Chapter 85 Chapter Fourteen "With the Sleepwalker's Guarantee" (2)

That summer, the Olympic Games were held in Berlin.Due to Germany's anti-Jewish policy, Britain, the United States and France tried their best to resist, but it failed.Hitler was eager to turn the Games into a showcase of Nazi achievements, so he made a lot of concessions, allowing the foil player Helena Mehr, a symbol of the Jews, and the hockey star Ludi Barr to represent the Reich in the Games, while another Captain Felsner, the Jewish Ulf Gang, was responsible for building and organizing the Olympic Village.More importantly, anti-Semitic placards along the road and announcements prohibiting Jews from entering sanatoriums were removed.In Berlin, Streicher's Vanguard also disappeared from newsstands.In fact, the anti-Semitic movement stopped altogether.Their sign of reconciliation was given such international publicity that many foreigners flocked to Berlin and were warmly received.

When the opening ceremony was held on August 1, the sky was cloudless.In the afternoon, Hitler led the team through the Triumph Strasse and walked towards the stadium.His snake formation convoy, under the protection of 40,000 stormtroopers and other guards, moved slowly along the ten-mile long street.When the procession arrived at the stadium, Hitler, in the most modest uniform, walked forward with two Olympic officials.After him came the king of Bulgaria, the successor prince of Sweden, the successor prince of Greece, the successor prince of Italy, and the son of Mussolini.They walked down the tunnel into the world's largest stadium and were welcomed by brass music played by 30 trumpets.The orchestra is directed by Richard Strauss, and there is a chorus of 3,000 people.They sang "Germany Above All", "Song of the Wessel Forest" and "Olympic Song" composed by Strauss for the Games.When Hitler officially took office, 110,000 spectators cheered in unison.Some delegations performed the Olympic salute - the right hand stretched out to the side, much to the delight of spectators - but the Austrian delegation changed it to the Nazi salute.The Bulgarians went even further, and they went right.The applause was the loudest when the 250-member French delegation entered the arena.Their salute was Roman, not Olympic.The Englishman in a straw hat came into the arena with only a "look to the right", much to the displeasure of many spectators.The US team received the least applause, with some spectators stomping their feet in disrespect.When they passed the rostrum, they only "looked to the right", and even the flag was raised without falling.

The next day, Hitler came to congratulate German Hans Volker for breaking the Olympic shot put record. He also congratulated the three Finns who broke the 10,000-meter long-distance running record and the German women who won the javelin championship and runner-up.By the time all the German players in the high jump were eliminated, it was too late.Hitler left the stadium without shaking hands with the three American players, two of whom were black. The president of the International Olympic Committee informed Hitler that since he was chief guest of honor, he should congratulate all the winners.Hitler accepted the latter option and so did not meet Jesse Owens, winner of four gold medals.For this reason, some people exaggerated, saying that the head of state deliberately snubbed this great black athlete, but Owens himself denied this statement.He said that Hitler did congratulate him, "When I passed the Chancellor, he stood up and waved to me, and I waved back to him. He thought it was despicable for the author to criticize a figure that Germany is proud of." .”

The Führer watched nearly every track meet, amazed to his left and right.Whenever the German players played, he watched with childlike enthusiasm, his face still twitching.The Games ended on August 16, and Hitler attended the closing ceremony.When the band plays*? During the song "The End of the Games", the athletes danced happily to the beat of the music, while the audience bid farewell to them enthusiastically.Someone in the arena gave Hitler — who was not on the show at the closing ceremony — “Hurray Victory,” and then there was a chorus of “Hail Victory! Our Führer Adolf Hitler! Hail Victory!” from the audience.

The Games were a Nazi triumph—though not quite.The Germans won most of the gold medals (33) and most of the silver and bronze medals. It is strange that the Germans beat the runner-up Americans by 57 points.Most importantly, many viewers left Germany happy with the hospitality they received and impressed with what they had seen of Hitler's Reich.The achievements at the Olympics were further consolidated by a documentary film by Renee Riefenstahl.Despite Goebbels' sabotage and even refusing to let her in, she made a film that was acclaimed around the world. In the triumphal song of self-congratulations carried out afterwards, a sad song was inserted.Captain Felsner, who was in charge of building the Olympic Village, was replaced at the last minute because he was Jewish.After attending a banquet for his successor, he shot himself with a pistol.