The Twin Betrayals of the Olympics in 1936 and 2008

The Twin Betrayals of the Olympics in 1936 and 2008
By Thomas Kleiber Special to The Epoch Times May 12, 2008

The Olympic Games were first held in Greece, the birthplace of democracy, and from the beginning have carried the message that nations should gather in peace and compete in sports. There is an inherent kinship between the peaceful Olympic Games and the peaceful ways of democratic and free nations, and the Olympics have had their finest moments when hosted by democratic countries.

The years 1936 and 2008 have in common the hosting of the Olympic Games by totalitarian regimes: Nazi Germany and Communist China.


Nazi Germany was a one-party regime, as is China today. Both the Nazi and Chinese Communist parties struggled to gain power and the Nazis endeavored, just as the Chinese regime is endeavoring today, to establish a good reputation by hosting the Olympic Games.

Nazi Germany invented the tradition of having a torch relay, which served to connect and bind as many countries as possible to the event in Berlin. It was a propaganda campaign, one that continues to have an impact.

China has taken the torch relay to the extreme by planning the longest torch relay ever in history, including going high up atop Mount Everest. At every step the Beijing torch is protected by "torch guards," whose presence is already a break with the Olympic spirit.

These totalitarian Olympics may put a parenthesis around the torch relay: After the protest-plagued 2008 Olympic torch relay, the IOC is considering ending the tradition that started in Berlin.

Before holding the Olympic Games Nazi Germany had started to persecute the Jewish community, although it did not begin the "final solution" until several years later. The Nazis didn't even dare to officially exclude Jews from participating in the Games (although Jews were prohibited from representing Germany in the Games).

The Chinese regime has not only started to persecute a group of people for their religious beliefs, but is even very frank about its policy of persecution. At the end of 2007 a spokesperson for the Beijing Olympic Committee stated that practitioners of the Falun Gong are excluded from all Olympic activities.

All human rights organizations and governments know that Falun Gong is one of the main victims of state-sanctioned persecution in China. Several thousand adherents have been tortured to death because of their beliefs.

In Nazi Germany, Dr. Josef Mengele started human experiments on Jews after the Berlin Olympics, during the Holocaust.

In today's Communist China medical doctors have for several years been extracting organs from living Falun Gong practitioners for profit. The live organ harvesting is believed to have started in 2001, the same year that China won the bid for the 2008 Olympic Games.

Nazi Germany needed all countries to come to the Olympic Games in Berlin as a sign of the legitimacy of the Nazi regime. Nothing less is the case in China: The attendance of government officials from around the world at the opening ceremony is considered a measure of approval for the Chinese regime.

The fascist German regime and the communist Chinese regime would appear to be opposites, although similar in betraying the Olympic spirit. However, the communist regime in China has adopted so many capitalistic measures that it cannot be considered communist anymore. Since 1989 it has transformed itself into a fascist regime that uses the Communist Party to dominate society and ruthless capitalistic measures to provide sustaining fuel for the Party's rule.

Of course, the Chinese regime doesn't have a Führer like Adolf Hitler, who was the leader of a movement that sought to vindicate Germany's greatness. However, in China, the Communist Party plays a role similar to that of the Führer, demanding all serve it as the embodiment of China's national destiny.

In the debate about whether the Berlin Olympics should have been boycotted, some claim that Jesse Owens competing in the Olympics refuted Adolf Hitler's racist theories. However, Owens' four gold medals were not able to stop the Holocaust in which an estimated 8 million were killed. In looking back, we might ask if a boycott of the 1936 Berlin Games would not have been more successful in helping avoid World War II and the Holocaust.

In 1936, there were no precedents for how to deal with an Olympic Games held in a totalitarian country. In 2008, we once again face the question how to deal with a totalitarian host of the Olympic Games.

The Chinese regime argues that sports and politics should be separated.

The Olympic Charter speaks of placing "sport at the service of the harmonious development of man, with a view to promoting a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity."

The Charter also speaks of "respect for universal fundamental ethical principles."

By describing as "politics" any objections to systematic violations of human rights that retard the harmonious development of man, deprive society of peace, destroy human dignity, and violate "universal fundamental ethical principles," the Chinese regime is not separating "politics" from sports. It is separating the Olympic Games from their hallowed purpose. And it is doing so even while increasing the persecution against groups like the Tibetans and the Falun Gong.

