Greetings all,
Blogland is very quiet, no surprises . . . many of us are watching the London Olympics (for Australia, that's night time viewing!!) I hope you've been enjoying my Olympic Poster of the Day series + the Scandal history lessons. Surely, of all the modern Olympics, Berlin has to be one of the most controversial, with Chancellor Adolf Hitler in power.
Olympic Poster of the Day: Berlin Germany in 1936.
Olympic Scandal: where do you begin when Hitler is at the helm, desperate to out do the friendly 1932 Los Angeles USA effort & sieg heil white supremacy to the world from a 100 000 capacity stadium?? They promoted 'sports' to harden the German Spirit & "weed out the weak, Jewish & other undesirables" . . . during the games they removed all the antisemitic paraphernalia, so the world didn't see. Fortunately for the likes of USA's Jessie Owens, Hitler considered black athletes more tolerable than Jewish & allowed them to compete. Did you know Owens & fellow African American Ralph Metcalfe replaced Jewish runners Marty Glickman & Sam Stoller in the Men's 4x100m relay, or the US team would be suspended??
Triumphs: Jessie Owens won 4 gold medals from 4 events & the 100 000 strong mostly Aryan crowd were excitedly chanting 'Oh-vens' - take that Hitler. Also, Owens nearly fouled out of the Broad Jump (long jump) until German Luz Long advised him to jump before the line. Owens did, he won gold, Long won silver & they walked around the stadium arm in arm. Hitler refused to shake Owen's hand at any of the medal ceremonies, the world noted the snub. Then WWII started, the Olympics were not held again until 1948, Owens was never able to repeat his Olympic success.
Note: Germany is one of my favourite countries in the world. I remind my children that these things all happened in their grandfather's lifetime, it's not ancient history & should never be repeated. Can you imagine, super star Owens, travelling with his college track team around America, NOT being allowed in the same cafes & buildings as his white team mates?? After the celebratory ticker tape parade for the 1936 US Olympic team, the Owens family weren't welcome at any hotels in New York. Eventually one accepted them, if they used the back entrance. Unimaginable!! The whole world has come a long way!!
Extra Credit: So the Nazi's mastered branding & PR, there wasn't a venue/ street/ stadium/ uniform/ spectator without a swastika, you have to give it to them for Olympic hype & national pride . . . they wanted the whole world to know THEY were hosting the Olympics Games & express their superiority . . . so they created the Torch Relay. Now it unites the world, thank goodness.
Extra Credit: So the Nazi's mastered branding & PR, there wasn't a venue/ street/ stadium/ uniform/ spectator without a swastika, you have to give it to them for Olympic hype & national pride . . . they wanted the whole world to know THEY were hosting the Olympics Games & express their superiority . . . so they created the Torch Relay. Now it unites the world, thank goodness.
Now to Snap It with Faith Love & a Whole Lotta Love . . . 'night time' my family watching the Olympic Games for all their history, good & bad.
3 comments:
a good reminder. i like your little viewers. :)
Love the boy's PJs! Still not feeling the spirit here - central London remains empty for those of us who did not get any tickets - ghost town... But Mark Todd made up for all that - what an exciting man to watch!
I do love the history of things and the Olympics really have so much to share.
Thank goodness times have changed, but we still have so far to go.
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