Berlin Olympic Games among. Who allowed Hitler to hold the Olympics and how it ended. Brief historical background

Among all the ceremonial Nazi events, perhaps the most magnificent and spectacular was the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

The historic Berlin stadium today is perceived by many not so much as an arena of sports battles, but as a monumental reminder of the Nazi era. It was here, at the Olympiastadion, that Hitler held a grandiose propaganda campaign and, to the pompous music of Richard Wagner, opened the 1936 Summer Olympic Games in front of a crowd of 100,000. It was here, to the chagrin of the Fuhrer, that the black American athlete Jesse Owens won four gold medals, thereby questioning the myth of the superiority of the Aryan race. It was here that two years later the British met the German football team, and during the playing of the German anthem they had to submit to political demands and salute the Fuhrer. But the English avenged this humiliation by winning 6:3.

The Olympiapark sports complex, the center of which is now the Olympiastadion stadium, was built before the First World War, when Germany received the right to host the 1916 Summer Olympics. In 1933, Hitler, having come to power, took over the unused areas , adjacent to the Grunwald racetrack. His grand plan included the construction of an 86,000-seat stadium, a separate hockey stadium, a riding arena, a swimming pool and an outdoor sports arena. The sports complex was adjacent to Maifeld, where the Nazis held mass rallies.

The 1936 Berlin Olympics are probably the most controversial in the history of the Games. After World War I, in 1920 and 1924, Germany was not allowed to participate in the Olympic Games. However, this unfortunate fact did not bother Hitler much - he was convinced that competing with “inferior non-Aryans” would be simply humiliating for German athletes. Bruno Matrix, a spokesman for the Nazi Party, reiterated this position in a letter to members of German sports clubs, defining the Olympic Games as "overrun by French, Belgian, Poles and Negro Jews."

Despite such beliefs of the Nazis, on May 13, 1931, the International Olympic Committee granted Germany the right to host the 1936 Games. This step was explained by the fact that at that time Germany was not yet under Nazi rule, and the IOC decided that such a step would help bring Germany back into the ranks of civilized countries. Problems arose after 1933, when Hitler's strongly nationalistic and anti-Jewish views became government policy. Goebbels made every effort to convince the Fuhrer to reconsider his attitude towards the Olympic Games. He argued that hosting the Olympics would demonstrate Germany's renewed strength to the world community and provide the party with first-class propaganda material. In addition, the competition will allow the undoubtedly strong German team to demonstrate “Aryan” athleticism to other nations. The Fuhrer was persuaded. The Fuhrer agreed. 20 million Reichsmarks were allocated for the Games, i.e. 8 million US dollars.

However, in 1934, serious debate broke out in the world over the advisability of holding the Games in Berlin. They were especially violent in the USA. Jewish, Catholic, religious and secular organizations were united in their condemnation of the German Games. As IOC President Avery Brundage said in 1933:

“The very foundation of the modern revived Olympic movement would be undermined if individual countries were allowed to restrict participation in the Games on grounds of origin, faith or race.”

Olympic rules prohibited any racial or religious discrimination; many athletes and sports organizations insisted on a boycott of the German Games.

Avery Brundage himself was categorically opposed to the boycott. He said the Olympic Games “belong to athletes, not politicians.” In 1935, his motives in supporting the Games began to raise some suspicions, as he suddenly announced that in fact there was a real force behind the opponents of the Berlin Olympics - a “Jewish-Communist conspiracy.” This is bullshit. This, of course, was not true, since even some Jewish sports organizations opposed the boycott. However, to deal with the protest, Brundage and other IOC officials visited Berlin in 1934 and assessed the situation of discrimination in Germany. Naturally, the Nazis were properly prepared to welcome their dear guest for this visit. In Berlin, all signs of anti-Semitism have completely disappeared; members of the commission were able to meet with Jewish athletes, who assured them of their complete freedom to play sports.

The boycott controversy was resolved on December 8, 1935, when the Amateur Athletic Union voted to participate in the Games. Nevertheless, many athletes still decided not to go to Berlin. An alternative “people's Olympics” was even planned for July 1936 in Barcelona, Spain, but its holding was prevented by the outbreak of civil war there.

Shortly before the Games in Berlin, February 6-16, 1936, Germany hosted the Winter Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen (Bavarian Alps). This Olympics gave the Reich leadership the opportunity to test techniques, which were then brought to perfection during the Berlin Olympics. Thus, for the sake of decency in the face of foreign guests, all manifestations of anti-Semitism were stopped.

