I will be expanding on the topic of the 20th Century Sports particularly on the 1936 Olympics which was held in Berlin, Germany. I chose this because I enjoy watching the Olympics and I was interested in how Hitler tried to hide all the propaganda and ensure how Germans and foreigners envisioned the German race.
In 1931, the International Olympic Committee awarded the 1936 Summer Olympics to Berlin. Two years later, Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany and quickly turned the nation's democracy into a dictatorship.
In April 1933, an "Aryans only" policy was instituted in all German athletic organizations. Jewish or part-Jewish and Romani (Gypsy) athletes were systematically excluded from German sports facilities and associations.
In August 1936, the Nazi regime tried to hide its violent racist policies while it hosted the Summer Olympics. Most anti Jewish signs were temporarily removed and newspapers toned down their harsh slander. Thus, the regime exploited the Olympic Games to present foreign spectators and journalists with a false image of a peaceful, tolerant Germany.
Forty nine athletic teams from around the world competed in the Berlin Olympics, more than in any previous Olympics. Germany had the largest team with 348 athletes.
Germany skillfully promoted the Olympics with colorful posters and magazine spreads. Athletic imagery drew a link between Nazi Germany and ancient Greece, symbolizing the Nazi racial myth that a superior German civilization was the rightful heir of an "Aryan" culture of classical antiquity. This vision of classical antiquity emphasized ideal "Aryan" racial types: heroic, blue-eyed blonds with finely chiseled features.
After the games, Hitler pressed on with his plans for a German expansion. Persecution of Jews resumed. Two days after the Olympics, Captain Wolfgang Fuerstner, head of the Olympic village, killed himself when he was dismissed from military service because of his Jewish ancestry.
Sources: http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005680
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