The Olympic Games are approaching, but controversy tarnishes what should be an exciting occasion. Everyone is talking about the host country's economic successes, but they are talking more loudly about its human-rights violations. This year's host is investing enormous amounts of money and is carefully orchestrating the political environment in order to make a good impression.
These are not just any Olympic Games; they are the host's virtual debut into the realm of a cultured and respected world power. Meanwhile, intense discussions of a boycott take place all over the world, and news of things like the torch relay brings international attention -- to Nazi Germany.
Yes, Nazi Germany. This was the environment leading up to the 1936 Berlin Olympics, also known as the Nazi Olympics. Three years after Adolf Hitler's rise to power, Germany was known for its economic successes in a time when most countries were still struggling deep within a depression; for its disregard of international laws, such as the 1918 Treaty of Versailles, and for its laws reducing German Jews to subhumans in the eyes of German law and society.
The chance to host the 1936 Games, awarded to Berlin two years before Hitler took power, had been an act of good faith toward a country struggling after the humiliation of World War I and the Treaty of Versailles. It was a show of support from the international community. The Nazi government seized the opportunity to show the world that Germany was not only a powerful and successful nation, but also a friendly and content one. This was an essential step on Germany's path back to the Great Power status it had enjoyed before World War I.
A boycott of the Nazi Olympics was one of the most hotly debated topics of its day, with strong arguments and huge public support for the idea. Hitler's anti-Semitic regime was regarded as an unacceptable host for the Olympics. How could the host country be the representative of Olympic ideals when it banned Jewish athletes from its own team?
In the end, the boycott proposal was defeated in the American Athletic Union by a slim margin. Following America's lead, other countries quickly endorsed the Nazi Olympics seven months before the opening ceremonies.
What would have happened if the boycott had succeeded? Would Germany have been so confident in its later actions if the world had not tacitly accepted its foreign and Jewish policies in 1936?
For Germany, the 1936 Games were a huge triumph, the biggest spectacle the world had ever seen. Berlin was clean and beautiful, the people kind and hospitable. There was no sign of anti-Semitism. Even the formerly critical press was hooked, and its reports reached across the world: Germany was a happy and prosperous nation; Hitler was a hero; the Germans were quite possibly the best people on earth. As for the torch relay, the Nazi Olympics were the first to use it, a part of the elaborate propaganda connecting their "Aryan race" to the ancient Greeks.