Guests who visited Berlin in 1936 can be understood: many of them thought that German anti-Semitism was simply a myth. All anti-Jewish posters, brochures and books temporarily disappeared from the streets and shelves. German newspapers were prohibited from publishing anti-Semitic stories and articles for the entire period of the Games. Berlin residents were even ordered to refrain from making negative public statements about Jews from June 30 to September 1. To create the impression of the liberalism of the Third Reich, even one half-Jewish woman (quite incidentally of “Aryan” appearance) - fencing champion Helena Mayer - was allowed to participate in the Games as part of the German team. At the Winter Olympics, the team also had one athlete with half Jewish blood - hockey player Rudi Ball.

The leadership and residents of Berlin showed generous hospitality towards the visiting athletes and guests. In particular, the consumption of eggs for Berliners was temporarily reduced so that guests could eat without restrictions. Laws against homosexuals were temporarily suspended. The entire city was lavishly decorated with swastikas and other Nazi symbols, which gave it a festive and majestic appearance. Military mobilization was also hidden from prying eyes. Here is the instruction from the Ministry of Propaganda, which talks about the Olympic Village:

"The northern section of the Olympic Village, originally used by the Wehrmacht, should not be called barracks, but will now be called the 'northern section of the Olympic Village'."

The world press was delighted. Only two or three of the most perceptive reporters were able to look behind the beautiful façade - but even they did not see the full picture. In the northern suburbs of Berlin, the Oranienburg concentration camp was already filling with Jews and other undesirables.

The opening ceremony of the Games was well remembered by everyone who saw it. Guns were firing all over the city. Hitler personally released 20 thousand carrier pigeons at the Shportpalast stadium. The nearly 304-meter-long Hindenburg zeppelin circled the stadium with a giant Olympic flag in tow. In the middle of all this splendor, athletes from 49 countries of the world walked in front of the gathered crowds of spectators.

It would be appropriate to quote Joachim Fest here:

“On August 1, to the solemn ringing of the Olympic bell, Hitler opened the games, surrounded by kings, princes, ministers, and numerous honored guests. When the former Marthon Olympic champion from Greece, Spyridon Louis, handed him an olive branch as a “symbol of love and peace,” the choir sang the anthem created by Richard Strauss, and flocks of doves of peace soared into the sky. This picture of a reconciled planet created by Hitler fit well into the fact that some of the teams entering the stadium (including the French who had just been provoked!), passing by the podium, raised their hands in a fascist salute, which they later made up for points in terms of resistance were readily declared an “Olympic greeting.”

Germany fielded the largest team – 348 athletes. The United States team was the second largest, with 312 members, including 18 African-Americans. The delegation was led by the President of the American Olympic Committee, Avery Brundage. The Soviet Union did not take part in the Berlin Games.

In general, the results of the XI Olympics in Berlin were positive for the Reich. Huge financial investments in physical training and sports yielded results: the German team received 33 gold medals, leaving all other teams far behind. The Nazis believed that the racial “superiority” of the Aryans had been further confirmed.

However, although many Nazi prejudices seemed to be confirmed, some of them came into clear conflict with reality. Half-Jewish fencer Helena Mayer took second place, and Jewish athletes from other countries won gold and silver medals. In such a paramilitary sport as fencing, the primacy of the Jews was very unpleasant for the Nazi leaders. But Mayer's invaluable contribution to Nazi propaganda more than compensated for this trouble. Standing on the podium, she gave the Nazi salute in full uniform, and at a reception in honor of the Olympic medalists, she shook hands with Hitler. She was captured in her documentary “Olympia” by Leni Riefenstahl.

In general, the awards were distributed as follows.

No. / Country / Gold / Silver / Bronze / Total

1 - Third Reich 33 26 30 89
2 - USA 24 20 12 56
3 - Hungary 10 1 5 16
4 - Italy 8 9 5 22
5 - Finland 7 6 6 19
6 - France 7 6 6 19
7 - Sweden 6 5 9 20
8 - Japan 6 4 8 18
9 - Netherlands 6 4 7 17

A much more serious challenge to Nazi dogma and prejudice was the success of the black athlete from the United States, Jess Owens. Overall, the American team performed very well and won 56 medals, 14 of which were won by black Americans. Owens' performance left a strong impression on the audience. Not only did he compete in the 4x100m relay and help the American team win gold in that event, but he also won gold in the 100m and 200m sprints, as well as the long jump.

