Olympic Games Open in Berlin

The 1936 Summer Olympic Games open in Berlin, attended by athletes and spectators from countries around the world.

The Olympic Games were a propaganda success for the Nazi government, as German officials made every effort to portray Germany as a respectable member of the international community. They removed anti-Jewish signs from public display and restrained anti-Jewish activities. In response to pressure from foreign Olympic delegations, Germany also included one part-Jew, the fencer Helene Mayer, on its Olympic team. For the duration of the games, Nazi officials also ordered that foreign visitors should not be subjected to the criminal penalties of Paragraph 175, a German statute that criminalized sexual relations between men.