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In 1936
Nazi Germany hosted two Olympic games. First the winter games in the bavarian market town
of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, then
the lavish summer games in Berlin.
These were understandably
controversial
and politically charged events.
In the years leading up to the XI olympiad Jews were already being systematically persecuted
under Hitler to the extent that by 1935,
the first concentration camps were well established
and German Jews were stripped of their citizenship.
These conditions were more or less well-known throughout the rest of the world.
There was, for the first time
widespread talk of boycotting the games.
In the end however, 28 nations competed in the winter Olympics,
and 49 competed in the summer Olympics,
the highest levels participation to that date.
Both athletes and visitors alike were duly impressed with the spectacular ceremony, the
state-of-the-art facilities, and
the exciting competition that ensued.
Massive stadiums and an idyllic Olympic village were built for the Berlin games.
New technologies were used.
These were the first games be televised.
Hitler himself invited filmmaker
Leni Riefensthal to document the games.
The footage would later be used in the making of Olympia:
the hugely successful propaganda film
still acclaimed for its technical
and aesthetic innovations.
No expense was spared in marketing the XI Olympiad. In doing so, the Third Reich was
also marketing an image of a new German empire.
This set of 144 trading cards are part of the Heinrich Collection at
the University of the Regina Archives and Special Collections.
They belonged to Theodore Heinrich, an American officer stationed in Germany from 1943
to 1950.
He was a junior officer on the intelligence staff of General Eisenhower and remained in
Germany after the war assisting with the recovery and restitution of looted art.
The trading cards are part of a large collection of papers, photographs and memorabilia acquired
in 1989
and organized and described in 2000.
The winter games, most commentators remarked,
were a glowing success.
Global concern about fascist politics interfering with the convivial spirit of the games had largely
been quelled.
There was nary a trace of anti-semitic sentiment at the winter Olympics.
The spectacular opening ceremonies of the summer Olympics were the first to feature the
torch relay,
an event conceived by Carl Diem,
the chief organizer of the games.
Carrying the torch from Athens to Berlin
established a connection between the ancient greeks, re-envisioned in Nazi ideology
as blond blue-eyed Aryans, and the contemporary German people.
Skiing competitions were not without controversy. Ski instructors were barred from competition
because of their professional status.
Some skiers from Austria and Switzerland were so angry about this decision
that they boycotted the events.
Great Britain reigns supreme on the hockey ice at the games,
crushing Canadian and American hopes of the top prize.
A small consolation to the Canadians was the fact that several members of the British
team were living in Canada at the time.
India's field hockey team shone brightly in the summer.
With only one goal scored against them in the entire games they beat out Germany for the gold.
Scoring 10 out of 30 goals during the games, Dhyan Chand was a three time Olympic champion
by the age of 31.
India's winning streak would last 32 years.
Two Koreans Sohn Kee-chung, running under the name Son Kitei, and Nam Seung-yong
we're forced to compete for Japan as Korea was then occupied by Japanese forces.
Winning gold brought humiliation in a victory celebrated by raising the Japanese flag
and by playing the Japanese national anthem.
The modern pentathlon tested a broad spectrum of military skills.
Germany did not place first in any of the five disciplines but an overall score won
them the gold.
The German army easily swept away all six gold medals in equestrian events.
African American, James Cleveland Owens,
better known as Jesse Owens,
gave gold medal performances in the 100- and 200-meter dashes, the long jump
and the 4 by 100 relay.
The relay team's world record time of 39.8 seconds would last for
20 years.
While 21 other cyclists collided near the end, a cyclist from France took gold
in the 100 km road race.
This guy had more than luck and skill on his side.
A photo of the finish showed that he had tugged on the jersey of another competitor in order
to pull ahead in the last second.
The United States won the first Olympic basketball championship, defeating Canada ..
19 to 8?!
The outdoor court was turned into a skating rink of mud by an incessant downpour.
To add to the difficulties, a high wind did weird things with the soggy ball.
In the closing half the teams were so worn out from trucking through the mud and cold
that they slowed to a walk.
Competition was fierce in the pool. The Dutch women were a force to be reckoned with. It was
the Japanese and American swimmers who dominated the men's matches.
An American coach reasoned that among the Japanese teams attributes was
the fact that .. the Japanese boys aren't interesting in girls.
They regard their swimming as a matter of national honor, and they work like the devil.
Under the Nuremburg laws of 1935, people of Jewish ancestry were not considered
German citizens.
However, perhaps to give the illusion of fairness, two athletes of Jewish descent were invited
to compete for Germany. One of these individuals was the great fencer, Helene Mayer.
Mayer won silver for her country,
but she would never regain her German citizenship.
The games of the XI olympiad were an opportunity for Nazi Germany to present itself on the
world's stage
as a technologically advanced,
culturally sophisticated,
powerful, yet peaceful nation.
It was also a chance to test national socialist claims of *** supremacy.
In the overall medal counts at the winter games,
Germany came in second behind Norway and ahead of Sweden.
Although German medal counts at the summer games were by far the highest,
Nazi racial theory was challenged by Germany's closest competitors,
the Americans.
Eighteen Black athletes, including Owens were on the American team,
and they dominated the track and field events, winning seven gold medals,
three silver, and three bronze among them.
These games were the last to be held for 12 years:
the anticipated 1940
and 1944 games were cancelled due to the outbreak WW II, just three short
years after the celebrated spectacle
of the XI olympiad.