The official online fan shop of the Olympic Games has been selling T-shirts with designs from the Berlin Olympic Games in 1936, which were used by Adolf Hitler and the Nazis for propaganda. There are calls in Germany for the sale of the shirts to be stopped, but the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has defended it as being part of its Heritage Collection, celebrating styles from all editions of the Games.
The T-shirts, which are emblazoned with the original poster design for the Berlin Olympics by Franz Würbel, are currently out of stock. The 1936 Games were used by Hitler as a chance to promote his ideals of racial supremacy and to glorify Nazi Germany on an international stage.
Klara Schedlich, a spokesperson for sports policy for the Green Party faction in the Berlin House of Representatives, stated that the IOC is clearly not reflecting sufficiently on its own history and described the choice of image as problematic and unsuitable for a T-shirt without context.
The IOC responded that while it acknowledges the historical issues of Nazi propaganda, it wants to remember that the Berlin 1936 Games saw 4,483 athletes from 49 countries compete in 149 medal events. A spokesperson stated, We made an Olympic Heritage Collection available to the public that celebrates 130 years of Olympic art and design. For this series, emblems, pictograms, posters and mascots from all editions of the Olympic Games are featured.
The spokesperson emphasized that the historical context of the Berlin Games is explained at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, and that only a limited number of 1936 T-Shirts had been produced and sold. Jesse Owens, an African-American track and field athlete, notably won four gold medals at the 1936 Games, which countered the Nazi myth of Aryan racial supremacy.
The T-shirts, which are emblazoned with the original poster design for the Berlin Olympics by Franz Würbel, are currently out of stock. The 1936 Games were used by Hitler as a chance to promote his ideals of racial supremacy and to glorify Nazi Germany on an international stage.
Klara Schedlich, a spokesperson for sports policy for the Green Party faction in the Berlin House of Representatives, stated that the IOC is clearly not reflecting sufficiently on its own history and described the choice of image as problematic and unsuitable for a T-shirt without context.
The IOC responded that while it acknowledges the historical issues of Nazi propaganda, it wants to remember that the Berlin 1936 Games saw 4,483 athletes from 49 countries compete in 149 medal events. A spokesperson stated, We made an Olympic Heritage Collection available to the public that celebrates 130 years of Olympic art and design. For this series, emblems, pictograms, posters and mascots from all editions of the Olympic Games are featured.
The spokesperson emphasized that the historical context of the Berlin Games is explained at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, and that only a limited number of 1936 T-Shirts had been produced and sold. Jesse Owens, an African-American track and field athlete, notably won four gold medals at the 1936 Games, which countered the Nazi myth of Aryan racial supremacy.
