The 1936 Olympics in Berlin were the first to employ the torch relay, an Olympic ritual. The Nazi regime used the Olympics to present the false image of a peaceful Germany.
The 1936 Games were the first to employ the torch run. Each of 3,422 torch bearers ran one kilometer (0.6 miles) along the route of the torch relay from the site of the ancient Olympics in Olympia, Greece, to Berlin. Former German Olympian Carl Diem modeled the relay after one that had been run in Athens in 80 B.C. It perfectly suited Nazi propagandists, who used torchlit parades and rallies to attract Germans, especially youth, to the Nazi movement.
This Olympic torch holder was used during the 1936 Berlin Olympics. It is engraved with the 1936 Olympics torch relay route from Olympia, Greece, to Berlin, Germany.
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On August 1, 1936, Hitler opened the 11th Summer Olympic Games. Inaugurating a new Olympic ritual, a lone runner arrived bearing a torch carried by relay from the site of the ancient Games in Olympia, Greece. This photograph shows an Olympic torch bearer running through Berlin, passing by the Brandenburg Gate, shortly before the opening ceremony. Berlin, Germany, July-August 1936.
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On August 1, 1936, Hitler opened the 11th Summer Olympic Games in Berlin, Germany. Inaugurating a new Olympic ritual, a lone runner arrived bearing a torch carried by relay from the site of the ancient Games in Olympia, Greece. This photograph shows the last of the runners who carried the Olympic torch arriving in Berlin to light the Olympic Flame, marking the start of the 11th Summer Olympic Games. Berlin, Germany, August 1, 1936.
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The last of the 3,000 runners who carried the Olympic torch from Greece lights the Olympic Flame in Berlin to start the 11th Summer Olympic Games. Berlin, Germany, August 1936.
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![On August 1, 1936, Hitler opened the 11th Summer Olympic Games. [LCID: 21678]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/thumb/a9ab4709-f9c0-4fdc-a7ed-9c9f82d6e4bd.jpg)