Dispelling The “Aryan ‘Master Race’ Myth”

The 1936 Summer Olympics began on August 4, 1936, in Berlin, Germany. The German Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler was in the process of putting his notion of an Aryan “Master Race” on the world stage. This would be one of the key points that triggered World War II, and Germany’s invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939. The Summer Olympics had been awarded to Germany on April 26, 1931, long before the atrocities against the Jews, Gypsies, and others were put in place. The decision was made during the 29th International Olympic Committee meeting, where Berlin outbid Barcelona for the hosting rights. The American people, while still struggling with forms of racism, had at lease moved further forward, was in the area of athletics, not that it took much to be less racist than Hitler. One such athlete was the American track star, Jesse Owens who won gold in the long jump at the Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany. Owens’ victory marked the second of four gold medals he earned in Berlin. There was no doubt that he totally disproved Adolf Hitler’s belief in the superiority of an Aryan “master race” on a global stage.

Jesse Owens first came on the international radar on May 25, 1935, at just 21 years of age. At the time he was an undergrad at Ohio State University. Nevertheless, he set three world records and tied another at the Big Ten Championships in Ann Arbor, Michigan. On that amazing day, “The Buckeye Bullet” started his afternoon by running the 100-yard dash in just 9.4 seconds to tie the world record. Just 10 minutes later, Owens jumped 26′ 8¾” thereby setting a world record he would hold until 1951. Then, just ten minutes after that, Owens set another world record in the 220-yard dash with a time of 20.3 seconds. Finally, less than an hour after his afternoon of competition started, Owens ran the 220-yard hurdles in 22.6 seconds for his third outright world record of the day. Owens’ impressive performance caused a sensation across the United States, and the track world looked forward to following his progress at the upcoming 1936 Olympics. America was excited about the Olympic prospects of this man.

The following day Owens won his third gold medal and set his second Olympic record of the games in the 200 meters. On August 9th, in an event that became controversial, Owens and the American 4 x 100-meter relay team set a new world record, finishing in just 39.8 seconds. The controversy was that Owens and teammate, Ralph Metcalfe replaced two American Jews, Marty Glickman and Sam Stoller in the race, who were originally scheduled to run the relay that day. The exchange of two members of the American team brought criticism, because the move was thought to be an appeasement of Hitler and the Nazi party, who would likely have been even angrier to see Jews, already a frequent target of Nazi hate and harassment, bring home a medal. I think that was a sad move for America to make, but it is done, so we will take the gold medal to show Hitler a thing or two, not that he learned anything.