Berlin Olympics Research Paper

“I am afraid the Nazis have succeeded with their propaganda. First, the Nazis have run the Games on a lavish scale never before experienced, and this has appealed to the athletes. Second, the Nazis have put up a very good front for the general visitors, especially the big businessmen,” said reporter William L. Shirer in response to the 1936 Summer Berlin Olympics. The Nazi Regime put on a grand facade that the world had never before experienced. In defying the compromise of the Great War nearly twenty-two years prior, Germany remilitarized their country in order to expand their borders, creating political conflict. The Berlin Games caused conflict between countries and races as Hitler defied the compromise of the Treaty of Versailles and started World War Two all under the face of a peaceful, hospitable Germany.

The Berlin Olympics were full of controversy and conflict, but before the world could band together it was first threatened to never affiliate in the first place. The Games were awarded to Berlin after the war and before Hitler came to power (Smith). The Olympics were the biggest gift that the Fuhrer received when he started his dictatorship and twisted laws to strike at the Jews. After the first World War transpired, Germany was left a broken country. Germany was forced to compromise and sign the Treaty of Versailles, which limited

German newspapers were ordered not to include any racism toward Jews or African-Americans, and German soldiers were ordered not to actively beat the Jews while the Games were going on (Writer). Any homeless, criminals, or Jews that could interfere with the games were put into concentration camps outside of the city. Brilliant red flags embellished with swastikas lined the streets to show the richness of the Fuhrer, Hitler