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THE 1936 BERLIN Olympics are shrouded in myth and tragedy.
The International Olympic Committee granted the German capital the right to host in 1931, just as Adolf Hitler was rising to power.
By the time the games rolled around, the oppressive Nuremberg laws were in effect, and the Olympic flag hung alongside banners bearing the swastika.
Remains in ruins
Today, the 1936 Olympic Village, which actually lies in Elstal, Wustermark, on the edge of Berlin, remains, but it is in ruins.
Photographer Sylvain Margaine visited for his book, “Forbidden Places: Exploring our abandoned heritage,” and website Forbidden-Places.net. With permission, we’ve published a selection of his photos here.
In 1931, Berlin won the right to host the 1936 Summer Games. The city threw all available resources behind an extravagant village, erecting 145 buildings and a 120,000-seat stadium.
As construction of the Olympic Village ramped up, so did the Nazis’ reign. The newly passed Nuremberg Laws marginalised Jews and stripped them of most political rights.
Here we see Hitler, centre, and two aides enter the Olympic Village for an inspection. The gateway inscription reads, “To the Youth of the World.”
Jewish and leftist groups threatened to boycott the Games, but the International Olympic Committee insisted that the Games’ message of unity would tame the Third Reich.
Of course, the Games accomplished no such feat. While Hitler’s regime dialed back its persecution of Jews that summer, it went on to commit some of the gravest crimes in human history.
Today the 1936 Berlin Olympic Village is in ruins. Photographer Sylvain Margaine visited the site for his book, “Forbidden Places: Exploring our abandoned heritage.”
The House of Nations, a main dining hall, was the centrepiece of Berlin’s Olympic Village.
The large, horseshoe-shaped building housed 38 dining rooms, designated for different countries participating in the Games.
Records show that in three weeks, participants consumed 100 cows, 91 pigs, over 650 lambs, and 8,000 pounds of coffee — mostly prepared here, in the kitchen.
When athletes weren’t wining and dining, they were training. The gymnasium was once sunlit and airy.
A indoor pool allowed swimmers and divers to practice and relax before competition. It now sits empty and unused.
Conservationists spent a reported £1.7 million restoring the pool house’s roof.
The changing rooms, once painted in electric shades of blue and olive, have since decayed.
In the amphitheater, a base-relief sculpture by German artist Walter von Ruckteschell depicts German troops marching.
This drawing of Russian revolutionary leader Vladimir Ilyich Lenin points to what became of the historic Olympic Village. The facilities later served as a German military academy, then a hospital for troops wounded in World War II …
… and eventually, an interrogation and torture centre under Communist rule. For 50 years, Soviet forces occupied the grounds. These barracks remain, rotting away on the village outskirts.
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looks like ballymun
Finbar your a clown
• your is a possessive adjective, indicating ownership of something
◦ That is your sock.
◦ Where is your potato?
• you’re is a contraction (combination) of you and are
◦ Do you know what you’re doing?
◦ You’re stupid.
• The two are not interchangeable.
• Getting it wrong makes you look stupid. And ugly.
Finbarr Muppet !
Ha Ha ur a funny guy
Everett, with over 100 thumbs down it looks like you’re the clown. Ha ha!!
Seriously though, it doesn’t look like Ballymun. More like Inchicore before the flats got knocked.
@finbarr
Top mark to you for black humour!
@ Finbar just thinking the exact same thing them flats are the image of the old four stories in Coultry Ballymun
Went to the Olympic Stadium on a visit to Berlin. Have to say the stadium is amazing for its age.
it got a big refurb before the 2006 world cup.
I was there on 5th November 1986 for a bonfire night fireworks display when it was under Brirish de-markation control, a truelly surreal and unforgettable experience.
The report says that for ‘fifty years it was under Communist control’, this is simply not true.
After WW2 and up until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 Berlin was divided under allied US, Soviet, British & French military, whereby the Berlin Olympic stadium came under British control. Certainly not Communist as the report suggests, the Soviets occupied east Berlin.
I did Nazi that coming, did Jew?!
It would remind Shinners of the good old days when they supported Hitler thinking that he would be victorious. Another monumental miscalculation.
Seriously tea..dious, you do know that you patjoe Sammymadra etc are actually a PR goldmine machine for Sinn fein.
I think so many people are sick of the constant obnoxious trolling you’ve probably actually increased their vote.
Yes – I wonder why the shinners never allude to their Nazi connections!
