Hitler's Olympics
Hitler swept to power in the mid-1930s and set out to stage the most extravagant Olympics
Adolf Hitler swept to power in Germany in the mid-1930s and immediately set out to stage the most extravagant and spectacular summer Olympics ever, the 1936 Berlin Games. And countries from around the world dutifully put together their national teams and made the trip to Germany. Why?
In this new nine-part series Hitler’s Olympics, Malcolm Gladwell and Ben Naddaff-Hafrey explore the games behind the Games, the most consequential Olympics in history. Along the way, they meet a collection of the world’s daffiest aristocrats. A couple of American construction moguls. A legendary triple-jumper. And one discerning journalist.
Heroes and villains. The clear-eyed and the deluded. All of them going to Hitler’s Olympics.