The amazing success of Jess Owens was very unpleasant for the Nazis and put them in an awkward position. Goebbels personally instructed the German press not to harass black athletes during the Games. Instead, Owens' achievements were simply pushed aside and hushed up, and Hitler refused to shake hands with Owens or any other black athlete. At the same time, in the United States, Owens' success was presented as a defeat of Nazi ideology. However, the United States itself had a lot to think about in terms of race relations. And they lynch blacks. One very unpleasant incident occurred during the Olympics: Avery Brundage suspended Marty Glickman and Saint Stoller from participating in the track and field relay. They were the only Jews on the track team, and Brundage's action was rightfully regarded by many as a fawning attempt to please Hitler.

Nazi Roots of the Olympic Movement - III

In addition:

I can’t help but imagine the results of the ingenious combination of the Anglo-Saxons, after Germany was used for its intended purpose and was appointed the only one responsible for unleashing WWII.

Dresden after the Allied bombing, long before the Red Army entered it

The area of the zone of complete destruction in Dresden was 4 times larger than the area of the zone of complete destruction in Nagasaki. The population before the raid was 629,713 people, after - 369,000 people.

I have long noticed that as soon as Russia or the USSR begin to blame the West for something, it can be said with absolute certainty that they themselves are probably all up in arms. Maybe even the eyes are not visible, like a bobtail...
Firstly, Great Britain competed in Germany in the 1936 Summer and Winter Olympics. England was represented there by 208 athletes (171 men, 37 women). They won 4 gold, 7 silver and 3 bronze medals, which brought the team to 10th place in the unofficial team standings. Again, the USSR was not there. Just like in the USSR there was no fascist party. But it was in Great Britain! Its history is long and rich, and it was banned only in 1940, when Great Britain had already entered the war with Germany over Poland.
I suggest looking at photographs indicating the presence of Great Britain at the Olympics in Nazi Germany. Boris Johnson apparently drank the newcomer and confused who went to the fascists and who didn’t. This is in addition to who had fascists and who did not. England in the USSR did not go to the Olympics in 1980, they sent one person to carry the Olympic flag, and Germany was even very much attended. The USA and Canada actually did the same.

These are spectators frozen in a Nazi salute, and in the background what is that flag? Great Britain.

Routley Maurice-Hancock, British swimmer, Berlin Olympics, 1936.

Routley Maurice-Hancock, British swimmer, Berlin Olympics, 1936.

1936 Berlin Olympic Games: Book of Instructions. Published in London by the British Olympic Association

Unused ticket

1936 Berlin Olympics: Itinerary Booklet Visiting the amateur football team representing Great Britain at the Olympic Games. To play at the Olympic Stadium, Berlin and Berlin club grounds, from 2 to 15 August 1936.

It looks like Britain got silver for the marathon. Well, not bad.

British jacket pocket, dark blue, color embroidered, 1936. Ex Frederic Dove, who competed in the 100-meter freestyle.

The 1936 Winter Olympics took place in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in southern Germany.
Happy Great Britain team celebrates victory in hockey.

Match with the Swedes

The 1936 Gerry John Coward jersey worn at the German Olympics as the British disrupted the hockey world to claim their memorable and only gold medal in their history. His jersey is on display at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.

It's clear. Hall of Fame. But they won’t come to us. Maybe enter Afghanistan? They won't go anyway. Well, or compare the newly atomized newcomer with Skripal’s? Deliver it by rocket to the location and compare the effect. Organize a scientific experiment, so to speak? Well, we can’t do that, but everything really needs to be done. Someone in the USA doesn’t go to the Olympics if they’ve been in Afghanistan for 15 years. Or in Iraq. Everyone is going.

These are not the only medals and speakers. There was a wonderful British figure skater, Cecilia Colledge, who took second place. Here she is during the women's figure skating final at the 1936 Winter Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.

The British bobsleigh team with four men at the start line at the Winter Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, where they won the bronze medal. Frederick McEvoy, James Cardno, Guy Dugdale and Charles Green.

All British participants in the games can clearly see their flag, quite in a classic form, but there is a variation of it. I’ve never seen anything like this before, but they were worn by English fascists. What a terrible unexpected truth! What skeleton fell out of Boris Jonesan's English closet, and maybe the Windsors themselves?

Imperial Fascist League

British fascists in Nuremberg 1934.

Hitler warmly greets the Duke and Duchess of Windsor

A familiar greeting, but this is not Germany, but England.

True, they walked more often with one zipper, but this does not change the essence.