It is fitting that the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who grew up under communism in East Germany, should be one of the first national leaders in her actions to show an understanding of the significance of the Beijing Olympics. She knows that basic human rights cannot be considered independent from other issues, much less the Olympics, and she has lead the way for other European leaders by announcing she will not attend the Opening Ceremony in Beijing.

In 1936 the world, when confronted with a betrayal of the Olympics by a totalitarian regime, failed to uphold the fundamental principles central to the Olympic movement. This year the world gets a second chance. The nations of the world may choose to participate in the self-promotion of a brutal regime and in doing so to betray the Olympic spirit or they may insist that the Olympics must be kept true to itself

Feels Like 1936 Again

The Olympic Spirit hangs its head in shame
When police states are allowed to host the games
Like Germany when Hitler reigned supreme
Seeking glory for his murderous regime

Now China wants to shine upon that stage
East and West are eager to engage
But human rights the CCP disdains
Feels like 1936 again.


Can you hold an international track meet
When you got a labor camp right down the street?
Can you sponsor the Olympics in 08
When you still imprison people for their faith?

The CCP will change what can be seen
They'll even paint the grass and mountains green
But their evil nature always will remain
Feels like 1936 again.


They torture people seven days a week
The shock batons are sizzling as we speak
They harvest organs from the Falun Gong
Then cremate them to hide what's going on.

Put me on your blacklist I don't care
I hope the people boycott this affair
The stench of genocide is in the wind
Feels like 1936 again.


Reports about the slaughter of the Jews
Quite often didn't even make the news
The world still seems to have a tendency
To ignore big crimes against humanity

When virtue comes in second place to trade
Freedom, hope and justice start to fade
The Olympic flame is flickering and dim
Feels like 1936 again

Above are the words to a song written for the Human Rights Relay Torch (HRTR).

During the run up to the 2008 Olympics, the HRTR will sponsor events in 35 countries on five continents to publicize its founding premise: The Olympics and crimes against humanity cannot co-exist in China.




HRTR's participants--government officials, Olympic medalists, individuals and organizations the world over--will carry a symbol of justice and respect for humanity to cities around the world. We hope this effort will help to protect the dignity of all human beings and invite all to join us. Let us not remain silent, as the world did before the Nazi-hosted 1936 Berlin Games, and speak out with one voice:





The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has intensified the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners--estimated at 100 million--and their families. Falun Gong adherents and other prisoners of conscience are vivisected on demand to supply a thriving organ transplant industry. The CCP continues its brutal repression of Tibetan Buddhists, Christians, Uighurs, rights advocates, reporters, and defense lawyers. And it supports other totalitarian regimes in perpetrating slaughter upon their citizens--in Darfur, Burma, Zimbabwe, and North Korea.

Human Rights Torch Relay Arrives in Berlin

German torch carrier, former East German athlete Ines Geipel, who set the world record with her partners for the 4x100m relay, taking over the Human Rights Torch from seven-year-old Chen Fadu, who lost her father because of the CCP's persecution of Falun Gong, and who carried the torch all the way from the HRTR Lighting ceremony in Greece. (Cao Gong/The Epoch Times)

The Human Rights Torch Relay (HRTR) that was lit in Greece, the sacred place of the Olympics, arrived in the German capital of Berlin on August 18. That afternoon, the European branch of the Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (CIPFG), the German International Society for Human Rights, the Union of Victim Associations of Communist Tyranny (UOKG) and the Library Association to Commemorate the Victims of Communist Tyranny held a greeting ceremony for the arrival of the HRTR at Berlin Olympic Stadium.

Shortly after the greeting ceremony, German torch carrier and famous former East German athlete Ines Geipel raised the torch high and led the welcoming team as it ran through downtown Berlin and arrived with the torch in front of William Memorial Church in the Breischeidplatz square. That evening, bands coming from Berlin and other European cities held a "Berlin Human Rights Torch Relay Welcoming" ceremony and open-air concert at Breischeidplatz.

The HRTR's next stop will be Munich. It is expected to arrive in Australia at the end of October.