1936 Olympics Opening Ceremony

The 1936 Summer Olympics, the 11th Olympiad, was held in Berlin with Hitler's obsessive goal of outdoing the spectacular Los Angeles games four years prior.

To outshine the L.A. games, the Nazis built giant stadiums, gymnasiums and arenas equipped with a closed-circuit TV system, a radio network broadcasting to 41 nations, and the first LIVE television coverage system in history.

Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler used the 1936 Olympics to promote his ideals of racial supremacy and did not want Jews or black athletes to participate in the Games. However, when threatened with an international boycott of the Olympics, Hitler reluctantly relented.

In an attempt to white-wash Berlin for Olympic tourists and cameras, Hitler ordered Berlin's police chief to arrest all Gypsies and lock them in a concentration camp.  German Jews and Gypsies were barred from participating in the Games.

Jewish American athletes Milton Green and Norman Cahners refused to compete in Berlin, as Spain and Russia boycotted the Games as well. 

Jeremiah Mahoney, president of the Amateur Athletic Union, led the protest against American participation in the Berlin Olympics, contesting that racism was a violation of Olympic rules and that participation in the Games equaled support for Hitler's Third Reich.

Gretel Bergmann, despite equaling a national record in the High Jump a month before the Games, was cut from the German team for being a Jew.

American Jewish organizations strongly opposed the 1936 Olympics.

The American Jewish Congress and the Jewish Labor Committee held rallies and boycotted German products to show their anger at America's participation in the "Nazi Olympics."

Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt demanded the participation of the USA in the Olympics anyway, turning a blind eye to Adolf Hitler's policies and practices.

Jewish American sprinters Sam Stoller and Marty Glickman were pulled from the 4×100 relay team on the day of the competition because the U.S. Olympic Committee did not want to embarrass Hitler by having two Jews win gold medals.

Black American Jesse Owens won a shocking FOUR gold medals in the Games, achieving immortality in the 1936 Olympics for sending Hitler into humiliation and rage.

The following video shows the 1936 Olympics Opening Ceremony, which was then witnessed by a different world than we live in today.

1936 Olympics Opening Ceremony Video