhaps if they hadn’t, the Nazi regime wouldn’t feel as though they had the support and recognition of the international community. However, what is important and incredible is the feat of African-American athletes who competed in a country that saw them as racially inferior, and invalidated Hitler’s racist myth of Aryan supremacy.
References
Bracken, Haley. "Was Jesse Owens snubbed by Adolf Hitler at the Berlin Olympics?". Encyclopedia Britannica, 16 Aug. 2019, https://www.britannica.com/story/was-jesse-owens-snubbed-by-adolf-hitler-at-the-berlin-olympics . Accessed 15 November 2022.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. (2021, July 28). The Nazi Olympics -1936 Berlin Olympic Games. Holocaust Encyclopedia; United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-nazi-olympics-berlin-1936.
Image Sources
Le Miroir des sports, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e4/Jesse_Owens_%C3%A0_Berlin%2C_JO_de_1936.jpg
Franz Würbel (1858-1941), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/1936_Olympic_Games_Poster.jpg
Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/Zombori_%C3%96d%C3%B6n.jpg
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