Adolph Hitler & the Holocaust

Adolph Hitler & the Holocaust Adolf Hitler, who was not a sports fan, had been lukewarm toward the whole idea of hosting the 1936 Olympics. The Games had been awarded to Germany by the International Olympic Committee back in May 1931, before Hitler came to power.

Adolph Hitler & the Holocaust The Nazi administration spent 42 million Reichmarks building an impressive 325-acre Olympics sports complex located about five miles west of Berlin. This was the same site that had been chosen for the canceled 1916 Games.

Adolph Hitler & the Holocaust A huge controversy erupted over the exclusion of Jewish athletes from Germany's Olympic team. The president of Germany's Olympic Committee, Dr. Theodor Lewald, was himself ousted from this prestigious position after it was revealed his paternal grandmother was Jewish.

Adolph Hitler & the Holocaust Some of the Jews excluded from the Olympic team were actually world class athletes, such as tennis star Daniel Prenn and boxer Erich Seelig.

Adolph Hitler & the Holocaust The banning of non-Aryans from Germany's Olympic team was condemned internationally as a violation of the Olympic code of equality and fair play.

Adolph Hitler & the Holocaust The Nazi attitude toward the coming Olympics brought international calls for a boycott of the Berlin Games along with requests to move the Games to another country. The biggest boycott controversy occurred in the United States.

Adolph Hitler & the Holocaust Throughout Germany by this time, Jewish athletes of all ages had been banned from city playgrounds and sports facilities, gymnastic organizations, physical education programs, public swimming pools, and even from horse racing.

Adolph Hitler & the Holocaust The Amateur Athletic Union, however, was not so easily swayed. Its leader, Jeremiah Mahoney, declared that American participation in the Berlin Games meant nothing less than "giving American moral and financial support to the Nazi regime, which is opposed to all that Americans hold dearest."

Adolph Hitler & the Holocaust The opening ceremony of the XI Olympic Games went ahead on Saturday, August 1, 1936, inside the Olympic Stadium.

Adolph Hitler & the Holocaust During this week-long competition, the 100 and 200 meter sprints were won by Jesse Owens, an American track star from Ohio State University. He set new world records in both races. Owens went on to win four gold medals in all

Adolph Hitler & the Holocaust Remarkably, the Berlin Games saw the first-ever use of television at the Olympics.

Adolph Hitler & the Holocaust During the closing ceremonies the president of the International Olympic Committee had issued the traditional call for the next Games, requesting "the youth of every country to assemble in four years at Tokyo,

Adolph Hitler & the Holocaust There would be no more Olympic Games for a dozen years. The 1940 Games originally scheduled for Tokyo and the 1944 Games were both canceled. Instead of competing with each other on athletic fields, the youth of many countries would be killing each other in battle in a new world war - a war Adolf Hitler was already planning.

Adolph Hitler & the Holocaust From the very beginning of his career until his dying day, Adolf Hitler had just two major goals. His primary goal was the forcible acquisition of Lebensraum (living space) for the German people. Secondly, he desired some kind of final reckoning with the Jews.

Adolph Hitler & the Holocaust Hitler realized that world leaders were becoming nervous as Germany rearmed, given the country's role in the World War some twenty years earlier. He reassured diplomats, and anyone else who would listen, that Germany's military buildup was solely a defensive measure.

Adolph Hitler & the Holocaust Most diplomats mistakenly took Hitler at his word and thought he was a man they could reason with, perhaps even trust. This, of course, was precisely what Hitler wanted them to think.

Adolph Hitler & the Holocaust Hitler could look anyone in the eye and lie with the utmost sincerity. He would also lie to the whole world via radio broadcasts, endlessly proclaiming his desire for peace, even his love of peace, all the while secretly preparing for another catastrophic war.

Adolph Hitler & the Holocaust For Germany's top Army leaders that revelation came on November 5, 1937, when Hitler called a secret conference and bluntly outlined his plans to acquire Lebensraum at the expense of other nations.

Adolph Hitler & the Holocaust Incredibly, earlier on that same day, Hitler had met with Poland's ambassador and signed a treaty assuring that Germany would respect Poland's territorial rights.