Probably for the same reasons the British government and Royal family never mention theirs.
EDWARD VIII of Britain was practically a Hitler devotee
Very true.
Edward VIII the King of Britain was practically a simpering devotee of Hitler who was planning to use him as a nazi puppet king.
Bahahahaha BLUESHIRTS
Eoin O Duffy offered to Nazi Germany the prospect of raising an Irish Brigade to fight in Operation Barbarossa during World War II on the Eastern Front against the Soviet system, but this was not taken up.
Many had Nazi connections – but I was typing about this country, where the shinners were ‘best friends’ with the Nazis. Even planning (together) the bombing of Manchester etc.
The IRA collaborated with the Nazis and even described the Nazis as “our victorious European allies.” The IRA also offered Blueshirt Eoin O’Duffy a leadership position in the IRA, which is remarkable considering their previous history.
Both were at war with England so what’s your point?
Google – ‘Plan S’…….
Bob – who gave the IRA the authority to fight on our behalf?
Certainly, not the Irish people….
Indeed Bryan, but as the Blueshirts had performed so pathetically in Spain with O’Duffy, the Germans wouldn’t have anything to do with a man of such poor judgement and no leader of men.
Will, I never mentioned anything about the irish people. The IRA were at odds with England as were the Germans. Would it not make sense for the two to plot against their common enemy. But alas, no, that doesn’t suit your Blueshirt agenda and you have to go bringing in the weight of a nation in to your FG agenda. Yawn
And I am no Sinn Fein fan either btw.
According to Antony Beevor; O Duffy fired on his own troops thinking they were IRA men on the republican side. He and his troops were sent to the rear for the rest of their time in Spain, were O Duffy remained in his cups.
Shinners were prepared to use Nazis as a means to an end, Blueshirts were/are Nazis, albeit Mickey Mouse Nazis!
Bob – I am no supporter of FG.
The fact is that SF were the only political organization in Ireland to support – actively – the Nazis, who murdered millions.
DeValera signed Hitler’s book of condolences. Was he a Shinnerbot??
Will, you’re wrong, plain wrong, as the comments above prove.
Just another idiot, like his pal, McQuaid.
At least, you don’t deny – Bob – that SF actively helped the Nazis, on many occasions.
Quizzling traitor.
He did it to pi$$ off Churchill…
Belin – nowadays – is a magic place.
One example, fantastic transport that puts our capital’s into the dark ages.
Also – more history than any city….
“Also – more historic than any city…”
Sure.
*More history. Because it was at the epicentre of Europe/the World for thousands of years. Roman Empire included…
Don’t think Berlin was in the Roman Empire?
lol
Right 32. Sorry.
The nazis knew how to build a country
They knew how to absolutely wreck a country like no other as well, whether it was their own or surrounding ones.
It was also the first Olympics to have a torch relay.
I try to Speer clear of puns
The architecture is incredible, shame to see it in ruins.
And, I actually find it a bit more ‘chilling’ that it was a communist torture camp for fifty years, than a Nazi Olympic village for a few weeks.
Headline is a bit sensationalist ! Looks fab – restore it !
Fair play to Hitler. He organised a great Olympics
Connor, a very sad bloke – ridiculing the Holocaust….
That’s a strange comment to make, Rooney. What does the Holocaust have to do with the Olympics?
Hitler, you buffoon.
What, so you can never discuss anything to do with Hitler without mentioning the Holocaust? Resorting to abuse and childish name calling shows that you’ve already lost this argument
Hitler IS the Holocaust.
You ignorant rat….
Ever heard of Godwin’s law? Sorry, you lose
Connor – I’m sorry for the millions that Hitler murdered. And you, you deluded freak.
Rooney, I’m sorry for all the millions that Hitler murdered too, but that doesn’t mean that the1936 Olympics wasn’t a very well run sporting event. Try to focus and differentiate between the two different things. Also, it would be appreciated if you could tone down the petty name-calling
House of Nations looks, and sounds like, it could be a deadly club. Investors?
If the Germans didn’t want to show us this old Olympic village – it would be there.
wouldn’t*
Did the Berlin Marathon way back at the start of the 80′s finishing in the stadium, amazing experience.
The soviets did the Berlin marathon in the 40′s. Starting in Stalingrad and finishing in the Reichstag!!!!
Nuremberg is such a nice city. Pity that mad lunatic and his law has tainted it forever, even the podium he used in his speechs still stands today at the rally grounds.
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