How Did Germany Affect The American Response To The 1936 Olympics?

Nowadays, the Olympics are one if the biggest entertainment settings in the world, full of excitement, suspense, laughter and tears. The 1936 Olympics, however, was a time when this event was full of questioning, anger, and politics. Germany was awarded as the host country for the Olympics two years before Hitler came into power. This was also three years before the games were to begin. Being awarded as the host country certainly showed how Germany was beginning to become part of the world community again after the defeat of World War I, or so they thought (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum). Many people, mainly politicians, believed that the Olympics hosted by Hitler were a distraction from what his real intentions were. It was to make

What better way to do that than host one of the most popular sporting events in the world. Americans were very cautious and quick to question Germany and what they were doing. During the 1936 Olympics, U.S. and German propaganda, racial and religious issues, and the debate over boycotting the games directly affected the American response to the conflict in Germany. Propaganda came from both the U.S. and the German side during the time before and during the Olympics. At the Olympics, there were forty-nine teams there, which was the most teams ever to partake in a game. That played a role on how teams viewed Germany since Germany seemed like they were welcoming and weren't up to anything suspicious (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum). Many people thought that the Nazis really did succeed with their propaganda. They said that the games made them even more human, even though the way they were treating the Jews was not human.. This meant that the games made most people blind to what was really about to come. Many Americans thought Hitler used the games as a distraction so people wouldn't suspect that anything bad was going on