The modern Olympic Games is an international sporting event held every four years at different sites throughout the world. Many countries, totaling more than ten thousand athletes, compete against each other in a variety of sports. Began in Athens, Greece, in 1896, the Games were established to promote a more peaceful world. Although an athletic event, numerous countries have used the Olympics as an opportunity to make a political statement. One such Olympics were the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany...The Nazi Olympics. Due to the Spanish Revolution, the Spanish athletes returned home before the finish of the games. Brazil sent two teams, each representing a different political viewpoint. They were both barred from competing. And then there was the host country Germany. In the following pages you will read about a sinister leader of that country trying to prove to the world that the Aryan race was supreme and how he would use the Olympics to prove this idea. You will also read about how one man did as much as anybody to dispel those notions.
             The 1936 Olympics was awarded to Berlin in 1931, two years before Adolf Hitler came to power. Obviously, the committee that selected Berlin had no way of knowing what was going to happen. In 1933, Hitler came to power and the Nazi movement would soon control the country. Hitler, of course, jumped at the chance to promote the Nazi Party. The Berlin Olympic Games of 1936 was a gigantic Nazi showpiece. There were more swastikas bedecking the main stadium than there were Olympic flags. The Nazis spent approximately $30 million, more than all the other Olympics combined. Hitler arranged for Leni Riefenstahl, a German television and movie producer, to make a $7 million film of the event. He ensured that all streets were cleaned and that all signs of the state-run anti-Jewish campaign were removed. By the time the 49 countries arrived, the stage was set.
             Of course, it almost di...