Editing 1936 Summer Olympics (section)

==Political aspects==
[[File:Sign, Jews Not Welcome, Germany, 1933-39, Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin (40169641062).jpg|thumb|right|Historical sign, 'Jews Not Welcome', Germany, 1933–39, Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin. Such signs were removed for the Olympics.]]
Hitler saw the Games as an opportunity to promote his government and ideals of Aryan racial supremacy. The official Nazi party paper, the ''[[Völkischer Beobachter]]'', wrote in the strongest terms that Jewish and black people should not be allowed to participate in the Games.<ref name="Hitlerland. p. 188" /><ref name="David Clay Large p. 58" /> However, when threatened with a boycott of the Games by other nations, he relented and allowed black and Jewish people to participate, and added one token participant to the German team—[[Helene Mayer]], a woman of Jewish descent. Hitler was an adroit player of sexual affairs and he used his liaison with [[Unity Mitford]] to good advantage in the public sphere, for example when he gave her a private Olympic stadium box, to which she invited her connections in British high society.<ref name=ak88>{{cite book|last=Aitken Kidd |first=Janet| author-link = Janet Gladys Aitken|title=The Beaverbrook Girl: An Autobiography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=88QZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PP1|publisher=Collins|location=London |year=1988|isbn=978-0-00-217602-6}}</ref> In an attempt to "clean up" the host city,<ref name=hp1/> the [[Federal Ministry of the Interior (Germany)|German Ministry of the Interior]] authorized the chief of police to arrest all [[Romani people|Romani]] and keep them in a "special camp", the [[Berlin-Marzahn concentration camp]].<ref name=ushmm1>{{cite web |url=http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/online/olympics/detail.php?content=facade_hospitality_more& |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081009114014/http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/online/olympics/detail.php?content=facade_hospitality_more& |url-status=dead |archive-date=9 October 2008 |title=The Facade of Hospitality|publisher=[[United States Holocaust Memorial Museum]] |access-date=4 July 2008 }}</ref> The 'Jews Not Welcome' signs were removed for the duration of the Olympics.<ref name=hp1/>

===On the Olympic stage===
[[File:Olympic Games in Berlin! - John Henry Amshewitz.jpg|thumb|right|A 1935 political cartoon by Jewish British artist John Henry Amshewitz; Nazi sportsmen trample the Olympic spirit while marching past a concentration camp holding, among others, Jews and a "non-political sportsman". The axe of "Nazi justice" chops away at the tree of sport.]]
[[United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee|American Olympic Committee]] president [[Avery Brundage]] became a main supporter of the Games being held in Germany, arguing that "politics has no place in sport", despite having initial doubts.<ref name=autogenerated1>{{cite web|title=The Nazi Party: The Nazi Olympics|url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/olympics.html|website=Jewishvirtuallibrary.org|publisher=Jewish Virtual Library|access-date=16 November 2015}}</ref>

French Olympians gave a [[Roman salute]] at the opening ceremony: known as the ''salut de Joinville'' per the battalion, [[:fr:Bataillon de Joinville|Bataillon de Joinville]], the [[Olympic salute]] was part of the Olympic traditions since the 1924 games.<ref>Droit, Jean (1924). "Paris 1924 - Jeux Olympiques". Olympic Games Museum. Retrieved 15 March 2010.</ref> However, due to the different context this action was mistaken by the crowd for a support to fascism, and the [[Olympic salute]] was discarded after 1946.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Berlin Olympics|url=http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/triumph/tr-olympics.htm|website=Historyplace.com|publisher=The History Place|access-date=16 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120911233549/http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/triumph/tr-olympics.htm|archive-date=11 September 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Although [[Haiti]] attended only the opening ceremony, an interesting [[Vexillology|vexillological]] fact was noticed: [[Flag of Haiti|its flag]] and the [[flag of Liechtenstein]] were coincidentally identical, and this was not discovered until then. The following year, a crown was added to Liechtenstein's to distinguish one flag from the other.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/flag-of-Liechtenstein|title=flag of Liechtenstein|website=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=14 February 2022}}</ref>

[[Marty Glickman]] and [[Sam Stoller]] were originally slated to compete in the American 4x100 relay team but were replaced by [[Jesse Owens]] and [[Ralph Metcalfe]] prior to the start of the race. There were speculations that their Jewish heritage contributed to the decision "not to embarrass the German hosts"; however, given that African-Americans were also heavily disliked by the Nazis, Glickman and Stoller's replacement with black American athletes does not support this theory. Others said that they were in a better physical condition, and that was the main reason behind the replacement.<ref>Holocaust Museum exhibit, Washington, DC</ref>

