Les jeux olympiques de Berlin (1936)

Pierre de Coubertin, a humanist, pacifist, aristocrat, Catholic monarchist, rebuilt the ancient Olympic games based on studying Ancient Greece. He envisioned the games as an ideal of peace through the Olympic truce, amateur athleticism, and nationalism that could replace warfare.

• The Olympic truce was violated many times in Antiquity, notably by Sparta during the Peloponnesian War, which resulted in heavy fines • Athletes received substantial compensation for winning: Olympic champions in Athens received 500 drachmas, while a sheep cost only 1 drachma

Philostrate of Athens criticized the degradation of athletics due to financial incentives, describing it as 'merchandising athletic value,' a commentary that remains relevant to modern sports.

Coubertin created 'Olympianism' as a new religion through sport, believing athletes would exalt their country and race by perfecting their bodies like sculptors, transforming them into new gods of the stadiums.

• The Ministry of Propaganda orchestrated a pre-Olympic campaign covering the planet with postcards, badges, and information bulletins translated into 14 European languages • 200,000 posters were distributed in 19 languages to convince the world of German power and revival • The campaign was designed to demonstrate Germany's technological and industrial refinement

The Olympic stadium, specially constructed for the games, held 100,000 spectators, with exterior equipment raising capacity to 250,000—a considerable number for the time. A section was entirely reserved for the SA (Nazi paramilitary wing) for organized applause.

• The Horst-Wessel Nazi anthem was sung 440 times despite only 33 German victories • Additional projects included a giant tower with a bronze Olympic bell, two new metro stations, a triumphant motorcade route for the Führer, and an ultra-modern Olympic village for 4,400 athletes separated from 360 female athletes

Carl Diem, secretary of the Games Organization Committee, created the Olympic torch tradition. Made in the Krupp armaments factory, it was lit at the sanctuary of Zeus in Greece and transported by relayers to Berlin stadium as a symbol of purification alongside the Swastika.

Leni Riefenstahl's 'Olympia' was filmed in 1938 with Hitler providing almost unlimited means. Filming began several days before the games to capture athletes training, with less than 10% of images kept during 15 months of editing.

• Riefenstahl used 100-metre tracking rails for unprecedented camera movements • She employed a camera-catapult for jumping events and underwater cameras • She introduced lens and focal lengths never used before, along with slow-motion and low-angle shots to make athletes appear majestic

Nearly 400,000 minutes of film was edited down to 200 minutes, representing a massive technical achievement that transformed raw footage into a cinematic work.

Beyond its artistic beauty, 'Olympia' functioned as a powerful hymn to Aryan beauty and a propaganda engine for Nazi ideology, creating visual mythology around racial superiority.

Jesse Owens, a Black American athlete, unexpectedly became the star of the games, winning 4 gold medals in the 100m, 200m, long jump, and 4x100m relay—achievements later repeated by Carl Lewis in Los Angeles in 1984.

Owens stated shortly before his death in 1980: 'We were there to destroy the myth of Aryan supremacy. We were there to give a lesson,' though he believed politics should not belong on the sports field.

Owens' victory served as a snub to Nazi Germany, though this irony existed alongside America's own racial segregation, which remained far from settled in 1936.

For the Nazis, the Olympic games ultimately constituted a triumph as they had demonstrated the power of the Reich to the entire world.

Pierre de Coubertin announced on August 24, 1936, that claims of the games being 'disfigured' by propaganda were 'entirely false,' asserting instead that Berlin's success had 'magnificently served the Olympic ideal.' He endorsed each nation celebrating according to their own manner.

• After his death in 1937, some argued his declarations were profoundly reactionary and favorable to Hitler • He was known to maintain ambiguous relations with certain politicians close to Nazi ideology

Others minimized his political involvement by emphasizing protocol requirements that necessitated certain declarations to preserve the value of his modern Olympic games legacy.

War was approaching Europe and soon the world, and the Olympic spectacle would be interrupted by the Second World War, making the games' propaganda legacy a contested historical moment.