But there were also batons, as expected.

And who would have thought, but the British also fought for Hitler as volunteers.

Failed Olympics

By the decision of the IOC in 1912, Berlin was to become the capital of the VI Summer Olympic Games in 1916. A sports complex has begun to be built in the capital of Germany. The complex remained unfinished. In 1914, the First World War canceled the games, and the failed Olympic champions dispersed to different fronts to shoot at each other.

Rogue State

Five years later, in 1919, the victorious countries gathered at Versailles to decide the post-war fate of Germany, which lost the war. They tore through Germany like wounded jackals. There were 26 jackals and each one tried to snatch a fatter piece. Germany was cut off territorially from all sides and a huge indemnity was imposed. Several generations of Germans had to work without straightening their backs to pay off their debts. Additionally, Germany was excluded from the political, social and cultural life of Europe. She found herself isolated. Important international events were held without the participation of its representatives; they were simply not invited, and those who dared to come without permission were not allowed further than the front hall. That is why Germany is not on the lists of countries participating in the 1920 and 1924 Olympic Games.

Berlin fights for the Olympics

In 1928, the excommunication was lifted and German athletes took second place at the IX Olympics in Amsterdam, proving to the whole world that the Teutonic spirit had not disappeared from Germany.

Having made a hole, Germany began to intensively expand it and applied for the right to become the host of the XI Olympic Games. In addition to Berlin, 9 other cities expressed the same desire. On May 13, 1930, in Lausanne, IOC members had to make the final choice between Berlin and Barcelona who had reached the final. Berlin won by a huge margin (43/16).
But in 1933, a question mark appeared at the end of the phrase “Berlin is the capital of the XI Olympiad.”

Why do the Nazis need the Olympics?

Hitler, who came to power, was not a supporter of the Olympic Games and called them “the invention of the Jews and Freemasons.” And in Germany itself, the attitude towards the Games was by no means unambiguous. Many Germans were neither going to forget nor forgive the humiliation at Versailles, and did not want to see athletes from England and France in Germany. The anti-Olympic movement among the Nazis was gaining momentum. The “skirmisher” was the National Socialist Union of Students. In their opinion, Aryan athletes should not compete with representatives of “inferior” peoples. And if the Olympics cannot be postponed, then it must take place without the participation of German athletes. Hitler did not see any value in the Olympics for promoting the ideas of National Socialism: after the triumph of 1928, in 1932 in Los Angeles, Germany ended up in 9th place. What superiority of the Aryan race there is!
Goebbels convinced Hitler.

Goebbels's arguments

It was the Minister of Propaganda who suggested that Hitler not only support the Olympics, but take it under state custody and use it to create a new image of Germany and promote the Nazi regime. According to Goebbels, the Olympic Games will show the world a new Germany: striving for peace, not torn apart by internal political contradictions, with a united people, led by a national leader. And a positive image is not only a way out of political isolation, it is also the establishment of economic contacts and, as a result, an influx of capital, which Germany so badly needs.

The Olympics will give impetus to the development of sports in the country. The basis of any army is a soldier - strong, healthy, physically developed. The war-oriented Nazis never tired of holding actions in favor of sports.

One of these actions was a football match held in 1931 between the Sturmovik (SA leadership) and Reich (NSDAP leadership) teams. The Reich team consisted of: Hess, Himmler, Goering (1st half), Ley, the goal was defended by Bormann. “Sturmovik” won with a score of 6:5, but the party press wrote “correctly”: “Reich” won.

But even hundreds of events carried out cannot compare in their effect to 2 weeks of the Olympics.
The Olympics will rally the people around the Fuhrer and the regime. As for the sporting achievements of the German team, the head of the German NOC, Karl Diem, swore that this time the German athletes will not let them down.

How to prepare for the Berlin Olympics

Having decided to make the Berlin Olympics the largest among all those previously held, Hitler began to implement the decision. If earlier the NOC of Germany planned the budget of the Games within 3 million Reichsmarks, then Hitler increased it to 20 million. They began to build a sports complex that included a stadium with 86,000 seats, an outdoor sports arena, a swimming pool, an outdoor theater, a riding arena, and a separate hockey stadium and an Olympic village of 500 cottages. It was planned to install a 74-meter-high bell tower at the stadium, for which a 4-meter bell weighing 10 tons was cast, which became the symbol of the XI Olympiad.

