1936 Olympics - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

t walgamuth · #1 05-02-2012, 07:55 AM

The lovely Mrs. W and I watched a program on the 1936 Olympics last night which focused on Jesse Owens who won four gold medals. A few high points in my mind:
1. The Nazi Architects and event designers had a real flare for drama. the lighting of the torch was first initiated at that olympiad.
2. During the games, Jesse and the German Long jumper became friendly, giving each other helpful advice and when Jesse beat him out in a back and forth battle they Locked arms and circled the track while the mostly german crowd called Jesse's name.
3. The adulation appeared to be enthusiastic and unforced between the german crowd and Hitler so their reaction to Owens was striking after Hitler had made public statements about the "inferiority" of the African race.
4. We wondered if the German long jumper suffered for his public breach of the Nazi retoric.
5. Owens had been beaten in several events right before the olympics by another African American sprinter named Peacock, who was injured and could not participate. We also wondered what happened to him.

Owens came back to the states and was relegated to doing odd things to make a living such as racing horses. He was recognized by Dwight Eisenhower as a national treasure and given a roving ambassadorship which presumably helped him financially.

Can anyone fill in what happened to the German athlete and to Peacock?\

Great show on Public Television.

pj67coll · #2 05-02-2012, 10:49 AM

I have the film Riefenstahl made of that on DVD. "Olympia" I think its called. Not bad for 1936. A lot of kow towing to Hitler by foreign teams and athletes, many of whome gave the Nazi salute as they entered the stadium and finished the marathon. I think it was a Jappanese who won that one actually. Also the other events that I'd never heard about including the equestrian events where you ride horses across obstacles. The obstacles were pretty damm severe. I can't see them being so dangerous in a modern event. Many bad falls and at least one German officer who broke his arm and had to have it put in a sling before he continued. That one was won by an American Captain from Los Angeles I think. All in all a very interesting film. The grand spectacle that Goebbles engineered was impressive. Someone on NPR recently who had written about Owens pointed out the irony of the modern Olympic spectacle being pioneered by the Nazis.

- Peter.

Pooka · #3 05-02-2012, 01:40 PM

Alfred Speer wrote a book about his time with the Nazi's. Building the Olympic event was one of his tasks and he said Hitler told him he wanted a stadium that would seat 250,000. A good example of this today would be the Texas International Speedway in Fort Worth.

Speer realized this was nuts because if you were in a stadium that big you would not be able to see any of the events. I know what he means since a friend of mine owns a Trackside Condo at TIS and if you are looking into the pit area with a telescope you still have trouble seeing humans. You are just too far away.

So Speer talked him into starting small and then adding on as necessary. Hitler told him that after the Nazi's took over the world the Olympics would be moved to their new home in Germany, so Speer should leave lots of empty land in the area for expansion.

All in all a lot of weird stuff took place.

t walgamuth · #4 05-02-2012, 03:06 PM

I read Speer's book about fifteen or twenty years ago. Very engaging reading.

Especially with me being an Architect and all.

t walgamuth · #5 05-02-2012, 04:09 PM

I did a little searching and found that LUz Long, the german long jumper was wounded in the allied invasion of Sicily and died as a prisoner of the british.

peacock went on to coach and officiate in sporting events until his death.

kerry · #6 05-02-2012, 04:56 PM

Those Nazis knew how to put on a spectacle and Riefenstahl knew how to film them. I would say there were important components of civil religion, cloaking the State in an aura of divinity. Same with the architecture.

The Clk Man · #7 05-02-2012, 05:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kerry

Those Nazis knew how to put on a spectacle and Riefenstahl knew how to film them. I would say there were important components of civil religion, cloaking the State in an aura of divinity. Same with the architecture.

A show I was watching on the History channel said that Hitler made everyone in Germany act like everything was Hunky Dory while Germany hosted the 1936 Olympics. So that everyone that visited Germany for the Olympics would think that Germany was a nice and caring country. Was that the case?

t walgamuth · #8 05-02-2012, 07:56 PM

Sort of, that is if you were of the "correct" type.

Jews, Gypsies, Homosexuals and so forth were being squeezed by the Nazis at the time. I read that before the other nations started showing up before the olympics they removed all the oppressive propaganda from public sight.

I am ashamed to say that the US took two men off the 4 x 100 relay who were Jewish at Hitler's insistance and replaced them with Owens and one of our other African American sprinters. We of course still won the gold. If not for this unfortunate development Jesse would only have been able to win three golds.

The Clk Man · #9 05-02-2012, 08:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by t walgamuth

Sort of, that is if you were of the "correct" type.

Jews, Gypsies, Homosexuals and so forth were being squeezed by the Nazis at the time. I read that before the other nations started showing up before the olympics they removed all the oppressive propaganda from public sight.

I am ashamed to say that the US took two men off the 4 x 100 relay who were Jewish at Hitler's insistance and replaced them with Owens and one of our other African American sprinters. We of course still won the gold. If not for this unfortunate development Jesse would only have been able to win three golds.

Interesting.

pj67coll · #10 05-02-2012, 09:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by t walgamuth

I read Speer's book about fifteen or twenty years ago. Very engaging reading.

Especially with me being an Architect and all.

What do you think of Speer's architecture Tom? I've always thought it was a bit heavy and over the top. But then of course you have to consider the client!

- Peter.

t walgamuth · #11 05-02-2012, 11:12 PM

I cannot say what his work actually looked like. Most of those big buildings were done when he was probably at a supervisory level and not his actual work.

I think most of the Nazi work was a bit Turgid, but that stadium looked pretty cool. Is it still there?

David Wilson · #12 05-02-2012, 11:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by t walgamuth

I cannot say what his work actually looked like. Most of those big buildings were done when he was probably at a supervisory level and not his actual work.

I think most of the Nazi work was a bit Turgid, but that stadium looked pretty cool. Is it still there?

Present day

t walgamuth · #13 05-03-2012, 06:53 AM

According to Wiki that stadium is the same one that was there in 36. Otto Mark was the Architect. Most of the stadium is intact from its 1936 form. Its seating capacity is stated in the article as being anywhere from 74000 to 250000 so I am not sure how that all works.

It looks pretty good, I think.

I would like to visit it one day.

MS Fowler · #14 05-03-2012, 07:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by t walgamuth

I read Speer's book about fifteen or twenty years ago. Very engaging reading.

Especially with me being an Architect and all.

It is currently in my library.

I believe the "Cathedral of Light" at the Nuremberg rally was Speer's work. Pretty impressive.
The question I had while reading Speer's book was how much of it was true and how much of it was a sanitized recollection.

Pooka · #15 05-03-2012, 08:02 AM

After reading Speer's book only one thing really stayed with me and that was his answer to the Allied bombing of smaller bridges in Germany.

The Allied plan to was bomb the bridges the Allies could rebuild when they arrived. This way they had bridges and the Germans did not. To understand how fast the Allied forces could build a small bridge do a Google on 'Bailey Bridge'.

Speer's solution to this was to build a workshop near a bridge and have workers turn out pontoon bridges day and night so that when a bridge was destroyed it could be rebuilt overnight. It finally got down to only replacing the pontoons that were blown up and not the entire 'bridge'.

I don't remember how many of these factories had to be built, but it did offer a solution to a problem that could not be solved due to the German's lack of air defenses.

Check it out------ www.baileybridge.com