U.S. Participation in the 1936 Berlin Olympics Activity Inquiry Question What were the arguments for and against U.S. participation in the 1936 Olympics? The U.S. decision to take part in the 1936 Olympics, which took place in Berlin at the time of Nazi leadership, was a controversial issue that divided participating athletes, administrative organizations, and the American public itself, especially since the country was dealing with its own problems of racism during the era of Jim Crow laws. Use information collected from the provided sources and analyze your findings to explain the arguments presented by both sides: those who felt the U.S. should compete in the games, and those who felt the nation should boycott. Clarifying Questions What was the status of civil rights in Germany in the mid­1930s, and how did it compare to the situation in the United States? What were the main arguments for participating in the games? What were the main arguments against participating in the games? How did the 1936 Berlin Olympics influence the global perception of Nazi Germany? Vocabulary boycott de facto segregation de jure segregation Jim Crow Nazi Party propaganda Background Information 1936 Summer Olympic Games, Berlin The 1936 Olympic Games hosted in Berlin, Germany, marked a pivotal moment in the history of the international games. German chancellor Adolf Hitler's rise to power in 1933, and the institution of racist and xenophobic policies by the Nazi Party, led many to call for a boycott of the games, arguing that participation would amount to an endorsement of Hitler's regime. Hitler's Rise to Power In their choice of Berlin, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) had wanted to stress Germany's return to the international sporting world after World War I. When the Olympics were held in 1936, however, it was quite a different Germany and quite a different Berlin from those to whom the IOC had awarded the games in 1931. The rise to prominence of the Nazi Party in the 1930s elevated the party's leader, Adolf Hitler, as Chancellor of Germany in 1933. Hitler's seizure of absolute power in 1934 ushered in a totalitarian regime in Germany that ruthlessly suppressed the civil rights of minorities, particularly German Jews. Organizing the Games The overwhelming problem for the IOC and for the United States was to get a guarantee that Jewish athletes would not be excluded from the games. At the IOC meeting in Vienna in June 1933, president of the Olympic organizing committee Theodor Lewald was able to give an assurance with the approval of the German government that "all laws relating to the Olympic Games will be respected. German Jews will not as a matter of principle be excluded from German teams in the XI Olympiad." This guarantee convinced the president of the Olympic Committee, Henri Baillet­Latour, after a visit to Berlin in November 1935, when he had an audience with Hitler. After that, the attitude of the Olympic Committee was unchanged. There was no wavering, and there was total support for the games in Berlin. From that point onward, both Baillet­ Latour and Avery Brundage attacked all opponents of the games as being lackeys of Communism. In 1936, Avery Brundage took a place on the IOC at the expense of the American E. L. Jahncke, who had been unremittingly critical of the games in Berlin. The first thing the Hitler state did was to place its resources wholeheartedly behind the organization committee. A close cooperative relationship developed between Reich Director of Sport Hans von Tschammer und Osten and the organization committee—a collaboration that would be expanded to encompass work on the winter games in Garmisch­Partenkirchen, which the IOC had no objections about awarding to Germany in the spring of 1933, four months after Hitler came to power. Leading the organization of the latter was Karl Ritter von Halt, who had swiftly joined the Nazi Party in order to assist his career as a banker. All these people combined to convince the outside world that the games in Berlin and Garmisch­Partenkirchen would take place without discrimination against Jews or other non­Aryan races. Nazi Propaganda and Misdirection The Nazis reasoned that if the whole world was being invited to Germany as a guest, then the country had to be seen in its most favorable light. Despite the treatment of Jews in Germany, Jews from outside were welcome. The German press was also instructed not to say anything negative about blacks—or only if they could do so by quoting newspapers from America's southern states. Furthermore, at the winter games and the summer games, the German press was forbidden from suggesting that Jews were inferior. Abusive anti­Semitic posters were removed, and the SS was given the task of ensuring that these temporary prohibitions were observed. To underline Nazi goodwill, two German half­Jews were allowed to take part in the games: the ice­hockey player Rudi Ball in the winter games, and the fencer Helene Mayer in the summer games. Both were 50% Jewish according to Nazi definitions, and as such were acceptable. On the other hand, a potential medalist for Germany, Gretel Bergmann, who was a high­jumper and fully Jewish, was not allowed to take part. With the assistance of the Ministry of Propaganda, the Nazis set a large­scale campaign in motion to bring the world to Berlin. Bulletins in a number of languages were sent out abroad; German travel agents abroad advertised the Olympic Games in Berlin as the best place to take a summer holiday in 1936; and 156,000 Olympic posters in 19 languages were distributed. With unlimited funds at their disposal, the organization committee could construct a completely new stadium for the games in Berlin. The style was neoclassical and there was plenty of space for a range of activities, including the so­called Maifeld, which was an exhibition and practice area situated between the stadium's marathon gate and the Olympic novelty, a bell tower with the great bell that summoned the youth of the world to Berlin—"Ich rufe die Jugend der Welt" (I call the youth of the world) was engraved on the cast­iron bell. The bell tower's foundation consisted of the great Langemarckhalle, originally suggested by Organizing Committee secretary general Carl Diem. The hall was envisoned as a temple commemorating the youth of Germany that had fallen in World War I at Langemarck in Flanders. The Olympic stadium in Berlin became the site of what were the most successful games of all so far. They were directly transmitted by radio for the first time to countless countries, and in selected cinemas in Berlin it was even possible to see direct television transmission from the games. It was, however, Leni Riefenstahl's film Olympia that would stand for posterity as the document of the success of the games. The film was given its premiere on Hitler's birthday in 1938 and from the very first was a roaring success both at home and abroad. It won a number of prizes and at the Venice Film Festival in 1938 was grand prize winner ahead of, for example, Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. It was only in the United States that its success was more muted, since a greater proportion of the public were critical of developments in Germany. The Games The games lasted from August 1–16 and lived up to the high expectations in every respect. Athletes from 49 nations competed, 3,738 men and 328 women, and the stadium was sold out for all events, with 105,000 spectators attending every day. The crowning moment of the introductory procession in Berlin was the arrival of the torch bearer into the Olympic stadium. The new German Reich created a perfect staging for sport as an offshoot of ancient Greece. Everything went according to plan, and at the processional entry a number of countries chose to make the Nazi salute when they passed the Fuhrer's box; others stretched out their hands more horizontally and said afterward that it was the Olympic greeting. The greatest athlete of the games was the African American Jesse Owens, who won five gold medals. Owens won the 100­ and 200­meter races. He also won the long jump and was in the 4x100 relay, which set a new record of 39.8 seconds, which was the first time ever under 40 seconds and a record that stood for 20 years. Owens's performance was seen by many as a refutation of Hitler's racist theories of Aryan racial superiority and remains the most memorable performance of the games. Basketball, canoeing, and field handball were on the program for the first time, and it caused a sensation when Norway beat Germany in soccer and achieved a bronze. As expected, despite American dominance, Germany ran away with the most medals in athletics. Reference Author: Historian and Holocaust scholar Paul R. Bartrop Description: This essay outlines the arguments for and against the international community's participation in the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games, hosted during the third year of Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime. Context and Things to Consider The 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin began in the early years of Hitler's regime, which saw laws severely restricting the citizenship and civil rights of Jews known as the Nuremberg Race Laws (1935). Consider the ways in which Germany constructed its image during the Olympic Games. How did that image differ from its image prior to the Olympics? Pay close attention to the arguments for and against a boycott of the 1936 Olympics outlined in the sections titled "Debating Whether to Boycott" and "U.S.