Like Putin in 2014, Hitler in 1936 wanted to show off. The only difference was that unlike Putin, Hitler had something to show off about.
By 1936, after just three years in power Hitler and the National Socialists had worked wonders. Class conflict had been replaced by class co-operation. (Now where were those millions of Marxist voters? They couldn't all have been locked up in Dachau.)
The clip below is pure propaganda but that doesn't mean it isn't true. Of course, the hosts of these Olympic games were showing their best side, and that's what we see here - thousands and thousands of German workers thrilled to bits with their country, their government and their leader and, most important of all, with themselves - and just dying to show it to the whole world. And their visitors are equally thrilled to be there - those marching athletes weren't giving the Germans a quenelle!
Of course, there was that unpleasant business of Jesse Owens. Well I don't know how unpleasant 1936 Berlin was for Jesse Owens (My understanding is that he had a ball) but one thing's for sure...when he arrived home, after receiving his three golds from the foul, racist Adolf Hitler, why, he could go right back to sitting at the back of the bus.
By 1936, after just three years in power Hitler and the National Socialists had worked wonders. Class conflict had been replaced by class co-operation. (Now where were those millions of Marxist voters? They couldn't all have been locked up in Dachau.)
The clip below is pure propaganda but that doesn't mean it isn't true. Of course, the hosts of these Olympic games were showing their best side, and that's what we see here - thousands and thousands of German workers thrilled to bits with their country, their government and their leader and, most important of all, with themselves - and just dying to show it to the whole world. And their visitors are equally thrilled to be there - those marching athletes weren't giving the Germans a quenelle!
Of course, there was that unpleasant business of Jesse Owens. Well I don't know how unpleasant 1936 Berlin was for Jesse Owens (My understanding is that he had a ball) but one thing's for sure...when he arrived home, after receiving his three golds from the foul, racist Adolf Hitler, why, he could go right back to sitting at the back of the bus.