Nazi Olympics

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The Nazi Olympics
The 1936 Olympics in Berlin, also known as the “Nazi Olympics”, was a milestone in the history of the world. All of the attention of the Olympics that year was focused on Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. In 1933, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler became leader of Germany and quickly turned the nation's democracy into a one-party dictatorship. He took thousands of political opponents, holding them without trial in concentration camps. The Nazis also set up a program to strengthen the Germanic Aryan population. They began to exclude all one-half million Jews from the population, and German life. As part of the drive to "purify" and strengthen the German population, a 1933 law permitted physicians to perform forced sterilizations of psychiatric patients and congenitally handicapped persons, Gypsies, and Blacks (Encarta Encyclopedia 1996 [CD-ROM]). The 1936 Olympics in Berlin caused many worries, problems, and questions for America and other countries throughout the world.
On 13 May 1931, the International Olympic Committee awarded the 1936 Summer Olympics to Berlin. The choice seemed to signal Germany's return to the world community after defeat in World War I. Berlin had forty-three votes, and Barcelona, Spain, the other option, had sixteen. The choice showed that Germany was being included once more in the world community. It also showed the International Olympic committee’s respect for Dr. Theodor Lewald, and Carl Diem, German sports leaders. Both men had been the planners for the 1916 Olympics that was scheduled, but was cancelled. Since then, they have been urging the Olympics to attempt to go back to Germany. Both Lewald and Diem were very pleased with the results (Mandell The Nazi Olympics 39).
On 30 January 1933, the German president, Paul von Hindenburg, selected Adolf Hitler to be the head of the government. This was very unexpected. Hitler was the leader of an extreme right-wing political party, the National Socialist German Workers (Nazi) Party. Hitler sought to expand Germany with new territories and boundaries. Hitler also focused on rebuilding Germany’s military strength. In many speeches Hitler made, he spoke often about the value of “racial purity” and the dominance of the Aryan master race. The Nazi’s spread their racist beliefs in schools through textbooks, radios, new...

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...oft Encarta The 1936 Olympics [CD-ROM] Microsoft, 1996
Sirracose, Constantine. History of the Olympic Games Seaburn Books, 15 March 2000
Swaddling, Judith. The Ancient Olympic Games HRH The Princess Royal, January 2000

Bibliography
Bachrach, Susan D. The Nazi Olympics: Berlin 1936 Boston, MA : Little, Brown and Company, 2000
Green, Robert. “Berlin Olympics exhibition opens in Washington” Dateline: WASHINGTON 19 July 1996
Hoadley, Johanna. “’36 Olympic Hopefuls Remember Nazi Past” Scripps Howard News Service,as provided by SCRIPPS HOWARD NEWS SERVICE 19 July 1996
Kastor, Elisabeth. “Olympic History” The Washington Post 19 September 2000 : C15
Kindersly, Dorling. The Olympic Games: Athens 1896-Sydney 2000 Chronicle of the Games, 1 July 2000
Mandell, Richard. The Nazi Olympics Illinois : Sports and Society, 1987
Martin, David. The Olympic Marathon Human Kinetics, May 2000
Microsoft Encarta 1996 The 1936 Olympics [CD-ROM] Microsoft, 1996
Microsoft Encarta 2001 The 1936 Olympics (The Nazi Olympics) [CD-ROM] Microsoft, 2001
Sirracose, Constantine. History of the Olympic Games Seaburn Books, 15 March 2000
Swaddling, Judith. The Ancient Olympic Games HRH The Princess Royal, January 2000

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