Hitler's Olympics: The Story of the 1936 Nazi Games

by Anton Rippon

For two weeks in August 1936, Nazi Germany achieved an astonishing propaganda coup when it staged the Olympic Games in Berlin. Hiding their anti-semitism and plans for territorial expansion, the Nazis exploited the Olympic ideal, dazzling visiting spectators and journalists alike with an image of a peaceful, tolerant Germany. In Hitler's Olympics, Anton Rippon tells the story of those remarkable Games, the first to overtly use the Olympic festival for political purposes. His account, which is illustrated with almost 200 rare photographs of the event, looks at how the rise of the Nazis affected German sportsmen and women in the early 1930s. And it reveals how the rest of the world allowed the Berlin Olympics to go ahead despite the knowledge that Nazi Germany was a police state.

Genres: History, Sports, Nonfiction, Amazon

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Anton Rippon is a British journalist, author and publisher.

Born in Derby during the Second World War. He has spent almost all his working life in the newspaper and publishing industry. He is the author of 30 books, including an autobiographical memoir A Derby Boy, which was published in 2007.

His work has appeared in a wide range of national newspapers and magazines and he has written radio documentaries for the BBC. In 1982, he founded Breedon Books, the sports and history publisher that he sold in 2003 to resume writing full-time. In 1993, the Derby County Former Professional Players' Association elected him an honorary member. He is also a member of the Sports Journalists' Association, the International Society of Olympic Historians and the Football Writers' Association. His book Gunter Plüschow: Airman, Escaper, Explorer, was published by Pen & Sword in 2009. A collection of his columns from the Derby Telegraph – A Derby View – was published by Wharncliffe in October 2010.

Reviews

[PJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hitler's Olympics by Anton Rippon is a fascinating and chilling dive into one of the most politically charged sporting events in history the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Rippon masterfully unpacks how Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime turned the Games into a global propaganda spectacle, using them to project an image of strength, unity, and progressiveness while masking their oppressive and sinister agenda.

The book explores every corner of this event: the meticulous preparations, the groundbreaking (but ideologically loaded) use of media like live broadcasts and Leni Riefenstahl's film Olympia, and the way Germany temporarily "cleaned up" its anti-Semitic policies to avoid international backlash. Rippon also highlights the controversies surrounding the Games, especially the proposed boycotts by other nations and the inclusion of Helene Mayer, a Jewish fencer, as a token gesture to feign inclusivity.

One of the standout elements of the book is Rippon's ability to balance the sports history with the broader political context. He doesn’t just focus on the Nazi propaganda machine but also celebrates the athletes, particularly Jesse Owens, whose four gold medals directly undermined the Nazi ideology of Aryan supremacy. Rippon’s storytelling is clear, engaging, and packed with detail, making even the more technical aspects of the Games feel accessible.

The book doesn’t shy away from tough questions about the role of international organizations, like the IOC, in legitimizing the Nazi regime by allowing the Games to proceed. It’s a sobering reminder of how sports and politics are often deeply intertwined.

It’s an insightful and well-researched read, though the sheer amount of detail might feel overwhelming for casual readers. If you’re into sports history or want to understand how propaganda can be weaponized on a global stage, this is definitely for you.

[bubblegumpopper · Rating 3 out of 5]

The beginning of the book, leading up to the Olympics was far more interesting than the actual Olympics part. He teased some interesting stories regarding the individual athletes that participated, but veered away from them and instead presented basically a TSN style summary of the results, which was not all that interesting since most of the names meant nothing to me (with the exception of Jesse Owens, who was familiar to me since I read The Book Thief recently) and even some of the sports are no longer active in the Olympics. There was also a fair amount of typos (eBook) that detracted from the quality/presentation of the book. It wasn't a total waste of time, but I had hoped for better.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Detailed researched and professionally written. The story of the 1936 Olympics is an interesting one, the games were certainly well organised, Hitler’s regime had a lot of power. The nazi’s hid their true intentions well for the period of the games and the book deals with the many serious issues such as the success of ‘non-German’ athletes and whether the other nations of the world should have boycotted the games. Soon, there will be no one alive who remembers what the nazi’s did and this must never be forgotten or allowed to happen again. This book goes a little way towards remembering the events all those years go. What am I talking about……Holland won the women’s gymnastics combined exercises. Half of the team were Jewish and four of them would die in the gas chambers alongside their young children during the war. Lest we forget.

[Matti Karjalainen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anton Ripponin "Hitlerin olympialaiset 1936" (Minerva, 2013) kartoittaa Berliinin olympiakisojen taustoja ja tapahtumia. Keskiöön nousevat juutalaisten urheilijoiden asema, kansainvälinen keskustelu ennen kisoja (mm. mahdollinen olympiaboikotti) ja luonnollisesti ehkä se kaikkein tunnetuin urheilija eli legenda nimeltä Jesse Owen.

