Political Statements : Enter The Nazi Olympics Of 1936

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

Ever since its inception in 1896, the Modern Olympics has hosted an invisible sport: politics. The Olympics calls for “a halt to all conflicts … [and to] strive towards a more peaceful world,” but politics soon spoiled its biennial message. “As the Olympics continue to dissolve into … a political competition … they no longer … justify the time and trouble,” Dave Anderson, Pulitzer Prize winner for his sports column, wrote in the New York Times in 1984. The Olympic spirit has routinely been used as an outlet for political agendas. With political and Olympic ambitions intersected, the great international sports festivity negatively affects all nations involved.

The 1972 Olympics were supposed to show that Germany had changed as a country. They were supposed to be “The Happy Games” but instead are remembered for the massacre of the Israeli athletes. The Munich Massacre has changed how terrorism is dealt with in different countries and in the Olympics as a whole.

As a sporting mega-event, the Olympic Games have numerous social impacts on the people, not only on those from the host country, but on individuals all over the globe.

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.

The olympics were placed in Berlin and started August 1st, 1936. The Olympics were during the holocaust which meant hitler

The focus of this paper will be to compare and contrast the political affects of the 1936 Olympics to Ancient Olympics. The 1936 Olympics was held in Berlin, Germany. At this time in history, Adolf Hitler was the Chancellor of Germany. Hitler’s rise to power was manly focused on anti-Semitism and racism. In addition, Hitler personally believed that Aryan’s were superior beings and athletes.

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

I. The 1936 Olympics were held in Berlin, Germany and was intended to be a propaganda for Hitler’s new system in the country. Hitler wanted to impress the world with Germanys showcased games. Germany attracted over three million spectators to Berlin which was nearly three times the amount of visitors compared to the 1932 Los Angelus Olympics. The Berlin Olympics were broadcasted on the radio with over three hundred million listeners.

“No kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas” (Advertising, Demonstrations, Propaganda* 98). This rule shows just what the Germans were hoping for, a peaceful, passive, war-free environment in which countries can get together and compete. Although we all know that quite the antithesis was upon the 1972 Olympics in Munich between September the fifth and September the sixth. The Munich Massacre, one of the worst massacres of all time, was driven by the vengefulness of the Palestinian group known as Black September, towards the people of Israel, or more relevantly, towards their Olympic team (Rosenberg). Since this confrontation between Palestine and

"...Sport is prostituted when sport loses its independent and democratic character and becomes a political institution...Nazi Germany is endeavoring to use the Eleventh Olympiad to serve the necessities and interests of the Nazi regime rather than the Olympic ideals."

The 1936 Olympics in Berlin, also known as the “Nazi Olympics”, was a milestone in the history of the world. All of the attention of the Olympics that year was focused on Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. In 1933, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler became leader of Germany and quickly turned the nation's democracy into a one-party dictatorship. He took thousands of political opponents, holding them without trial in concentration camps. The Nazis also set up a program to strengthen the Germanic Aryan population. They began to exclude all one-half million Jews from the population, and German life. As part of the drive to "purify" and strengthen the German population, a 1933 law permitted physicians to perform forced

The 1972 Summer Olympics were an international multi-sport event. Another name for that Olympic Game was the 1972 Olympics Massacre. It was the 20th Olympic Games. It was held in Munich, Germany from August 26, 1972 to September 11, 1972.The 1972 Olympics were the second Olympics to be held in Germany. The first Olympic Games that were held in Germany occur in 1936 in Berlin, which occurred during the Nazi regime. The Olympic Committee in West Germany was hoping to get rid of the military image of Germany. They were tired of the image that was portrayed by the 1936 Berlin Olympics, which Hitler used for his own benefit. Also, tensions were high due to the fact that the last games occurred during the Nazi regime. The Israeli athletes and

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

3.6 billion People caught at least one minute of the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. According to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), half of the world watched the Olympics this past summer. The Olympic Games are the most popular and most participated sporting event in the world. Every continent comes together for 16 days to watch the best athletes in the world compete for medals and bragging rights. Despite the Olympics bringing people closer together in a spirit of unity through sports, host countries tend to use the Olympics to spread a different persona of themselves as shown in 1936 by Germany, in 2008 by China, in 2012 by Britain, and in 2016 by Brazil. The 1936 Olympic Games are commonly known as the Nazi Games due to Hitler’s