Hitler's Olympics: The 1936 Berlin Olympic Games

by Christopher Hilton

The Berlin Olympic Games, more than 70 years on, remain the most controversial ever held. This book creates a vivid account of the disputes, the personalities, and the events which made these Games so memorable. Ironically, the choice of Germany as the host national for the 1936 Olympics was intended to signal the return to the world community after defeat in World War I. In actuality, Hitler intended the Berlin Games to be an advertisement for Germany as he was creating it, and they became one of the largest propaganda exercises in history. Two German Jews competed in the Games while the most memorable achievement was that of black American Jesse Owens, who won four gold medals. Ultimately, however, Germany was the overall biggest medal winner. The popular success of Owens allowed the Nazis to claim that their policies had no racial element and charges of antisemitism that did arise were leveled at the Americans.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Germany, World War II, Sports

177 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 1, 2006

About the author

Christopher (Chris) Hilton was a former sportswriter with the Daily Express.

Hilton had begun his career in journalism at The Journal in Newcastle, and then worked at the Express‘s offices in Manchester before moving to London in the mid-1970s when recruited by then sports editor Ken Lawrence to cover Formula 1.

Hilton was a key member of the sports desk editing staff, as well as covering ice skating for the paper during the period when Torvill and Dean were winning world and Olympic ice dance titles.

For the past two decades after leaving the Express, Hilton has freelanced, especially in F1 and writing his books, including biographies of Ayrton Senna, James Hunt and Michael Schumacher, as well as a novel. As recently as last month, his latest book, about F1 team leader Ross Brawn, was published.

Chris Hilton leaves a wife, Jean, and daughter.

Reviews

[Lukas Slavik · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found it quiet chaotic. Sometimes even the begining and end of one sentence were about completely different things.. often not even making sence together.. its a lot of small facts put togehther.. Even the title is kind of misleading.. i hoped to find out more about how hitler misused the games.. but its more like day to day report.. it must have been a huge effort to find out all the facts.. however i would maybe rather prefer less of the boring (eg. For how long did the boat carriyng the australian team stopped for a break somewhere in pacific..) and more deeper description of stories and memories..

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

detailed and interesting book looking at the berlin olympics of 1936 looking at the lead up and the games itself and how the nazi party used to the games for their own needs and observations from competitors

[Bonnie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I learned a lot from this book and found it entertaining at the same time. The writing style took some getting used to, as it was very much in the style of a newspaper-researcher rather than the denser research nonfiction that I’ve read. The writing style attributed to my 3 star review, as does the fact that there are so many personalities in this book that the author sometimes fails to differentiate them clearly and it becomes hard to keep track of the identities of last names peppered in the paragraphs.

[Trish · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very detailed and well researched. The 1936 games provided so many firsts, including the torch relay, radio broadcasts and photo finish cameras, and the descriptions of the enthusiasm of the people for the Games were very similar to how London was in 2012.

And yet, behind it all was the ever-deteriorating political situations, and the seemingly unstoppable rise of Hitler and the Nazis.

[Lasse Bech · Rating 2 out of 5]

Denne danske udgave er første oplag. Jeg har aldrig oplevet en bog med så mange fejl. Det er et meget sjusket redaktionelt arbejde, der er lavet. Oversættelsen er fyldt med pinligheder, og der er stave- og trykfejl i et omfang der er pinligt.

Selve bogen er interessant - særligt fordi emnet er det. Forfatteren giver en god og interessant fortælling og dokumenterer fint i betragtning af den journalistiske genre.

[Tomi · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were a couple of flaws that really bothered me in this book - it was hard to tell when the author was using quotes, since the quoted material was set as just another paragraph. There were also areas where the author just listed events. All in all, however, this was a very good read. There was a lot of anecdotal material and trivial information. I also liked the inclusion of what happened to the various athletes after the Olympics.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I chose to read this book because of my fascination with the 1936 Olympics that arose while reading The Boys in the Boat. Christopher Hilton is British, so this book wasn't written from an American slant. I appreciated that, but didn't appreciate that he focused almost exclusively on track and field events.

His insight into how Hitler and Goebbels used the Olympic Games as a way to promote Nazi culture throughout the world was fascinating.

[Dave Hoff · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book, as well as the book on dirigibles, both non-fiction were the sourse of material for the fiction book "Flight From Berlin". It tells of how Hitler kept out some of the Jewish athletes from competing and also refuse to shaske the hand of Jesse Owens & other blacks. A good read for anyone intetrested in the Olympics and also Hitler's rise to power.

[Lex · Rating 3 out of 5]

read a bit like a list of events.... dry.... and huge quotes from other books got a bit confusing... but appreciated the historical background. looking back now it seems the whole event was very ominous and telling of what was to come but i guess at the time who could have imagined?

[Chelsea · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can't really say I enjoyed this book, because the barrage of facts and figures and comings and goings was difficult to slog through at times, but the overall picture Hilton brought about was worth reading it.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little dry, but definitely some interesting background information about the athletes and their lives before and after the Olympics.

[Jane · Rating 2 out of 5]

Finished, but really not well written or very interesting. More a recitation of who won what and a timeline. I think there might be another book with the same title. If I were you, I'd try that one.