Pierre de Coubertin, reviving the Olympic Games, preached the principle of “Sport outside of politics.” However, already spectators of the first Olympics witnessed political demarches. And in 1936, the Olympic Games were used for political purposes by the state for the first time. The “starter” of the tradition of “political Olympiads” was Hitler’s Germany.

Failed Olympics

Rogue State

Berlin fights for the Olympics

In 1928, the excommunication was lifted and German athletes took second place at the IX Olympics in Amsterdam, proving to the whole world that the Teutonic spirit had not disappeared from Germany.

Why do the Nazis need the Olympics?

Goebbels's arguments

How to prepare for the Berlin Olympics

Karl Diehm put forward the idea of bringing the torch with the burning Olympic flame to Berlin from Athens itself in a relay race. Goebbels liked the idea, the Fuhrer approved. (This is how the tradition of the Olympic torch relay began.)

If earlier the opening and closing of the Games was limited to the passage of athletes along the stands of the stadium under their national flags, then Goebbels planned to hold theatrical shows, thereby establishing another tradition.
The world-famous documentary film star Leni Riefenstahl began preparing for the filming of the 4-hour film “Olympia” (the first large-scale film recording of the games).

Sports in Aryan style

But the Third Reich remained the Third Reich. Soon the IOC began to receive reports of persecution of Jews taking place in Germany. They did not bypass the field of sports. “Racially inferior” physical education enthusiasts were expelled from sports societies and expelled from sports associations. The IOC demanded clarification, threatening to revoke Berlin's status as the capital of the Olympic Games. Dispatches came from Germany that all this was vile slander from the enemies of a resurgent Germany, and in general, what kind of persecution are you talking about?! If there were individual cases, then each such incident will be investigated, measures will be taken, and the perpetrators will be found and punished. The IOC was quite happy with these answers.

In September 1935, the so-called The Nuremberg Laws limiting the rights of Jews and Gypsies. The persecution received legislative justification. A total “cleansing of the ranks” began in sports societies and sections. Neither sporting successes, nor ranks, nor titles were taken into account: German champion Eric Seelig was expelled from the boxing association. What can we say about others who did not have such regalia!
In response, a movement began around the world to boycott the Berlin Olympics.

Boycott!

The movement was led by US sports societies. They were soon joined by sports organizations from France, Great Britain, Czechoslovakia, Sweden and the Netherlands. Political, social, religious and cultural organizations that had nothing to do with sports joined the protest movement. The idea of holding alternative Folk Games in Barcelona was born and promoted to the masses.

The IOC, facing the prospect of disruption of the games, sent a delegation to Berlin with the task of clarifying the situation on the spot. Germany has seriously prepared for the visit. The guests were shown the Olympic facilities under construction, were introduced to the program of events, were shown the Olympic village, and sketches of numerous badges, medals, awards and souvenirs. During the visit, the Nazis took the time to clear Berlin of anti-Semitic slogans and “Jews are unwelcome” signs. The visitors were given a meeting with Jewish athletes, who stated with surprise that this was the first time in their lives that they had heard about the infringement of Jews in Germany. To assuage the conscience of sports functionaries, fencer Helen Mayer, an emigrant from Germany living in the United States, who had a Jewish father, was included in the German Olympic team.

(Subsequently, the athlete will thank Hitler: standing on the second step of the podium, at the time of the award, she will throw out her hand in a Nazi salute. She will never be forgiven for this.)

However, the move with Helena Mayer was even unnecessary: the IOC representatives were so amazed by the scale of the upcoming Olympics, so blinded by its future splendor and greatness, that they no longer saw and did not want to see anything.

Necessary digression: Shy Olympics

The first Olympic Games were not events on a global scale. In 1896 in Athens (I Olympic Games), 241 athletes took part in the competition. At the II Games in Paris in 1900, many athletes had no idea that they were taking part in the Olympic Games. They were sure that these sporting events were being held as part of the World Exhibition taking place in Paris. Games then were a set of competitions, divided among themselves in time and space. The II Olympic Games were held from May 14 to October 28, 1900, the III - from July 1 to November 23, 1904, the IV - from July 13 to October 31, 1908.

Other competitions also took place; the Olympic Games could easily have gotten lost among them and faded into oblivion, just as the Goodwill Games disappeared (who remembers them now?).
Slowly, very slowly, the locomotive of the Olympic movement picked up speed, and the games of 1936 gave it a very great acceleration.

