The Nazi Olympics

The 1936 Olympic Games were a political festival staged to show the superiority of Nazi ideology. Describes the modern history of the Olympics, the rise of Nazism, and Hitler's use of pageantry and of cinema in his rallies. Leni Riefenstahl's film "Triumph des Willens" ("Triumph of the Will") celebrated Aryan manhood at the Nuremberg rally of 1934 and reflected Nazi racial policy and the exclusion of Jews from sports (described on pp. 57-64). Pp. 69-81 discuss the American movement to transfer the games from Germany. After assurances that Jews would be allowed to compete, verified by the president of the American Olympic Committee, Avery Brundage, the U.S. decided to participate. A public movement (including Jews, Catholics, Protestants, and labor circles) was unable to convince the Committee to boycott the games as persecution continued in Germany, but some Jewish and Black athletes did boycott them.