Compare And Contrast Social Darwinism And Olympics

the time, and the Nazis were in power. Before the Olympics, German Jews had been segregated and

The Nazis also adopted the social Darwinist take on Darwinian evolutionary theory regarding the “survival of the fittest.” For the Nazis, survival of a race depended upon its ability to reproduce and multiply, its accumulation of land to support and feed that expanding population, and its vigilance in maintaining the purity of its gene pool, thus preserving the unique “racial” characteristics with which “nature” had equipped it for success in the struggle to survive. Since each “race” sought to expand, and since the space on the earth was finite, the struggle for survival resulted “naturally” in violent conquest and military confrontation. Hence, war even constant war was a part of nature, a part of the human condition. Hitler and the Nazi party outlined their racial enemies in clear and unequivocal terms. For Hitler and the Nazis, the Jews represented a priority enemy both within and outside Germany. Their allegedly racial and inferior genetic makeup spawned the exploitative systems of capitalism and communism. In their drive to expand, the Jews promoted and used these systems of government and state organization, including constitutions, proclamations of equal rights, and international peace, to undermine the race-consciousness of superior races like the German race and to

Starting with Document 3, we are shown how the Nazi’s took the Olympic Games during the period of World War 2. Document 3 shows that the Nazi’s interpreted the Olympic games as a competition showing what countries have the most power in the world. Since during World War 2, The Nazi’s were trying to spread their ideas and beliefs to the world and they thought a good way to do this was the Olympic Games since their interpretation of the Olympic Games was a way to show a country's supremacy. In the end, The Nazi’s were provoked to cheat as they were caught practicing a course before the course was to be presented. In the end, the world was shown what would happen when national conflicts are brought into the Olympic games.

Jessie Owens, who was a famous African American sprinter, fought back against Hitler’s racial stereotypes of Blacks by winning four gold medals and becoming one of the worlds most successful athletes. Owens challenged Nazi ideology that African Americans were inferior because he used his skill to win four gold medals, which disproved the idea that African Americans were unsuccessful athletes. The biggest blow to Nazi ideology about African Americans was that the German crowd treated Jessie Owens as a hero whereby they chanted and cheered his name whenever he entered the arena, which was reported to embarrass Hitler. In addition, Andre Kabos who was a Jewish-Hungarian fencer almost gave up his fencing career due to anti-Jewish propaganda in Hungary and was pressured by Jewish organizations to boycott the German games. However, Kabos chose to have one last run and performed in the 1936 Berlin games where he had his best performance ever and used his Jewish pride to strengthen his motivation to beat a German fencer and won a Gold medal in fencing. Kabos completely destroyed the Nazi ideology that Jews were the inferior race because not only did he win a gold medal, but he single handily beat a bloody German! Later during the Holocaust, Kabos was forced into a labour camp where he died, but to his grave he must have died with Jewish pride because he defeated a German right in front of Hitler’s eye’s.

“There is no room for discrimination,” James Mahoney said, “on the grounds of race, color, or creed in the Olympics” (Jeremy Schaap). The statement above is definitely true. The 1936 Olympics were hosted in Berlin at a time when the Nazis were in power. Did the Nazis hold true to that statement? Believe it or not the 1936 Olympics actually had an effect on the holocaust.

At this time, Adolf Hitler implemented an "Aryans only" policy, in an attempt to show how the Aryan race was superior to others. Shortly after Adolf Hitler became chancellor, excluding Jews from German sport/recreational facilities had become a common occurrence. Though, the banning of those who weren’t Aryan from the German Olympic team had been internationally criticized as it was considered a violation of the Olympic code of equality. A massive sports complex for the games, a new stadium, and an Olympic village for housing the athletes had been created by the Nazis, with swastikas all across the monuments of Berlin. At this time, there had been separated sports facilities that were nowhere near as nice the Germans’, made specifically for the Jewish athletes. Excluding Jews from German sport/recreational facilities had become a common occurrence after Hitler became chancellor. This was, of course, part of a larger and more sinister plan to obliterate the Jewish population of Germany. Because of this, threats were made to boycott the Games from numerous countries around the world (such as Great Britain, Sweden, France, Czechoslovakia, and the Netherlands). These Boycott threats made the Nazi’s try to hide Germany’s blatant anti-semitism while hosting the Summer Olympics, as the majority of anti-Semitic signs were temporarily removed. Even with knowledge of Germany’s anti-semitism, the U.S. still decided to send its

Most people would classify the Berlin Olympic Games of 1936 as just another Olympics, and they would be right because the Games did have the classic triumphs and upsets that occur at all Olympic Games. What most people did not see, behind the spectacle of the proceedings, was the effect the Nazi party had on every aspect of the Games including the results. Despite Nazi Germany’s determination to come off as the superior nation in the 1936 Olympics, their efforts were almost crushed by the very people they were trying to exclude.

