In 1931, the International Olympic Committee awarded Berlin—the German capital isolated from the rest of the world since Germany’s defeat in World War I—hosting privileges for the 1936 Summer Olympic Games, as a symbol of healing. Adolf Hitler initially ridiculed the prestigious sporting event as a conspiracy of Freemasons and Jews.
But then, three years after Hitler became chancellor of Germany and instigated his antisemitic agenda, the 1936 Olympics were still on the schedule. What now?
Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s minister for public enlightenment and propaganda, spoke to the dictator about the golden opportunity to make Nazi Germany look favorable to the rest of the world, and use the Olympics as a propaganda showcase for the “master race.”
Hosting the Olympics would bring in foreign currency and boost the economy and provide an opportunity to build a huge venue. Those opportunities got Hitler’s attention.
“There was a lot of competition to host, but Berlin got the nod before Hitler came to power,” says David Clay Large, a professor at the Fromm Institute at the University of San Francisco and author of Nazi Games: The Olympics of 1936. “The question after Hitler came to power was: Would Nazis go ahead and keep that decision alive? Hitler changed his mind as a result of the persuading.”
Germany Sweeps Antisemitism Under the Rug Ahead of Games
The Holocaust did not start until World War II was underway, following Hitler's 1939 invasion of Poland, but word had spread around the world about the antisemitic policies in Germany. By 1935, Jewish people had already been stripped of citizenship under the Nuremberg Race Laws.
The United States led a call to boycott the Berlin Olympics for Germany's human rights abuses, but then did not follow through on the threat. Some Jewish American athletes, including track stars Milton Green and Norman Cahners, individually boycotted the Berlin Olympics. So, the Nazis sought to give the country a kinder, gentler makeover—but a very temporary one, just for the Olympics.
The Nazis toned down many of the obvious public displays of antisemitism just before the Games started on August 1, with a lavish opening ceremony full of fanfare at the new Berlin Olympic Stadium (“Olympiastadion” in German). They removed signs that forbade Jews from sitting on park benches and going to public swimming pools. Der Stürmer, an antisemitic newspaper, was not sold on the streets of Berlin during the Olympics. Buildings were tidied up and repainted. The Nazis promised the International Olympic Committee fair play for athletes regardless of their race.
“There was definitely a lull in the anti-Jewish campaign,” says Susan Bachrach, a staff historian with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and author of The Nazi Olympics: Berlin 1936. “It was noted by German Jews themselves. They were waiting with bated breath for what happens when the games were over.”
'Olympia' Film Glorifies Sport, Athletes—and Nazi Party
Hitler also tapped Leni Riefenstahl, an actress and director who directed the 1935 Nazi propaganda film, "Triumph of the Will," to create a tribute of the 1936 Olympics. In "Olympia," which was released in two parts, Riefenstahl used stunning cinematography to portray the history of sport, the beauty of athletes—and a glorified vision of Hitler and the Nazi state.
Part one of the film depicts an Olympic ritual that actually began in 1936—the torch relay. In the relay, Germans found a way to infuse a subtle message of racial superiority by linking ancient Greece and the Third Reich.
“The point of that torch relay was to suggest to the world the way Nazi Germany was the true heir to … ancient Greek ideals and civilization,” Large says. “The new Athens, if you will.”
The closing ceremony on August 16 featured a more militaristic feel than the opening ceremony, with soldiers and fireworks. One reporter described the scene as looking like bombs going off. Indeed, once the Olympics ended, Germany and the world were in for a Nazi nightmare.
Olympics Help Hitler Consolidate Power
Did the propaganda work in improving Germany’s reputation? Afterwards, the 1936 games were considered the most lavish Olympics in memory. Germany’s team won 89 medals. Some media commentators said at the time that perhaps Germany was turning over a new leaf, Bachrach says.
“Of course, there were very astute political observers, journalists, and diplomats stationed in Germany, and they saw through all of this,” she says.
Large says that, when it came to Germany’s global reputation, the propaganda had limited success. But domestically, the event had a major effect on people’s confidence in Hitler.
“It helped Hitler consolidate his power at home; that’s the most important thing about the ‘36 games,” Large says. “He had become a dictator, but he was still insecure, and he needed a huge success. … Overall, it went smoothly."
Less than two years later, in November 1938, rioters burned over 1,000 synagogues in Germany and Austria, vandalized and looted 7,000 Jewish businesses and homes, and killed dozens of Jews in an assault in what became known as Kristallnacht, "The Night of Broken Glass." The attacks foreshadowed a turn toward increasing antisemitic violence under the hand of a leader who had exploited an Olympics to burnish his image.
