The Berlin Olympics

GCSE History

RAOUL WOOTLIFF

The Berlin Olympics

Below are some of the methods that Goebbels-the Nazi propaganda minister used at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

One aspect of propaganda that Goebells used for the Berlin Olympics was the actual stadium itself. It was built especially for the occasion and was immense, to show that the Nazis were capable of making huge and modern structures.
Inside the stadium, there were hundreds of Swastikas everywhere in the form of flags, banners or armbands.
The event had man well organised ceremonies-emphasising the Nazi belief in order and tradition.
Hitler was given as much recognition as possible and a large part of the ceremonies were dedicated to making him look good.
The radio commentary that they had of the event was very good and therefore encouraged Germans to listen to the radio more, which was continually full of propaganda.
The Hitler Youth also played a large part in the event and their organised processions could encourage people to follow the Nazi party and show people that they have the youth behind them.

2. Do you think that Hitler successfully showed:

a) That Germany was a modern country?

I think that in terms of showing Germany as a modern country-the Berlin Olympics did a very good job and achieved the aim perfectly. This is mainly due to the immense and fantastic stadium that was built for the occasion, able to hold up to 100 000 people. This clearly showed both the German people and the outer world-who were competing in the Olympics that Germany was capable of creating incredible pieces of architecture. The government also sowed off their technological advances during the Olympics ...

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2. Do you think that Hitler successfully showed:

a) That Germany was a modern country?

b) That Germany was well organised?

I think in this respect, Hitler definitely showed that Germany was well organised. The whole event was run particularly smoothly from start to finish with militaristic parades commencing through out. Both the start and ending ceremonies displayed large amounts or Aryan men and women marching through the stadium sporting Nazi flags and swastikas. The parades also showed the Hitler Youth as an organised and devoted group. Although the radio broadcast was efficient, the only thing that might have let down the idea of a perfectly organised country was the television broadcast which compared to the other events was not very well ordered.

c) That Germany was a civilised society?

Simply from the amount of order that the German people and the events conveyed I think that to the outside world the German people must have seemed civilised. Some things might have looked slightly odd to foreigners such as the way in which the German people went mad when Hitler came into the stadium or the huge amount of patriotism in the country but I do not think these would have seem uncivilised just slightly over dedicated.

d) That the Aryans were superior?

In the actual competitive contests in the Olympics, Germany did incredibly well becoming the overall winners. They infactr did so well that they finished with 33 more medals that America who came second. This surely must have shown that Hitler’s Aryan race was starting to dominate, however, the overall best individual was a black American called Jesse Owens. This was an outrage to many Germans as it clearly undermined the whole principle of Aryanism. Despite this, the games were a triumph in showing that the Aryans were starting to become ‘superior’.