What they saw simply amazed the IOC members. They realized that if the Olympics were held in Berlin, they no longer had to worry about the future of the competition: the former modesty of the Olympic Games would be over forever. They took the bait. The IOC delegation returned from Germany with a firm decision: the Olympics should take place only in Berlin!

How the boycott failed

The IOC's decision was supported by the US NOC. There was no unity among the athletes themselves; many did not want to lose the chance that comes once every four years. The situation was resolved on December 8, 1935, when the US Amateur Athletic Committee spoke in favor of participation in the Olympics. Following him, sports organizations from other countries also said “in favor”. The boycott came down to a personal decision by individual athletes.

The boycott movement was finished off by Coubertin's statement of support for the Berlin Olympics. The founding father of the Olympic Games received a letter from German NOC member Theodor Lewald asking for support. Attached to the letter were 10,000 Reichsmarks - the Fuhrer's personal contribution to the Coubertin Foundation. What could a 73-year-old baron, faced with financial difficulties in his declining years, oppose to such heavy artillery!
The Olympics have not yet started, and Berlin has already won the first half.

The idea of a boycott lived until the last day. On July 18, athletes gathered in Barcelona for the People's Olympics. But on the same day, “a cloudless sky over all of Spain” was broadcast on the radio. A civil war broke out in Spain, and there was no time for the Olympics.

Dress rehearsal - Winter Olympics 1936

From February 6 to 16, the Winter Olympic Games were held in the Bavarian Alps in Garmesch-Partenkirchen, which Hitler considered as a trial balloon. The first pancake didn't come out lumpy. The Olympic guests were delighted. They were greeted by a winter stadium with 15,000 seats and one of the world's first ice palaces with artificial ice with 10,000 seats. The IOC management recognized the organization of the games as impeccable. Not a single incident marred the sports festival. (Previously, the Nazis “cleared” the city of Jews, gypsies, unemployed people, politically active troublemakers and anti-Semitic slogans.) Significantly, the Jew Rudi Bahl, one of the best hockey players of that time, was appointed captain of the German hockey team.

To Hitler’s delight, the first 4 places were taken by representatives of the “Nordic” race - Norwegians, Germans, Swedes, Finns, which fit perfectly into the Nazi racial theory. The star of the Olympics was the Norwegian figure skater Sonja Henie. Hitler was more than satisfied with the results of the Olympics and expected even greater triumph from the Summer Olympic Games.

Olympics with Nazi characteristics

4,066 athletes from 49 countries and about 4 million fans arrived at the Olympic Games in Berlin. 41 countries sent reporters to cover the competition. Berlin was cleaned and licked to an incredible shine. Not only city municipal services, but also local branches of the NSDAP, the German Ministry of the Interior and the Berlin police took part in preparing the city for the sports festival. Gypsies, beggars, and prostitutes were evicted outside the city. (The city was “cleansed” of Jews back in 1935.) Goebbels banned the publication of anti-Semitic articles and stories in newspapers during the Olympics. Anti-Jewish posters and slogans disappeared from the streets, and relevant books and brochures were confiscated from stores. Even the residents of Berlin were ordered to refrain from publicly expressing negative attitudes towards Jews.

And the swastika was everywhere: on thousands of banners hung around the city, on hundreds of posters, it was embossed on sports facilities, adjacent to Olympic symbols, and was present on badges and souvenirs. According to the plans of the organizers, the symbol of Nazism should have been present even on the Olympic medals, but the IOC reared up: “Sport is outside politics!”, and the awards of 1936 were not “decorated” with the Nazi “spider”.

Another amazing novelty awaited Berlin guests: the world's first live television broadcast from the Olympic Games. (I’m sure this is news to many.) A network of television showrooms (33) was organized in Berlin, each of which had 2 televisions with a 25x25 cm screen, serviced by a specialist. During the Olympics, the salons were visited by 160 thousand people. It was more difficult to get tickets for them than for the stadium, but those who visited the TV shows had something to talk about at home upon their return.

Highlights of the Olympics

On the very first day of the competition, Germany tasted triumph: Hans Welke became the Olympic champion in the shot put. The stands went wild. Hitler invited the Olympian to his box.

On March 22, 1943, Belarusian partisans fired at a German convoy. Two policemen and a German officer, Hauptmann Hans Welke, were killed. On the same day, the Dirlewanger team carried out a punitive “retaliation action”: a nearby village was burned along with its inhabitants. The village was called Khatyn.

