The 1936 Olympic Games: Nazi Germany’s Gambit

Unraveling the Truth Behind the 1936 Olympics in Berlin | A Triumph of Propaganda or Resilience? Discover the untold stories of resistance and manipulation during this controversial event that shaped history forever.

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[ktm]

I knew a woman, here in the states, that was old enough to remember the '36 Olympics. She was thirty when they happened, then in '37 she and her husband drove out to Lakehurst to see the Hindenburg come in. They witnessed the explosion and mayhem afterwards, I enjoyed hearing about the past from someone who saw the dawn of "fads" like the automobile and aviation.

[seancrockett]

This was very well put together! The 1936 Olympics were a very important and substantial precursor to WW2. Its crazy when you think about it.

[luyandzabavukiledlamini]

The Korean forced to compete for Japan but still had his own moments like using his birth name in the 1936 games seems like a truly underrated story

[LazyFemme]

It’s always weird when I find a channel where Simon is all serious and doesn’t interject to go on a tangent every 2 minutes.

[whudafxup]

Another fine note to point out. If not for the games being canceled in ‘40 and ‘44, Mack Robinson very well could have had his younger brother long jumping alongside him. Instead, we are left with his brother breaking baseball’s color barrier in 1947 with the Brooklyn Dodgers.

[patrickconrad]

Jesse Owens is so important to WW2 history. He was the actual Captain America inspiration. Demonstrated he was just on another level, and stood for something more than himself. Something he didnt even get to truly know himself.

[peterkirby]

Jesse Owens (and other US black athletes) experienced as much if not more racisim at home that in Germany. President Roosevelt did not receive or contact Jesse Owens, who later commented: “Hitler didn't snub me—it was our president who snubbed me… The president didn't even send me a telegram.”

[marktollefson]

An autobiography written by Helen Stephens, who was a member of the 1936 USA Olympic Team, stated that when the athletes were in Berlin they were served breakfasts of just pieces of fruit. The USA Olympic Staff complained about the lack of food and the breakfast menu was changed to bacon and eggs.

[theKeshaWarrior]

It's always irritating to me when people talk about Jesse Owens in these Olympics but never mention where he explicitly says in his autobiography that while the rest of the Nazis may have been furious about his victories and maybe even Hitler himself was upset about it (there are a lot of interesting pieces of history and an amazing documentry on YouTube from a black family who lived in Berlin that suggest he was not particularly prejudiced against black people, they were never rounded up or targeted like Jews, Romani, gays, etc...) Owens says that Hitler waved at him, then when he got home Roosevelt didn't even acknowledge his victories for his country whatsoever.

[rosaria]

The Olympics events that were affected by things like this are quite interesting to discuss...I would really love to see a Biographics episode or something about the 1972 Munich Olympics or even the boycotted 1984 LA Olympics due to the Afghanistan War by USSR

[rebeccarebeccaa]

When i was in high school, one of my teachers was a gold medal winner in the 1936 Olympics. His name was Archie Williams. He was with Jessie Owens. News paper reporters would often come to interview Mr. Williams. I remember him being asked what he thought about hitler not shaking hands with Jessie Owens, and he responded that hitler wouldn't shake his hand either. Nice guy. I don’t think he failed anyine in his class. i probably deserved to fail it, though

[curtisthomas]

Jesse Owens won his events wearing shoes given to him by Adolf Dassler of the family owned Geda shoe manufacturing company.
The company was later split into two after a family dispute and Adolf named his half by combining the letters of his nickname with the first 3 letters of his surname: Adi + Das = Adidas.
His brother Rudolf "Rudi" Dassler chose a different way to name his half and called it Puma.
When American soldiers found out the Geda company had given shoes to Owens it was spared.

[autoproblematic]

My only criticism of this video is that it was too short; I honestly can’t envision an outlet like The History Channel producing something as interesting and compelling and historically significant as this; anyways carry on boys; you guys are doing great work; maybe next time mention Louis zamperini as well; cheers!

[ninawilson]

I live in Iowa in the US and went to Coe College, William Shirer's Alma Mater. I've seen the documents first hand that he used to help write about the Games as well as his book the Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. He donated all of his materials to Coe after his passing, and working in the archives, it was a massive amount of original material that really highlighted everything mentioned here.

[TetraDax]

It's always weird seeing pictures from those Olympics, so many places that are now integral part of everyday live in Berlin just purpose-built for the Olympics.

[christophermanning]

Let's do interviews with people who we think might be poorly treated, in a different language and let them bring the translators. Brilliant.

[Justin-iguk]

Simon is my favorite user of the word "allegedly"

[sumerianliger]

Of all the documentaries I've seen on the Nazi regime that mentioned the olympics, this is the only one to ever tell me what you did. I had never thought about Koreans competing in defiance of the Japanese, for example. Extremely informative.

[padawanmage]

Those black athletes may have upset Hitler’s ideas about race, but they faced even worse when they got back to the US.

[ProffyChaos]

These things remind me that when we think prior generations were racist and we aren't like that now, we are wrong. People now will turn a blind eye to things now if it suits them and there were people back then who equally thought racism was unacceptable.