1936 Summer Olympics
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Games of the XI Olympiad
Host city	Berlin, Germany
Nations participating	49
Athletes participating	3,963 (3,632 men, 331 women)
Events	129 in 19 sports
Opening ceremony	August 1
Closing ceremony	August 16
Officially opened by	Adolf Hitler
Athlete's Oath	Rudolf Ismayr
Olympic Torch	Fritz Schilgen
Stadium	Olympic Stadium

The 1936 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was held in 1936 in Berlin, Germany. Berlin won the bid to host the Games, with the International Olympic Committee members choosing Berlin over Barcelona on April 26, 1931, at the 29th IOC Session in Barcelona, Spain. It was the second and last time that they have gathered in an IOC Session to cast their ballot for a host city in the same city which was bidding to host an Olympic Games. The only other time this occurred was at the inaugural IOC Session in Paris, France, on April 24, 1894. Then, Athens, Greece, and Paris, France, were chosen to host the 1896 Summer Olympics and 1900 Summer Olympics respectively.

These Olympic Games were the first to be contested by IOC members casting their votes for their favorite choice host city.^[1] Here was the result of that inaugural voting in chart form; the German flag flown at the time of the Berlin win was of the Weimar Republic.

1936 Summer Olympics Bidding Results
City	Round 1
Berlin	43
Barcelona	16

The bid to host the Olympics was won before the National Socialist German Workers Party (a.k.a. the Nazi party) gained power in Germany in 1933. Since, however, the party now was in power, some leaders in the government saw the Olympic Games as an opportunity to promote their ideology, particularly its promotion of the superiority of the "Aryan Race". Adolf Hitler was convinced by Joseph Goebbels to allow the games to take place in Germany. Preparation for the Games started in the early 1930s. Hitler used the Olympics as a tool for propaganda. Film-maker Leni Riefenstahl, a favorite of Hitler, was commissioned by the International Olympic Committee to film the Games. The film, titled Olympia, originated many of the techniques now commonplace to the filming of sports.

By allowing only members of the "Aryan race" to compete for Germany, Hitler further promoted his ideological belief of racial supremacy. Although Germany won most of the medals in the Olympics, other athletes, such as African-American athlete Jesse Owens, who won four gold medals, showed great athleticism through performance.

Hitler removed signs stating "Jews not wanted" and similar slogans from the main tourist attractions. Hitler desired to clean up Berlin, the German Ministry of Interior authorized the chief of Berlin Police to arrest all Romani people (gypsies) and keep them in a special camp .^[2] Nazi officials ordered that foreign visitors should not be subjected to the criminal strictures of anti-homosexual laws.

Total ticket revenues were 7.5 million Reichsmarks, with a profit of over 1 million marks. The official budget did not include outlays by the city of Berlin (which issued an itemized report detailing its costs of 16.5 million marks) or the German National Government (which did not make its costs public, but is estimated to have spent US$30 million in mostly capital outlays).^[3]

Nazi influence on and use of sporting events

Hans von Tschammer und Osten, who was the head of the Reich Sports Office, played a major role in the structure and organization of the Olympics. He believed that the use of sports would harden the German spirit and instill unity among the German youths. Von Tschammer also believed that sports was a "way to weed out the weak, Jewish, and other undesirables". ^[4] Many Jews and Gypsies were banned from participating in sporting events.

Event poster with German eagle.

Dispute over boycott of the Olympics in the U.S.

During the 1936 summer Olympics, there were many different views on whether the games should be allowed or discontinued. The people who voiced their opinions on the debate included Americans Avery Brundage, Ernest Lee Jahncke, and Judge Jeremiah Mahoney. The United States considered boycotting the Olympic games, since participating in the festivity might be considered as support for the Nazi Germany regime and its anti-Semitic policies. However, others argued that the Olympic Games should not be a reflection of political views but strictly a contest of the greatest athletes.

Avery Brundage, President of the American Olympic Committee was against the boycott, stating that the Jewish athletes were being treated fairly and that the games should continue. Brundage believed that politics played no role in sports, and they should be considered two different entities during the controversial Olympics. He explained stating, “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.”^[5] Brundage also believed that there was a “Jewish-Communist conspiracy” that existed to keep the United States out of competing in the Olympic games^[6].

Unlike Brundage, Jeremiah Mahoney was against the Olympics and supported a boycott against the games. Mahoney, president of the Amateur Athletic Union, led newspaper editors and anti-Nazi groups to protest against an American team participating in the Berlin Olympics. Mahoney contested that discrimination went against Olympic rules and participation showed support for Hitler’s Reich.