The “highlight” of the Olympics was the fight between the German Lutz Long and the black American Jesse Owens in the long jump. At first Owens was in the lead with a score of 7.83 m. Long comes out. The stands froze. He runs away. Jumping. Flies. Heels dig into the sand. 7.87! Olympic record! The stands are roaring. Owens comes out again and in the last fifth attempt he wins (his second) Olympic medal - 8.06! Long was the first to run up to Owens and congratulate him on his victory. Having embraced, the athletes went under the stands.

Jesse Owens will stand on the first step of the podium twice more. The American anthem was played 4 times in honor of a black athlete from the United States.

Long and Owens' friendship continued for many years, despite the war that separated them. In 1943, while in the army, Lutz wrote a letter in which he asked Jesse, in the event of his death, to become a witness at the wedding of his son Kai Long. On July 10, Chief Corporal Lutz Long was mortally wounded and died three days later. In the early 50s, Jesse Owens fulfilled a friend's request and became best man at Kai's wedding.
Olympic scandal

When talking about the 1936 Olympic Games, one cannot ignore the story of how Hitler refused to shake the hand of black Jesse Owens. Was it or wasn't it? When on August 4, after his triumphant victory in the long jump, the moment came to congratulate Olympic champion Jesse Owens, it turned out that Hitler, who had never missed the opportunity to congratulate the Finns or Swedes, was not in the box. The Nazi functionaries explained to the stunned IOC officials: “The Fuhrer has left. You know, the Reich Chancellor has so much to do!”

On the same day, IOC Chairman Bayeux-Latour gave Hitler an ultimatum: either he congratulates everyone or no one. Hitler, estimating that the next day he would most likely have to congratulate the Americans, chose the second option and on August 5 defiantly did not leave his place on the podium, which, however, did not upset him at all: he was quite pleased with the general course of the Olympics.

Who won the Olympics?

Definitely: Nazi Germany won the Olympics, achieving all its goals - political, sports, propaganda. German athletes took the most medals - 89, followed by US athletes - 56. Without bothering with such trifles as the ratio of gold-silver-bronze, and in which sports Germany was the leader, Goebbels never tired of repeating: “This is it, clear confirmation superiority of the Aryan race! He did not disdain outright fraud. When on the opening day the athletes walked around the stadium, throwing their right arms forward and up in the so-called. "Olympic salute", all German newspapers wrote that the Olympians threw out their arms in a Nazi salute.

Today this symbol of the Olympics has not been cancelled, but has been safely forgotten. Not a single athlete would risk an Olympic salute under fear of being accused of promoting Nazism.

The world media sang the praises of German organization and order. Germany demonstrated to the whole world the unity of the people and the Fuhrer. 4 million propagandists of the Nazi regime scattered all over the world: “What kind of horrors are you telling about Germany? Yes, I was there and I can personally testify: all this is lies and propaganda of the left!”
Jesse Owens told how he could freely go to any cafe, any restaurant in Berlin, and ride on public transport along with whites. (If he had tried to do this in his native Alabama, they would have hung it on the nearest tree along with the Olympic medal!)

In 1938, Leni Riefenstahl's Olympia was published. The film won a bunch of prizes within a year, continued to collect awards until 1948, and is still considered a masterpiece of sports documentary filmmaking.

Despite this, after the war, Leni Riefenstahl was accused of promoting the ideas of National Socialism, she was branded a Nazi, and she was expelled from cinema almost forever. She shot her next film about the beauties of the underwater world, “Coral Paradise,” in 2002, a year before her death.

After the Olympics

Hitler himself was very pleased with the results of the Olympics and once told Speer that after 1940 all Olympic Games would be held in Germany. When the question of postponing the Winter Olympic Games arose in 1939 (Japan, which had started a war with China, was recognized as an aggressor country and deprived of its status as host of the Olympics), Germany submitted an application. The Anschluss of Austria had already passed, the Munich Agreement had taken place, and Czechoslovakia had disappeared from the political map. The Third Reich openly rattled its weapons. But the IOC was so eager to repeat the Berlin Olympic miracle that it could not resist - Garmisch-Partenkirchen was to once again become the capital of the Winter Olympics. Even in September 1939, IOC officials were still hesitant: “Well, why all these scandals? Poland has fallen, the war is over, there is peace and order in Europe again,” not wanting to notice that this order is new, German. It was not until November 1939, when Germany she recalled it herself his candidacy, the upset IOC decided not to hold the Winter Olympics.

