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B ejing G ames
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Summer 2014 • H A R V A R D I N T E R N A T I O N A L R E V I E W
at the
The signs were taken down.
In order to influence world opinion, much of the
anti-Semitic campaign was muted for the duration of
the Games. One exception was the treatment of Jewish
athletes, who were suddenly not allowed to belong to
German sports clubs. This meant they could not receive
the coaching and competition opportunities that were
available to others.
Amongst the most well known Jewish athletes was
high jumper Margaret ‘Gretel’ Bergmann. When she
learned she had not been chosen to compete in the
Olympics, she decided to leave Germany and immigrate
to America. However, one notable German Jew who was
invited to participate on the German Olympic team was
Helene Meyer, a champion fencer who was living with her
parents in California at the time. She returned to Germany
for the Olympics and won a silver medal in women’s foil.
During the two weeks of the Olympics, foreign visitors
had no idea that there were any problems in Germany.
They considered all of the nation’s people to be happy and
prosperous. More importantly, Hitler came across as one
of the greatest leaders in the world. The German people
wanted everyone to know that they were a peaceful people.
It was the first time since the end of WWI that they did
not feel ashamed to be German.
There were several “firsts” in the 1936 Olympics.
These were the first Games to have a flame relayed from
Olympia, Greece, to the stadium cauldron for the opening ceremonies. One-year-old oak trees were presented to
each of the 130 gold medal winners, to be taken home and
planted. And 20,000 homing pigeons, symbolizing doves of
peace, were released during the opening ceremonies, with
all of the pigeons, except one, returning to their owners.
The lone dissenter took up residence in the stadium and
was seen flying around daily at the Games.
It was difficult to get tickets to any of the Olympic
events. To accommodate those who could not attend,
television cameras were set up around the stadium. Each
day’s events were telecast to 25 different theaters around
Berlin, and anyone could watch at no charge. 160,000
people viewed Olympic events every day on the theaters’
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