The French public figure and teacher Pierre de Coubertin played a key role in the revival of the modern Olympic Games. In modern history, the first competitions were held in 1896, in Athens. Germany received the right to host the XI Games in 1931. It was a landmark event for the Germans, marking the return of the country to the world community after the defeat in the First World War.
Brief historical background
It should be said first of all that in Germany, due to the extremely rapid development of history, there has never been a single unchanging team. Together with other states, the country took part in competitions in Athens. In the next four Olympic Games, German participation went relatively smoothly. But later the situation changed somewhat. In 1920, the Germans were not allowed to compete in Antwerp and 1924 in Paris. The reason was the outbreak of the First World War. The situation improved somewhat during the interwar period. The Germans got not only the opportunity to take part in the competition, but also to become their masters. Summer games were in Berlin, winter - in the same year inGarmisch-Partenkirchen.
Summer Games in Berlin
The decision that the Olympics would be held in Nazi Germany was made in 1931 - a couple of years before the Nazis came to power. The Germans tried to use international competitions as a means of propaganda. According to their idea, foreign athletes who participated in the games were supposed to feel their insignificance. But that did not happen. The 1936 Olympics in Germany are often referred to as the "Owen Games". It was this American athlete who was able to win four golds there and become the most successful athlete of those competitions. The Nazi government thus had to admit a moral defeat. Nevertheless, despite all the political vicissitudes, there were positive moments. For example, the opening of the games in Berlin was broadcast live on TV.
Competitions as Nazi propaganda
The German government tried to do everything so that the Olympics in Germany became a demonstration to the whole world of the achievements that the country had achieved under Hitler. Joseph Goebbels, Minister of Propaganda, supervised all the preparatory activities. The entire course of the International Games was thought out in great detail and designed on an unprecedented scale until that time. In the shortest possible time, facilities were erected that met the most modern technical and sports requirements at that time, including the Berlin stadium for 100 thousand spectators. Accommodation for male participantswas carried out in a purpose-built Olympic village. It should be noted that it subsequently became a model for all subsequent such objects. The infrastructure was well thought out in the Olympic Village: there were first-aid posts, a post office, a bank, concert halls, and a Finnish sauna. Athletes were accommodated outside the village, in comfortable apartments. Anti-Semitic propaganda was stopped for the duration of the Games. Nevertheless, in addition to the Olympic symbol, Nazi symbols were also used as decoration on the streets of Berlin. All the old buildings have been renovated, the city has been put in order.
Winter Olympics in Germany
Competitions were held in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. It should be said that this Bavarian town appeared precisely thanks to the Olympics. A year before this grand event, two settlements merged - Partenkirchen and Garmisch. To this day, the city is divided by the railway, and its parts are connected by means of pedestrian and automobile tunnels that run under the rails. The 1940 Olympics in Germany could have taken place there. But the games were canceled due to the outbreak of World War II.
Boycott of International Competitions
The dominance of Nazi ideology, the abolition of civil liberties and rights, the brutal persecution of social democrats, communists and other dissidents, as well as anti-Semitic laws, no longer left any doubts about the dictatorial essence and the aggressive, racist nature of the Hitler regime. The construction of concentration camps was actively going on, in two of which - in Sachsenhausen (aboutOranienburg) and in Dachau (near Munich) prisoners were already kept. By 1935, the German government introduced universal conscription. On March 7, 1936, Nazi soldiers entered the Rhineland (demilitarized at that time). This event was a direct violation of the Treaty of Versailles. In June 1936, the Paris International Conference was held. All its participants admitted that the holding of competitions on German territory is incompatible with the principles of the games themselves. The conference resulted in a call for a boycott. The International Committee of the Olympics, responding to the demand, sent a special commission to Berlin. When evaluating the situation, experts did not find anything that was in any way contrary to Olympic principles.
Scale of the competition
The Summer Olympics in Germany hosted 49 teams. About 4 thousand athletes, including more than 300 women, fought in 129 events for medals. The largest team was represented by Germany. There were 406 athletes in it. The second largest team was the US team with 312 athletes. The Germans participated in all kinds of competitions. To calm public opinion, the team included one half-Jew - Helen Meyer, a fencer. She won Olympic gold in 1928 and moved to the United States in 1932. But at the games in Berlin she performed as part of the German team. After the competition, Mayer returned to America, and the Nazis sent her uncle to a concentration camp, where he died in a gas chamber. The 1936 Summer Olympics in Germany were held withoutparticipation of the Soviet Union. The competitions in Berlin were attended by about three million people, including about two million tourists from different countries. According to various estimates, more than 300 million people followed the course of the games. The Summer Olympics in Germany, as already mentioned, was the first international competition in history to be broadcast live. Large screens (25 in total) were installed in Berlin for the collective viewing of games.
Goebbels hoax
Everyone who came to Berlin in 1936, including numerous journalists who represented the media of almost the whole world, saw Nazi Germany as a peace-loving, future-oriented, cheerful country, whose population adored Hitler. And anti-Semitic propaganda, about which world publications wrote so much, seemed like a myth. Then there were very few astute journalists who noticed the whole farce. Such, for example, was William Shearer, an American reporter, and later a well-known historian. A few days after the end of the games, he wrote that the Berlin glitz was just a facade covering a despotic, racist criminal regime. When the 1936 Olympics in Germany ended, Hitler continued to implement his inhuman plans for German expansion, and the oppression and persecution of Jews was resumed. And already in 1939, on the first of September, the "peace-loving and hospitable" organizer of the International Games started the 2nd World War, in which tens of millions of people died.
Competition results
The undisputed winner of the games in terms of the number of medals won was the German team. Athletes from Germany took 89 medals, of which 33 were gold, 26 were silver, and 30 were bronze. Konrad Frei, a gymnast, was recognized as the best of the team. He won one silver, three gold and two bronze medals. According to many historians, the successful performance of German athletes is due to the use of synthetic testosterone, which was developed in 1935. In second place in the International competition was the American team. Athletes from the United States won 56 medals: 12 bronze, 20 silver and 24 gold. The world community will remember the scope of the Olympics in Germany for a long time. 1938 was proof of this. On April 20 (Hitler's birthday), the documentary Olympia was released. The premiere was dedicated to the International Games in Berlin. Directed by Leni Refenstahl. In Olympia, a number of film effects, directorial and camera techniques were implemented, which subsequently began to be used in their works by other masters of the film genre. Despite the fact that "Olympia" is considered by many connoisseurs to be the best film about sports, when watching it, one cannot fail to notice that the entire film has become a kind of "anthem" to the Nazi movement and Hitler personally.
