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The 1936 Winter Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen

Germany's "White Olympics" were tainted by a Brown Shadow

Most people associate the 1936 Olympics with the notorious Berlin games, held in the summer of that year. But the winter games, held February 6-16 in the Bavarian villages of Garmisch and Partenkirchen, came first. Though overshadowed by the dramatic change of political landscape that accompanied the National Socialists' rise to power in Germany, they were also the stage for remarkable achievements in sports history.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) officially awarded Germany the honor of hosting the games in 1931, when Germany was still a democratic country. But in 1933, Adolf Hitler and his National Socialists came to power, and the political climate changed. Observers in the United States and other western democracies questioned the morality of supporting Olympic Games hosted by the Nazi regime. Short-lived boycott efforts surfaced in Great Britain, France, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, and the Netherlands.

However, when the IOC met in Austria in 1933, it was unwilling to break its tradition of not mixing sport and politics and decreed that the games would go ahead as planned, with one important stipulation: that the Germans not exclude Jews from participating. The Nazis complied, allowing German Jews to participate in the Games and pledging fair treatment of all athletes. With this assurance, the decision was made not to change the venue.

In the end, international opposition subsided, and the biggest contingent of athletes yet attended the 1936 Winter Games. Twenty-eight nations sent 668 athletes to Germany, for a total of 588 men and a record 80 women. With the Nazi party ruling Germany, it fell to Hitler to open the games. Despite the political shadows cast by his regime, the 1936 Garmisch-Partenkirchen Olympics were the games of many "firsts" - the first time Germany hosted the Olympics, the debut of the Olympic torch, the inauguration of Alpine (downhill) skiing and the cross-country relay events, the first time combined Alpine events for men and women were offered - both won by Germans, Christl Cranz and Franz Pfnür, the first time a number of countries took part, notably Australia, Greece, Spain, Turkey, Bulgaria and Liechtenstein.

The German pair skaters Maxi Herber and Ernst Baier, won gold in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in 1936.

Among the stories for which the 1936 Winter Games have gone down in Olympics history was the performance of 16-year-old Norwegian Laila Schou Nilsen, who at the time held every speed-skating record for distances between 500 and 5,000 meters. Due to the exclusion of women's speedskating from the Olympics, she instead chose to compete in the combined downhill, which she won, although no medals were awarded at the time for success in individual races. In a shocking upset, Britain won the men's ice hockey competition. The German ice hockey team wasn't so lucky, but drew considerable attention nonetheless. Rudi Ball, a leading member of the Germany's 1932 Olympic hockey squad and a Jew in voluntary exile in France, was invited by the German government to return home to compete under the banner of his native country. Many think Hitler used this gesture as a calculated attempt to placate IOC officials.

Legendary Norwegian figure skate Sonja Henie took home her third and final gold medal from the Garmisch-Partenkirchen games. The German pairs figure skating team of Maxi Herber and Ernst Baier also did their country proud, earning gold medals for their performance. Overall, Germany placed second among the top medal-winning countries, taking home three golds and three silvers. Finland, with its seven gold, five silver and three bronze medals, easily ranked first.

Just 12 days after the Winter Olympics ended, German troops began remilitarizing the Rhineland - an overture to increasing tension and, in the end, the Second World War. It would be 12 years before the world would see another Winter Olympics. In 1948, after peace has been restored, the Winter Games were resurrected in St. Moritz, Switzerland and have continued without interruption to this day.

Germany at the Olympics

Reisehinweise für Deutsche

Medal Contenders 2002
   Luge
   Ski Jumping
   Speed Skating
   Biathalon
   Snowboarding
   Skeleton

Olympic Legends

Winter Sports in Germany

1936 Winter Games

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