In January 1933 a man named Adolf Hitler became chancler of Germany. Before he was a German soldier but got hospitizlied twice. Hitler changed the laws and policies of government making everything he was planning to do lega at that period in time. He took control of the Nazi group which at one point was a good orginization but he used them for evil. Hitler wanted to populate the world with the "Aryan" race and eliminate everybody that was not of that race. Hitler believed that everybody should be blond hair, blue eyes, fair skin, tall, and strong and ironicly he had none of those traits. Hitler made camps to send these people that did not fit those standards. In 1936 the Olympics were being held in Berlin. Hitler had placed restrictions on

WWII and the Holocaust are considered two of the worst mass killings in the history of mankind. An important factor that caused these two events was the Berlin Olympics of 1936. It was a way to promote the superiority of the Aryan race especially in their physical strength and skill in sports. Another role the Olympics had was that it made other countries feel more comfortable with Germany and put them off guard. The Olympics were also used as a way to cover up the Holocaust so it didn’t change the way countries viewed Germany. We talked in class about how an American black athlete raised his fist to protest the Non-Aryan policy that Hitler had put up for Germany during the Olympics. I now want to educate the class about what happened at the

To begin with, Hitler and the Nazi regime cruelly targeted specific people with different characteristics and sent them to concentration camps because they were judged as unsuited to live in Germany. This racism was initiated by Hitler’s Nazi Theory, which blamed specific races as a scapegoat for Hitler. His theory described how ' 'No individual could overcome the innate qualities of race. All of human history could be explained in terms of racial struggle" (Ushmm.org). Hitler claimed that the underlying cause to all arguments and wars were the differences in race. As a result, this is the reason to Hitler’s motive to cleanse Germany and kill specific types of people by creating concentration camps.

The Nazi Olympics in Berlin in 1936 destroyed Hitler’s master race history. "There was very definitely a special feeling in winning the gold medal and being a black man," Woodruff said. "We destroyed [Hitler's] master race theory whenever we started winning those gold medals,” said runner John Woodruff (7). John Woodruff was a black man who won a gold medal. Another African American Jesse Owens won four track and field gold medals. These two people defied the Aryan ideal that Hitler believed that Aryan dominated the world. Another important impact the Olympic brought happened in 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia. In that Olympics, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon refused to participate because of a dispute over the Suez Canal; Spain, Switzerland, and the Netherlands boycotted the Games in protest over the Soviet Union's invasion of Hungary; China boycotted the Games because a flag of Taiwan was raised in the Olympic Village. The original purpose of the Olympics was to make the countries collaborate, however, it also brought negative impacts. Another example is that Olympics in Mexico city in 1968. Americans politicised the Games by letting two African Americans, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, represent the United States. Tommie Smith and John Carlos placed first and third in the track and field. During their medal ceremony, they raised a clenched fist above their

Hitler employed artists to create beautiful posters and magazine spreads to advertise and promote the Games. When they included athletes in their artwork, the artists portrayed them as representatives of the Nazi myth of the "Aryan" race -- blue eyed blondes with strong, chiseled features. In this way, Hitler wanted to draw a link between Nazi Germany and Ancient Greece. (16).

Soon after Hitler took power in 1933, questions began to arise from the United States and other Western democracies of whether or not they should support the idea of the Olympic Games hosted by the Nazi Regime. America was particularly concerned about the persecution of Jewish athletes that lived in Germany in 1933. In the United States, debate over participation in the 1936 Olympics was a hot topic. The U.S. always sent one of the largest teams to the Olympics. Groups on either side of the debate stated strong views of whether the United States should participate in the Olympics in Hitler’s Nazi Germany.

Most Germans hoped that the 1972 Olympics would help to heal the racial damage caused by the 1936 Olympics. It was the first time the games had returned to the state since Nazism

The Olympics, an event where the most physically fit push themselves to the extreme to win against other nations. In 1936, Adolph Hitler and the Nazis held the Olympics in Berlin, Germany. American athletes had a hard time deciding if they should travel to Berlin and take part in the Nazi Olympics. The Berlin Olympics was a personal issue for the American team, which included Jesse Owens. He wasn't sure that he should join the team because of the views that were expressed by the Nazis. Despite this, he had a lot to show the world.