Kovin syvälliseksi tai lennokkaaksi kerronta ei nouse, mutta siitä huolimatta kiinnostavia hetkiä ja anekdootteja nostetaan esille mm. saksalaisten absurdeja mittasuhteita saanut halu menestyä naisten korkeushypyssä sekä sittemmin olympiakultaa voittaneiden italialaisten jalkapalloilijoiden otteet USA-ottelussa.

[Jennie Butler · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was ok. Very Nazi-centric and very little about the actual athletes that got effected by the Nazi regime in the Olympics.

[Debbie Henderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting read especially as we're gearing up for another Olympics!

[Matthew Hockey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some interesting facts in this but he tends to go into detail when he should summarise and summarise when I wanted detail.

[Pekka Mukkala · Rating 3 out of 5]

Odotin Ripponin kirjalta Hitlerin olympialaiset hieman enemmän, sillä Jesse Owensista kertova Netflix-elokuva vihjaisi amerikkalaisen Avery Brundagen
ottaneen natseilta rakennusurakan suurlähetystön rakentamisesta ja samalla hän esti jenkkien boikotin. Tästä ei kirjassa mainita ja siitä on vaikea saada tietoa muutenkaan (elokuvatekijän keksimä juoniratkaisu?). Kirjassa on kyllä hyvin kuvattu tie natsien olympialaisiin, mutta lukijalle jäi sellainen kuva, että kaikkea ei kerrottu. Areenojen rakentamiset ja kilpailutapahtumat kuvataan kohtuullisen tarkasti. Pisteet 7/10.

[SallaMi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Luin kursiivisesti. Populaari teos, joka alussa kertaa natsien valtaannousun. Sitten kuvaa, kuinka Saksa sai pitää olympialaiset. Tämän jälkeen kertaa tuloksia.

Minua kiinnostivat lähinnä tietyt kulttuurihistorialliset yksityiskohdat, joista löytyi tästä kirjasta vain vähän tietoa. Pitää etsiä niitä muualta. Mielenkiintoisinta ehkä: Hitleriä ei juuri urheilu sinänsä napannut, vain sen propaganda-arvo kiinnosteli.

[მთვრალი ჯიხვი · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, it's an interesting topic and there was certainly research done. Unfortunately, at least the eBook edition of this is a copyediting disaster.

[Lisa Muller · Rating 3 out of 5]

A thorough and accessible history of the 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany. This author focuses on the athletic aspect of the games, but also goes beyond the "face value" of the games. He explores what these games meant to Hitler, to his propaganda minister Goebbels, and to the world. Important both for background and for the stories of specific athletes.

[Armando Oliveira · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, it's an interesting topic and there was certainly research done. Unfortunately, at least the eBook edition of this is a copyediting disaster.

[Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you're interested in the history of the Olympics (or even sports in general) this is an interesting enough book that goes into great detail about the athletic events of both the Winter and Summer Olympics held in Nazi Germany in 1936. It also offers some interesting behind the scenes information about the organization (and the organizers) of the Games. It does note the intersection of sports and politics in these Games (and which has never actually stopped) that were used mostly for propaganda by the Nazis, but I found it a little weak on the political side of things. It tells us a lot about the Nazis that we already knew but doesn't really break any fresh ground on that front. Anton Rippon writes in an engaging style, and the book is a fairly fast and easy read. I thought his last chapter perhaps the most honest of the book. It makes the point that for all the controversy that swirled (and continues to swirl) about them the Olympics just really weren't all that important. Sure they were a propaganda victory for the Germans (except for Jesse Owens blasting the Nazi doctrine of Aryan superiority out of the water) who managed to put a relatively friendly face on the Third Reich for visitors, but had the IOC moved the Games or had there been boycotts it would have been a blow to Nazi prestige but it wouldn't have stopped Hitler, who very likely would have just blamed "the Jews" and accelerated events. And, as Rippon rightly notes, why would the IOC have been expected to take on Hitler when there were no national governments anywhere willing to take him on? Mind you, Rippon doesn't paint the IOC in a spectacularly rosy light, but these are still fair points. Overall, I'd call this book interesting but not especially important - much like the 1936 Olympics themselves.

[Tommi Mannila · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kirjan mielenkiintoinen aihe käy pirun tylsäksi kirjan loppupuolella, kun kirjailija alkaa käymään läpi 1936 olympialaisten urheilutuloksia. Muutenkin kirjassa olisi ollut mielenkiintoisempaa sukeltaa vielä syvemmälle natsi-saksan ja muun maailman väliseen politiikkaan urheilun suhteen, tälläisenään kirja antaa aika pintapuolisen kuvan asioista.

Suomenkielisestä versioista pitää vielä mainita se että suomentaja kommentoi aivan liikaa asioita varsinaisen tekstin sisällä.

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

I learned some interesting things about the Nazi Olympics in Berlin, but much of what I read was about the same things that I had learned before. I had read Mandell's book "The Nazi Olympics" forty years ago, and I remember it as a more fascinating depiction. I was hoping for the same flow that I remember from my youth, but maybe now that I am more curmudgeonly, this book did not excite me in the same way.

[Tom · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, it's an interesting topic and there was certainly research done. Unfortunately, at least the eBook edition of this is a copyediting disaster.