===Domestic antisemitism===
{{Main|Nazi persecution of Jews during the 1936 Olympic Games}}
The German Olympic Committee, in accordance with Nazi directives, virtually barred Germans who were Jewish or [[Romani people|Roma]] or had such an ancestry from participating in the Games ([[Helene Mayer]], who had one Jewish parent, was the only German Jew to compete at the Berlin Games). This decision meant exclusion for many of the country's top athletes such as [[shotputter]] and [[discus thrower]] [[Lilli Henoch]], who was a four-time world record holder and 10-time German national champion,<ref name="google2">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t0KzECrIQDQC&q=henoch&pg=PA107 |title=Jews and the Olympic Games: the clash between sport and politics: with a complete review of Jewish Olympic medalists |author=Paul Taylor |isbn=1-903900-88-3|publisher= Sussex Academic Press|year= 2004|access-date=2 November 2011}}</ref> and [[Gretel Bergmann]] who was suspended from the German team just days after she set a record of 1.60 meters in the high jump.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/sports/german-film-helps-jewish-athlete-right-historical-wrong-1.3472 |title=German film helps Jewish athlete right historical wrong |newspaper= Haaretz |date= 25 November 2009|access-date=19 August 2012|author=Hipsh, Rami}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first= Richard|last= Sandomir|title='Hitler's Pawn' on HBO: An Olympic Betrayal  |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/07/sports/tv-sports-hitler-s-pawn-on-hbo-an-olympic-betrayal.html|work=The New York Times |date=7 July 2004 |access-date=4 July 2008}}</ref> [[Daniel Prenn]], [[Erich Seelig]] and [[Johann Trollmann]] were also excluded.<ref name=hp1/>

===Boycott debate===
Prior to and during the Games, there was considerable debate outside Germany over whether the competition should be allowed or discontinued. Berlin had been selected by the IOC as the host city in 1931 during the [[Weimar Republic]], but after [[Adolf Hitler's rise to power]] in 1933, observers in many countries began to question the morality of going ahead with an Olympic Games hosted by the Nazi regime. A number of brief campaigns to boycott or relocate the Games emerged in the [[United Kingdom]], [[Third Republic of France|France]], [[Sweden]], [[First Republic of Czechoslovakia|Czechoslovakia]], the [[Netherlands]], and the [[United States]].<ref name=USHMM_boycott>{{cite encyclopedia|title=The Movement to Boycott the Berlin Olympics of 1936|url=http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007087|encyclopedia=Holocaust Encyclopedia|publisher=United States Holocaust Memorial Museum|access-date=8 February 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140202095138/http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007087|archive-date=2 February 2014 |date=June 2013}}</ref> Exiled German political opponents of Hitler's regime also campaigned against the Berlin Olympics through pro-Communist newspapers such as the ''[[Arbeiter-Illustrierte-Zeitung]]''.

The protests were ultimately unsuccessful; forty-nine teams from around the world participated in the 1936 Games, the largest number of participating nations of any Olympics to that point.<ref name=USHMM_boycott />

====France====
Fencer [[Albert Wolff (fencer)|Albert Wolff]] qualified for the French Olympic Team but boycotted the 1936 Summer Olympics, withdrawing from France's national team on principle because he was Jewish.<ref name=dcl48>David Clay Large. [https://archive.org/details/nazigamesolympic00larg/page/107 <!-- quote="albert wolff" jewish. --> ''Nazi Games: The Olympics of 1936'']</ref> He said: "I cannot participate in anything sponsored by Adolf Hitler, even for France."<ref>[https://newspapers.library.in.gov/cgi-bin/indiana?a=d&d=JPOST19481029-01.1.12 29 October 1948] ''Jewish Post''.</ref>

====South Africa====
Individual Jewish athletes from several countries chose to boycott the Berlin Olympics, including South African [[Sid Kiel]].<ref>[http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/45860.html Players / South Africa / Sid Kiel] – ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 2 May 2015.</ref>

