Book review – “Nazi Games”

Those of us who think the IOC is comprised of a bunch of whores determined to do whatever it takes to exploit their own power, will find great comfort in this book, which deals with the 1936 Berlin Games. Although the games were given to Germany before Hitler came to power, there were plenty of people saying the games should be boycotted or abandoned, but the IOC pushed on, with brave men like Avery Brundage determined to overlook all those Nazi flaws and ignore the Jewish conspiracy to stop them.

Full of great trivia: the creation of Nazi jazz (Nazi approved jazz after the original was thought to be decadent), the way the Nazis relaxed prohibitions on homosexuality for the out of towners… and also provided female sex volunteers (good wholesome German girls) to root the white athletes; the arts festival which accompanied the games; internal Nazi bickering just like something out of Grass Roots (only with massive consequences as we later saw); the large number of genuinely principled athletes who boycotted the games; the fact Jesse Owens campaigned for Republicans in 1936 and spoke up for Hitler. Terrific book.