African Americans and Jewish Americans also expressed their opinions for or against American participation. Most African American newspapers supported the Olympics. The Philadelphia Tribune and The Chicago Defender both agreed that Black victories would undermine Nazi views of Aryan supremacy. They believed it would spark more Black pride at home. American Jewish organizations opposed the Olympics. The American Jewish Congress and the Jewish Labor Committee staged rallies and supported the boycott of German goods to show their disdain for American participation.^[7]

Eventually, Avery Brundage won the debate, manipulating the Amateur Athletic Union to close a vote in favor of sending an American team to the Berlin Olympics, winning by only two and a half votes. Mahoney’s efforts to incite a boycott of the Olympic games in the United States failed. President Roosevelt demanded the participation of U.S.A. in the Olympics, intending to keep the tradition of America being void of outside influence intact.

The 1936 summer Olympics had the largest representation of nations participating than any other previous Olympics. These nations included the United States which, despite the debate, decided to send an Olympic team to Berlin, although some American competitors (including Milton Green and Norman Canners, both Jewish athletes) decided to abstain from participating and boycotted the Olympic games.

Jesse Owens

Main article: Jesse Owens

Jesse Owens' participation in the 1936 Berlin Summer Olympics was controversial due to his race, at a time when segregation and discrimination against blacks were the norm throughout the United States. However, in Berlin, Owens was able to freely use public transportation and enter bars and other public facilities without the difficulty he would face as a Black man in the United States. Adolf Hitler was present during the Olympics and did not acknowledge the accomplishments of any Olympian, as the Olympic Committee believed that Hitler should retain Olympic neutrality and avoid congratulating any Olympic participants. It was therefore not abnormal that Hitler didn't shake his hand after his victories. Indeed, on Owens return to the States, president Roosevelt did not deign to shake his hand in congratulations. The German crowds adored Owens, and he forged a long-term friendship with German competitor Luz Long.^[8]

Highlights

Olympic fire

Olympic Stadium

Swastika on the plane of Ernst Udet used for acrobatic shows held during the 1936 Summer Olympics (on display in the Polish Aviation Museum).

• It is widely repeated that Hitler snubbed Jesse Owens and his achievements. However, while Hitler did not congratulate Owens, he did not congratulate any athlete (including the German athletes) after the first day. Hitler did leave the stadium just before another black American athlete, Cornelius Johnson, was set to receive his medal^[9].
• United States Olympic Committee president Avery Brundage became a main supporter of the games being held in Germany, arguing that "politics has no place in sport", despite having initial doubts.^[10]
• In the cycling match sprint finals, the German Toni Merkens fouled Arie van Vliet of the Netherlands. Instead of being disqualified, he was fined 100 marks and kept his gold.
• Jesse Owens won four gold medals in the sprint and long jump events. His German competitor Lutz Long offered Owens advice after he almost failed qualifying in the long jump and was posthumously awarded the Pierre de Coubertin medal for sportsmanship.
• Rie Mastenbroek of the Netherlands won three gold medals and a silver in swimming.
• In the freestyle, swimmers originally dove from the pool walls, but diving blocks were incorporated at the 1936 Olympics.
• Rower Jack Beresford won his fifth Olympic medal in the sport, and his third gold medal.
• The U.S. eight-man rowing team from the University of Washington won the gold medal, coming from behind to defeat the Germans and Italians with Adolf Hitler in attendance.
• The Olympic Flame was used for the second time at these games, but this marked the first time it was brought to the Olympic Town by a torch relay, with the starting point in Olympia, Greece.^[11]
• The games were the first to have live television coverage. The German Post Office, using equipment from Telefunken and Fernseh, broadcast over seventy hours of coverage to special viewing rooms throughout Berlin and Potsdam and a few private TV sets, over Paul Nipkow TV Station. The broadcasts were used as a plot element in Contact, a science fiction novel by Carl Sagan, later adapted as a movie.
• Basketball and handball made their debut at the Olympics, both as outdoor sports. Handball would not appear again on the program until 1972.
• German gymnasts Konrad Frey and Alfred Schwarzmann both won three gold medals.
• In the marathon two Korean athletes won medals — Sohn Kee-chung (gold) and Nam Sung-yong (bronze) — running for Japan and under Japanese names. Japan had annexed Korea in 1910.
• In the quarter-finals of the football tournament, Peru beat Austria 4-2 in extra-time, but a rematch was ordered, since Peruvian fans had stormed the field when the score was 2-2 and had injured an Austrian player. The Peruvian government ordered the Olympic team to withdraw in protest, seeing this as an insult, while Austria went on to receive the silver medal.^[12]
• The Republic of China's Three Principles of the People was chosen as the best national anthem of the games.
• Germany had a prosperous year in the equestrian events, winning individual and team gold in all three disciplines, as well as individual silver in dressage.
• Basketball was added to the Olympic program. In the final game, the United States beat Canada 19-8. The contest was played outdoors on a dirt court in driving rain. Due to the quagmire, the teams could not dribble, thus the score was held to a minimum. Joe Fortenbury was the high scorer for the U.S. with 7 points. Spectators did not have seats, and the people (approximately 1000) in attendance had to stand in the rain.
• Despite not coming from fascist countries, French and Canadian Olympians gave what appeared to be the Hitler salute at the opening ceremony, although some have later claimed that they were just performing the Olympic salute, which was in fact a very similar action.^[13]
• India won the gold medal in the field hockey event once again (they won the gold in all Olympics from 1928-1956, though they did not win any other awards in any other sport), defeating Germany 8-1 in the final. However, Indians were considered Indo-Aryans by the Germans and there was no controversy regarding their victory.
• Estonia's Kristjan Palusalu won two gold medals in Men's Wrestling, marking the last time Estonia competed as an independent nation in the Olympics until 1992.
• Italy's football team continued their dominance, winning the gold medal in these Olympics between their two consecutive World Cup victories (1934 and 1938). Much like the successes of German athletes, this triumph was claimed by supporters of Benito Mussolini's regime as a vindication of the superiority of the fascist system.
• Gretel Bergmann, despite equaling a national record in the high jump a month before the games, was excluded from the German team because she was Jewish.^[14]

