Did any Jews compete in the 1936 Berlin Olympics?

lanfranco

Tall, blonde, and beautiful Helene Mayer, German daughter of a Jewish father, won a silver medal in the women's fencing competition -- individual foil. Her membership in a German fencing club had been withdrawn for racial reasons, but the Nazis were pressured by the international community to allow her to compete. She gave the Nazi salute on the victory stand but later became an American citizen. As always with Olympics questions, my source is David Wallechinsky's "Complete Book of the Summer Olympics," (2004 edition), pp. 600-601. Jul 04 05, 4:37 PM

barker111

Thanks, I wonder if a nation that was gleefuly burning synagogs was able to put restrictions on other Jewish competitors. Jul 04 05, 4:43 PM

bloomsby

At the time the German media said nothing about her background. Jul 04 05, 5:05 PM

lanfranco

In the 1936 4 x 100 meter relay competition, two American-Jewish athletes, Sam Stoller and Marty Glickman, were bumped from the U.S. team after the qualifying heats, which had assured them of places on the team for the final. They were replaced by Jesse Owens and Ralph Metcalfe, who with their teammates Foy Draper and Frank Wycoff won the gold medal. It has long been suspected that U.S. Olympic Committee President Avery Brundage ( amuch-hated man in the American sports world) insisted on the removal of Stoller and Glickman because they were Jewish (and the only Jews on the U.S. track team). Since Owens and Metcalfe were black, that is probably a specious argument, but Glickman never recovered from the experience. Again the source is Wallechinsky, p. 323. Jul 04 05, 5:26 PM

Arpeggionist

Officially, the Germans did not allow their own Jews to compete in the 1936 Olympic games. But they could not stop the Jews of other nations from competing. Either way, Hitler took Jesse Owens breaking the record as a slap in Germany's face (blacks were not much better than Jews as far as the Nazis were concerned). Jul 05 05, 5:06 PM