Führer Pennant in the Berlin Olympic Stadium during the Olympic Games (1936)

Under Joseph Goebbels's leadership, the Nazi regime staged the 1936 Olympic Games as a gigantic propaganda spectacle. The world was to be given a picture of the beauty, harmony, and strength of the new Germany. All controversial aspects of the regime, such as its anti-Semitic slogans and agitation, were forbidden during the duration of the Games. Indeed, in order to placate world opinion, two "half-Jews," fencer Helene Mayer and ice hockey player Rudi Ball, were included as starters on the German team. All told, Germany under the swastika actually left a very positive impression on many foreign visitors and observers. Photograph by Wolff & Tritschler.

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© Bildarchiv Preußischer Kulturbesitz / Dr. Paul Wolff Tritschler