Hitler’s champions

Curiously, Hitler never felt a personal connection to physical exercises and athletic competitions until he came to power in 1933. Racism, the foundation of his ideology, should have prompted him to take an interest in the glorification of bodies, a specialty of sports from the outset. This neglect is even more puzzling given that across the Alps, Benito Mussolini had embraced this approach as early as the 1920s.

Once in power, the regime’s leaders evolved and recognized that sport could be an excellent tool for mobilization and propaganda, as well as a superb means to exalt the virtues of the New Man. In the three years leading up to the 1936 Olympic Games, the regime sought to make up for its initial delay in sports by instrumentalizing it, distorting its ideals, and pushing its top athletes to their limits.

Just as the regime’s economic policies and geographical expansion initially seemed self-evident, some German champions distinguished themselves without much effort. A few even flirted with Olympic glory. Yet none truly achieved it. Whether a fatal premonition or morbid anticipation, all of them, without exception, failed in their quest, accumulating setbacks, disasters, and tragedies, before being swept away in the storm of war.