Millions of viewers are glued to their television every two years to watch in anticipation as their respective countries participate in the thrilling Olympic games. This tradition started in 1936 when the first ever televised Olympic games were hosted by Nazi Germany. These Olympics were hosted during a fretful and politically hazardous time, many countries were opting for sides and there was controversy on whether or not many countries would attend or boycott. Germany was first chosen to host the Olympic Games in 1914, but World War I started. They were chosen to host the 1936 Olympics because the other countries wanted to stop all their ideas of racism. Jews were not allowed to participate, even from countries not under the influence of Nazi Germany and; in the end, the Netherlands, Czechoslovakia, and the Soviet Union boycotted, and the Soviet Union would not participate again until 1952. Germany used the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany as a tool to display and promote their strength, propaganda, and theatrics; this led to the start of many of our modern day Olympic traditions.
Initially, Hitler was apprehensive about whether or not he wanted the
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Germany believed they had athletes unparalleled in strength and used the Olympic sporting events to show their dominance over other countries; they also used the Opening Ceremony to display a ostentatious presentation of theatrics and Nazi propaganda. By completely sweeping out the competition in the Olympics, the Nazi’s showed their strength confidence, and power; this displayed their arrogance and they would not back down from a challenge. Their decision to use the Olympics as a tool showed their craftiness and ambitions. The many changes that the Nazi’s made to the Olympics would affect the world and the war, and change the Olympic games