Events

The swimming venue today.

Demonstration sports

• Baseball
• Gliding

Participating nations

Nations participating for the first time shown in blue.

A total of 49 nations attended the Berlin Olympics, up from 37 in 1932. Six nations made their first official Olympic appearance at these Games: Afghanistan, Bermuda, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Liechtenstein, and Peru.

Medal count

Main article: 1936 Summer Olympics medal count

These are the top ten nations that won medals at these Games.

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Germany (host nation)	33	26	30	89
2	United States	24	20	12	56
3	Hungary	10	1	5	16
4	Italy	8	9	5	22
5	Finland	7	6	6	19
	France	7	6	6	19
7	Sweden	6	5	9	20
8	Japan	6	4	8	18
9	Netherlands	6	4	7	17
10	Great Britain	4	7	3	14

Quotes

"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

"German sport has only one task: to strengthen the character of the German people, imbuing it with the fighting spirit and steadfast camaraderie necessary in the struggle for its existence."

– Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels

See also

• IOC country codes
• People's Olympiad organized by the Spanish Popular Front
• Maccabiah Games

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

1936 Summer Olympics

• United States Holocaust Memorial Museum - Online Exhibition: Nazi Olympics: Berlin 1936
• United States Holocaust Memorial Museum - Library Bibliography: 1936 Olympics
• Virtual Library: the NAZI Olympics
• IOC Site on 1936 Summer Olympics
• Die XI. Olympischen Sommerspiele in Berlin 1936 at Lebendiges Museum Online. In German
• Complete official IOC report. Part I
• Complete official IOC report. Part II

References

Further reading

• Berlin Games – How Hitler Stole the Olympic Dream, by Guy Walters ISBN 0-7195-6783-1 (UK) 0060874120 (USA)
• All That Glitters is Not Gold, by William O. Johnson, Jr. ISBN 0-399-11008-9 (USA)
• Hitler's Olympics: The 1936 Berlin Olympic Games, by Christopher Hilton
• The Nazi Olympics: Berlin 1936 United States Holocaust Museum, by Susan D. Bachrach
• The Nazi Olympics (Sport and Society), by Richard D. Mandell
• Olympische Spiele Berlin / Olympic Games 1936: Erinnergunsalbum / Album-Souvenir unter dem Patronat des schweizerischen Olympischen Komitees, by Julius, ed., publ. Wagner
• The Nazi Olympics: Sport, Politics, and Appeasement in the 1930s by Arnd Kruger and W. J. Murray
• The Berlin Olympics (World Focus Books), by James P. Barry