====Spain====
{{Main|People's Olympiad}}
The [[Second Spanish Republic|Spanish government]] led by the newly elected left-wing [[Popular Front (Spain)|Popular Front]] boycotted the Games and organized the [[People's Olympiad]] as a parallel event in [[Barcelona]]. Some 6,000 athletes<ref name=gounot15>{{Citation |last=Gounot |first=André |title=L'Olympiade populaire de Barcelone 1936: entre nationalisme catalan, « esprit olympique » et internationalisme prolétarien |date=2015-02-24 |url=http://books.openedition.org/pur/6529 |work=Les politiques au stade: Étude comparée des manifestations sportives du xixe au xxie siècle |pages=125–143 |editor-last=Caritey |editor-first=Benoît |series=Histoire |place=Rennes |publisher=Presses universitaires de Rennes |isbn=978-2-7535-3002-7 |access-date=2023-02-18 |editor2-last=Jallat |editor2-first=Denis|language=fr}}</ref> from 49 countries registered.{{citation needed|date=February 2023}} However, the People's Olympiad was aborted because of the outbreak of the [[Spanish Civil War]] just one day before the event was due to start.<ref name=USHMM_boycott />

====Soviet Union====
The [[Soviet Union]] had not participated in international sporting events since the [[1920 Summer Olympics]]. The Soviet government was not invited to the 1920 Games, with the [[Russian Civil War]] still raging, and they did not participate in the [[1924 Summer Olympics]] and forward on ideological grounds. Instead, through the auspices of the [[Red Sport International]], it had participated in a left-wing workers' alternative, the [[Spartakiad]], since 1928. The USSR had intended to attend the People's Olympiad in Barcelona until it was cancelled; the Soviets did attend the Spartakiad-sponsored [[1937 Workers' Summer Olympiad]] in Antwerp, [[Belgium]].<ref name=mandell87>Richard D. Mandell, [https://books.google.com/books?id=8CYYYeTT5mEC&q=Soviet+Union+1936+olympics%22&pg=PA68 The Nazi Olympics], [[University of Illinois Press]], 1987, {{ISBN|0-252-01325-5}}; p. 68</ref> The Soviet Union started competing in the Olympics in [[1952 Summer Olympics|1952]], when [[Joseph Stalin]] realized that they could use the event to fulfil their political and ideological agenda.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://blogs.bu.edu/guidedhistory/russia-and-its-empires/guy-mcfall/|title=The Soviet Union and the Olympics &#124; Guided History|website=Blogs.bu.edu|access-date=14 February 2022}}</ref>

====Turkey====
[[Halet Çambel]] and [[Suat Aşani|Suat Fetgeri Așani]], the first [[Turkish women|Turkish]] and Muslim women<ref name=ds1>{{cite news |last1=Sattar |first1=Marium |title=New fields to conquer for Muslim sportswomen |url=http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Opinion/Commentary/2012/May-30/175062-new-fields-to-conquer-for-muslim-sportswomen.ashx#axzz1yNZA9Jxe |url-access=subscription |newspaper=The Daily Star |access-date=16 November 2015}}</ref> athletes to participate in the Olympics (fencing), refused an offer by their guide to be formally introduced to [[Adolf Hitler]], saying they would not shake hands with him due to his approach to Jews, as stated by Ms. Çambel in a ''Milliyet'' newspaper interview in 2000.<ref name=mill1>{{cite web |url=http://www.milliyet.com.tr/2000/08/30/spor/spo00.html |title=GÜLE GÜLE TORUNUM |access-date=16 November 2015 |language=tr|trans-title=Goodbye grandson}}</ref>

====United States====
[[File:Brundage at Berlin.jpg|right|thumb|upright|Avery Brundage meeting the mayor of Berlin [[Julius Lippert (politician)|Julius Lippert]] and IOC German Secretary Theodor Lewald in 1936]]

Traditionally, the United States sent one of the largest teams to the Olympics, and there was a considerable debate over whether the nation should participate in the 1936 Games.<ref name=USHMM_boycott /> Americans [[Milton Green]] and [[Norman Cahners]] refused to attend, and the [[American Jewish Congress]] and the [[Jewish Labor Committee]] supported a boycott.<ref name=USHMM_boycott />

Those involved in the debate on whether to boycott the Olympics included [[Ernest Lee Jahncke]], Judge [[Jeremiah T. Mahoney]], and future [[IOC President]] [[Avery Brundage]]. Some within the United States considered requesting a boycott of the Games, as to participate in the festivity might be considered a sign of support for the Nazi regime and its antisemitic policies. However, others such as Brundage (see below) argued that the Olympic Games should not reflect political views, but rather should be strictly a contest of the greatest athletes.

