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Adolf Hitler opens the 1936 Summer Olympics...
Adolf Hitler opens the 1936 Summer Olympics...
Item # 679222
August 01, 1936
FITCHBURG SENTINEL, Fitchburg, Massachusetts, August 1, 1936
* Olympics open in front of the Nazi Party
The front page has a three column, three line headline: "Olympic Games Given Rousing Sendoff Today At opening Ceremonies", with subheading: "Huge Throngs Pack Stadium Despite Heavy Downpour; Roar Greeting to Hitler", and more. Coverage continues on an inside page. Quite historic.
Other news of the day is found throughout.
Complete in 10 pages, typical browning with some margin wear, otherwise in good condition. See images for details.
source: wikipedia: The 1936 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad, were held in 1936 in Berlin, Germany. Berlin won the bid to host the games, with the International Olympic Committee choosing Berlin over Barcelona in April, 1931. Although the bid was won before the Nazi Party gained power in Germany, some figures in the government saw the Olympics as an opportunity to promote their Nazi ideology. Hitler had to be convinced by Joseph Goebbels to allow the games to take place in Germany. The preparation for the games started in the early 1930s. Hitler used the Olympics as a tool for propaganda. Film-maker Leni Riefenstahl, a favorite of Hitler, was commissioned by the International Olympic Committee to film the Games. The film, titled Olympia, originated many of the techniques now commonplace to the filming of sports.
By allowing only the Aryan race to compete for Germany, Hitler further promoted his ideological belief of racial supremacy. Although Germany won most of the medals in the Olympics, other athletes, such as African-American athlete Jesse Owens, who won four gold medals, turned in great performances.
Hitler removed signs stating "Jews not wanted" and similar slogans from main tourist attractions. Hitler wanted to clean up Berlin, the German Ministry of Interior authorized the chief of Berlin Police to arrest all gypsies and keep them in a special camp.[1] Nazi officials ordered that foreign visitors should not be subjected to the criminal strictures of anti-homosexual laws.
Total ticket revenues were 7.5 million Reichsmarks, with a nominal profit of over 1 million marks. The official budget did not include outlays by either the city of Berlin (which issued an itemized report detailing its costs of 16.5 million marks) or the German national government (which did not make its costs public, but is estimated to have spent US$30 million in mostly capital outlays)
Category: The 20th Century
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