The Overshadow of the Berlin Games by the Holocaust and World War Two

The Overshadow of the Berlin Games by the Holocaust and World War Two

The 1936 Olympics have become a mere footnote in history, remembered mostly for the heroics of Jesse Owens. The events that followed in Germany, namely the Holocaust and World War II overshadowed the Berlin games. However, it is very important to note that a world gathering like the Olympics could take place in a country that was in the process of eliminating an entire race of people. These games were used by the Nazis as a huge propaganda effort for Germany to show to the rest of the world that they had again become a powerful nation under the leader of the Adolf Hitler. The games were a huge success in this regard, the Nazi regime was able to fool and world and prove to Germany that they were everything the Nazi had said. But did the Olympic Games have any effect on the chain of events that led up the Holocaust and World War II?

Germans became quite obsessed with sport in the 1870's following the end of the Napoleonic wars in Europe. Friedrich Ludwig Jahn popularized gymnastics which became a staple of the German education system. At this time gymnastics was not the sport we think of today, but instead more of a show of mass strength and to promote national unity in the newly formed Germany at the end of the nineteenth century. These ideas were very popular and every German youth was required to participate in them as part of their education.

Along with promoting sporting programs in school, the Germans played a major role in the reinstatement of the Olympics. Men like Jahn and Ernest Curtius went around the country giving speeches on the subject. The goal was to create a powerful state like the old Greeks, and the holding of annual athletic Olympics was a big part of this idea. With the help of the Germans as well as many other European nations the Olympics were reinstated in 1896, with the first Olympics being held in Athens Greece.

The Germans waited patiently and were extremely happy when they were awarded the With Olympiad, scheduled to take place in Berlin in 1916. By the time 1916 arrived most of Europe was involved in the "Great War" which was entirely blamed on Germany and these games were canceled to the great disappointed of the German sports officials. During the next three Olympics: Paris in Belgium in 1920, Paris in 1924, and Amsterdam in 1928 the Germans were not ev...

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...swer because the Jewish persecutions already seemed to be headed down a horrifying road even before the games began. Yes, the Nazi's were able to fool the world during these games and make them believe they were giving Jews as much freedom as the Americans were giving African Americans. However, even if the games had not been held there that year the persecutions would have continued down the same path to the Holocaust.

I do however believe that this was the worlds one chance to stop the Nazi's actions against the Jews before they really got started. A serious boycott effort by the powerful nations of the world like the United States would have been damning to the Nazi efforts who needed all the world to be there. A boycott would have crushed all of the Nazi plans because it would have made them look bad in front of their own people and it would have made the games that year a disaster. 30 million would have been wasted on an Olympics with no significant countries participating. That being said the world can hardly be blamed for going to the Berlin Olympics, because who could have ever dreamed that in ten years these same gracious hosts would have murdered over six million Jews.