Brundage, then of the American Olympic Committee, opposed the boycott, stating that Jewish athletes were being treated fairly and that the Games should continue. Brundage asserted that politics played no role in sports, and that they should never be entwined. Brundage also believed that there was a "Jewish-Communist conspiracy" that existed to keep the United States from competing in the Olympic Games.<ref name=autogenerated1 /> Somewhat ironically, Brundage would be later [[Avery Brundage#Soviet Union|accused of being a Soviet dupe]] for his controversial stance on the Soviet sports system that allowed them to circumvent the amateur rules.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP80-00810A005800260002-1.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP80-00810A005800260002-1.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|title=Central Intelligence Agency Information Report: Soviet Sports as an Instrument of Political Propaganda|website=Cia.gov|access-date=2022-02-14}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP80-00810A005600130009-0.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP80-00810A005600130009-0.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|title=Central Intelligence Agency Information Report: Soviet Sports and Intelligence Activities|website=Cia.gov|access-date=2022-02-14}}</ref> On the subject of Jewish discrimination, he stated, "The very foundation of the modern Olympic revival will be undermined if individual countries are allowed to restrict participation by reason of class, creed, or race."<ref name=USHMM_boycott />

During a fact-finding trip that Brundage went on to Germany in 1934 to ascertain whether German Jews were being treated fairly, Brundage found no discrimination when he interviewed Jews and his Nazi handlers translated for him, and Brundage commiserated with his hosts that he belonged to a sports club in Chicago that did not allow Jews entry, either.<ref>[[Andrew Nagorski|Nagorski, Andrew]]. ''[[Hitlerland: American Eyewitnesses to the Nazi Rise to Power]]''. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2012, p. 190.</ref>

Unlike Brundage, Mahoney supported a boycott of the Games. Mahoney, the president of the [[Amateur Athletic Union]], led newspaper editors and anti-Nazi groups to protest against American participation in the Berlin Olympics. He contested that racial discrimination was a violation of Olympic rules and that participation in the Games was tantamount to support for the Third Reich.

Most African-American newspapers supported participation in the Olympics. The Philadelphia ''Tribune'' and the ''[[The Chicago Defender|Chicago Defender]]'' both agreed that black victories would undermine Nazi views of Aryan supremacy and spark renewed African-American pride. American Jewish organizations, meanwhile, largely opposed the Olympics. The [[American Jewish Congress]] and the [[Jewish Labor Committee]] staged rallies and supported the boycott of German goods to show their disdain for American participation.<ref name=autogenerated1 /> The JLC organized the World Labor Athletic Carnival, held on 15 and 16 August at New York's Randall's Island, to protest the holding of the 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany.<ref>{{cite web|title=Jewish Labor Committee: 1936: Anti-Nazi World Labor Athletic Carnival Held in NYC|url=http://www.jewishlaborcommittee.org/2016/08/august_1516_1936_antinazi_worl.html|access-date=2021-08-08|website=Jewishlaborcommittee.org}}</ref>

Eventually, Brundage won the debate, convincing the Amateur Athletic Union to close a vote in favor of sending an American team to the Berlin Olympics. Mahoney's efforts to incite a boycott of the Olympic games in the United States failed, although some athletes like Harvard University track star [[Milton Green]] chose to sit at home.<ref name=hp1/>

US President [[Franklin Delano Roosevelt]] and his administration did not become involved in the debate, due to a tradition of allowing the US Olympic Committee to operate independently of government influence. However, several American diplomats including [[William E. Dodd]], the American ambassador to Berlin, and [[George Messersmith]], head of the US legation in Vienna, deplored the US Olympic Committee's decision to participate in the games.<ref name=USHMM_boycott />

===Aftermath===
In 1937, [[20th Century Fox]] released the film ''[[Charlie Chan at the Olympics]]''. The plot concerned members of the [[Ordnungspolizei|Berlin police force]] helping the Chinese detective apprehends a group of spies (of unnamed nationality) trying to steal a new aerial guidance system. Despite pertaining to the Berlin Olympics, actual Games' footage used by the filmmakers was edited to remove any Nazi symbols.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hanke|first=Ken|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Gtpi_b0k5jkC&q=Charlie%20Chan%20at%20the%20Olympics&pg=PA89 |title=Charlie Chan at the Movies: History, Filmography, and Criticism|publisher=McFarland|year=2004|pages=89–97|isbn=0-7864-1921-0}}</ref>

After the Olympics, Jewish participation in German sports was further limited, and persecution of Jews started to become ever more lethal. The Olympic Games provided a nine-month period of relative calmness.<ref>[[Arnd Krüger]]. "Once the Olympics are through, we'll beat up the Jew" German Jewish Sport 1898–1938 and the Anti-Semitic Discourse, in: ''Journal of Sport History'', 1999 Vol. 26 No. 2 p. 353-375. www.library.la84.org/SportsLibrary/JSH/JSH1999/JSH2602/jsh2602g.pdf</ref>