Jesse Owens w świetle polityki informacyjnej III Rzeszy podczas XI Igrzysk Olimpijskich (na przykładzie „Pommersche Zeitung”, organu NSDAP w Prowincji Pomorze)

• Authors: Miłosz Stępiński

Title variants

EN

Jesse Owens in the light of information policy of the Third Reich at the 11th Olympic Games (on the example of „Pommersche Zeitung” – the body of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party in the province of Pomerania)

• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

Historiography unanimously acknowledges the 11th Olympic Games as the inseparable part of the totalitarian policy of the head of the Third Reich. The Nazis managed to allay the fears of the West and the USA. They succeeded in carrying out the Berlin Olympic Games according to the Olympic rules and its spirit, expressing at the same time the main objectives of the Nazi ideology and the concept of the Nordic racial ideal. In German Studies there is no research describing a refined Nazi propaganda, characterized by a perfect staging of „the country of peace”, included not in general German or official publications, but in the regional press. The article attempts to describe the manner of representation of Jesse Owens in „Pommershe Zeitung” – the body of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party in the province of Pomerania, published since 1932. The American athlete Jesse Owens became a legend mainly due to the fact of being awarded four gold medals. The literature says that Jesse Owens was considered the favourite of sprint competitions and one of the stars of the Berlin Olympic Games. He did not arrive in the capital of Nazi Germany as an anonymous black sportsman, but as one of the favourites for the gold medal. Accounts in German newspapers, including „Pommersche Zeitung”, serve as a proof of that. The performance of Americans in Berlin took up the most space, particularly during athletic competitions on 2–9 August, when black athletes from the USA dominated running tracks and jumps of the Olympic Stadium. In accounts of correspondents of „Pommersche Zeitung” from Berlin on this subject, supported by interesting pictures of Owens’ and other American representatives’ performances, it is hard to find any racial or socialdarwinian prejudices. The greatness of Jesse Owen’s achievements and his superiority over „Aryan” rivals was emphasized. The willingness to expose the triumph on the part of German sportsmen was also moderated.

Keywords

EN

the 11th Olympic Games in Berlin in 1936; the policy and propaganda of the Third Reich and sport; sportsmen of the USA at the Olympic Games; the 11th Olympic Games in the provincial Nazi press

• Publisher: Towarzystwo Naukowe w Toruniu
• Journal: Zapiski Historyczne
• Year: 2010
• Volume: 75
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 111-129

Contributors

author

Miłosz Stępiński

• Instytut Kultury Fizycznej, Uniwersytet Szczeciński