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Hitler's Use Of The 1936 Games And Propaganda

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The 1936 Games were organized and convened under the shadow of the Nazi Party. The government used the Olympics as a means to promote their ideology and position within the international community. As such, the art and advertising associated with the Games had strict standards and symbolism embedded into their design. Adolf Hitler used the 1936 Games in an attempt to prove the superiority of the Aryan race, which failed when Jesse Owens won four gold medals. The Games were meant to be an international meeting of amateur athletes and instead became a showcase and propaganda machine for the National Socialist German Workers' Party leading up World War II.
The Third Reich used posters in order to portray the Aryan race’s dominance and higher status …show more content…
Olympische Spiele 1936 (1936) was used as promotional material during and before the Games as part of the campaign. The poster (Figure 3) features two men in the midst of what seems to be a race. The man closer to the viewer has dark, nearly black hair while the other is blond. The two men are nearly evenly placed in their competition, with the blond seeming an inch forward in the race. This display of Aryan dominance fits into the dynamic and ideology that the German government was attempting to push at the time of the event. Posters moved from an informational or celebratory representation of the Games to an ideological depiction of the host country. The designer depicted both in the German futurism style. The implications of futurism include the inclusion of a new style in the Games design. Previously, most Games had used classical representations as a way to continue the tradition from ancient Greece and also conform to the standards of the time. The Berlin Games move to include futurism in their depictions, a move that corresponds with the styles becoming popular within the regimes of fascist countries like Italy at the time. The dynamic lines and strong linear qualities of futurism allowed the figures within the design to be presented as strong. Strong angles and shadows carve out the feature on the men’s faces in the poster. Their mouths are open and browns gathered in pain or concentration while their necks are defined by strain. The physical toll of the Olympic Games is being portrayed in their obvious signs of the determination and effort it takes to be an Olympian. They are portrayed in the act of running, a classic example of the events featured in the Games. At the time, the National Socialist regime thought that their success in events were a given due to the superior nature of the Aryan Race. Those were proven false with the success of Jesse Owens.

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