The question of the Summer Olympic Games was soon resolved by itself. In 1940, no one in Europe thought about a sports festival. German youths, brought into sports by the Berlin Olympics, were distributed among various military units. Glider pilots - in the Luftwaffe and parachutists, yachtsmen - in the Kriegsmarine, wrestlers and boxers - in various sabotage teams, equestrian masters - in the cavalry, and bullet shooting virtuosos went to improve their skills in sniper schools. Hitler himself lost interest in sports; he was no longer interested in sports, but in military battles.

The next Olympic Games took place in 1948 in London. As before, fans watched the athletes’ competitions with tension, but different winds were already blowing over the Olympic stadiums. Among the noisy applause of the spectators, sports functionaries heard the crunch of new banknotes. More than once or twice, the Olympic Games have become the subject of bargaining and political blackmail.
In Berlin in 1936, the first “political Olympics” was revealed to the world. She wasn't the last. The tradition established in Berlin has successfully survived to this day and is not going to die.
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1936 Summer Olympics

The 11th Summer Olympics of 1936 will forever go down in history not so much because of the Nazi government, which then reigned supreme over Germany, but because of the fact that for the first time an Olympic sports competition was televised. The TV shows were broadcast in three German cities (Berlin, Potsdam and Leipzig) in real time if the weather was good. In bad weather, the television broadcast delay did not exceed 10 minutes relative to real time. There were 33 TV showrooms in total, where there were two TVs with a square screen, the length of a side was 25 centimeters. During the 1936 Olympic Games, 48 televised sports programs were shown and were viewed by approximately one hundred and fifty thousand people.

Television broadcast standard and technology used

To broadcast television programs, an electronic system was used, which was invented by von Ardenne. It used progressive scan with a format of 180 lines at 50 frames per second. A public demonstration of this electronic television system was held in 1931, and in the spring of 1935 regular television broadcasts using it began in Berlin in order to organize a full-fledged broadcast on the electronic system for the opening of the Olympics. By August 1936, 33 television showrooms had been established, each with two square-screen televisions. Two types of cameras were used to show sports broadcasts: large and portable; In addition, a combined type cinema and television system was created, because the above-mentioned cameras were not sensitive enough to conduct high-quality television broadcasts.

Cameraman at the Berlin Olympics, 1936

Preparing for future filming

Leni Riefenstahl, a wonderful classic and documentary director, shed light on how future Olympic camera operators prepared for the upcoming filming in her famous memoirs. According to her, preparations for filming began in May, but preliminary work was carried out for two years by a group of about twenty people. At first, operator training took place with television cameras that did not have film, just to learn not to lose sight of the athletes when they made fast and sudden movements. Without such preparation, good shooting simply would not have happened, so only after numerous trainings began testing three types of films to find the best among them. However, each operator subsequently chose the type of film to use independently, because it was not possible to find the best among them.

Leni Riefenstahl and assistant behind the camera lens. Berlin Olympics, 1936. Massive tripods are designed to support the weight of this lens

Opening of the Olympic Games

At 6 o'clock in the morning, on August 1, 1936, a significant event occurred - the Berlin Olympics started. The television broadcast of the most interesting events began, which were filmed by dozens of movie cameras and 60 cameramen: the appearance of a runner with a torch, the arrival of delegations from all participating countries, and much more. Some problems arose during the sound recording, as two devices had to be placed next to the seats for the guests of honor, which caused the displeasure of the SS men who tried to remove this sound recording equipment. With great difficulty, Leni Riefenstahl managed to defend it, selflessly protecting two sound recording devices with her body.

Original technical solutions and shooting features

When all the obstacles were safely overcome, painstaking video filming of the competition began. The film crew wanted to bring something new to documentary films and therefore constantly experimented with equipment. For example, an automatic mobile camera was created specifically for these games, which followed sprinters running a hundred meters. Unfortunately, its use was prohibited by the judge of these competitions. Another interesting solution was the use of a balloon to conduct survey surveys. But the main highlight was the use of small cameras when filming equestrian all-around events and marathons; in the first case they were attached to the saddles, and in the second case they were in a special basket that runners wore around their necks during their training. With the help of such cameras it was possible to obtain several unique shots, so this idea paid off.

Summing up

Electronic television broadcasts of the Berlin Olympic Games turned out to be successful and were liked by many German viewers, so the transition to this format of television broadcasting began to occur in other countries, including Moscow. In the Soviet Union, in the fall of 1936, almost immediately after the end of the Olympics, preparations began for teleconnection of the entire country. Thus, the German experience in sports television broadcasts had a great influence on the development of modern television.