A shirt sold on the Olympics’ official online store that features artwork from Adolf Hitler’s 1936 Berlin Games has now sold out.
As a part of the IOC’s ‘Heritage Collection,’ t-shirts have been made with reproductions of official Olympic posters.
This includes the poster designed by German artist Franz Würbel for the Summer Olympics of 1936 – perhaps one of the earliest and most famous instances of ‘sports-washing’ as Hitler’s Nazi regime shared its propaganda across the globe before starting World War II three years later.
This design includes a laurel-crowned male figure, the iconic Brandenburg gate and the Olympic rings. Würbel’s image was widely circulated under the Nazi regime to promote Aryan supremacy.
While there was considerable backlash for the Summer Olympics t-shirt poster, the IOC also made a t-shirt with the poster from the 1936 Winter Olympics – which were also put on by Nazi Germany in the Alps ski resort town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
This shirt, featuring the artwork of Nazi propogandist Ludwig Hohlwein and showing a black-and-red clad man holding skis in his left hand and making what appears to be a fascist salute with his right, has also sold out on the Olympic store website.
A t-shirt featuring a poster from the 1936 Berlin Olympics has sold out on the IOC website
Another shirt from the 1936 Winter Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen has sold out as well
The IOC was condemned for making these items for sale by Jewish advocacy groups and German politicians alike.
‘The 1936 Olympic Games were a central propaganda tool of the Nazi regime,’ said Klara Schedlich, the sports policy spokesperson for the Green Party in Berlin’s state parliament.
Schedlich accused the IOC of ‘clearly not reflecting sufficiently on its own history’ while adding ‘the choice of image is problematic and unsuitable for a T-shirt’ without the proper context.
Liora Rez, the founder of StopAntisemitism, referred to the merchandise as a ‘shame.’
‘The Olympics have been a staging ground for antisemitism for decades,’ Rez told Fox News Digital.
‘At the Munich games in 1972, when terrorists butchered the Israeli Olympic team, the competition barely paused. Even decades later the IOC refused to properly commemorate the massacre. And this year, the Jew-hate is official.’
In a statement to The Athletic, an IOC spokesperson confirmed that the shirts had indeed sold out.
‘While we of course acknowledge the historical issues of “Nazi propaganda” related to the Berlin 1936 Olympic Games, we must also remember that the Games in Berlin saw 4,483 athletes from 49 countries compete in 149 medal events,’ they explained.
Adolf Hitler particularly used the Berlin Games to spread Nazi propaganda around the world just a mere three years before he invaded Poland and began World War II
Jesse Owens’ performance at these games stunned the world, as well as Hitler
‘Many of them stunned the world with their athletic achievements, including (American sprinter) Jesse Owens. The historical context of these Games is further explained at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne.
‘For the 1936 edition, the number of T-shirts produced and sold by the IOC is limited, which is why they are currently sold out.’
While it is true that Jesse Owens’ accomplishments did sneer in the face of Hitler’s belief of Aryan racial superiority, it should be remembered that Nazi Germany did win these Olympics with 33 gold medals and 89 total medals.
The Nazis lost the Winter Olympics – with just 17 events taking place over the course of one week. Norway took home the most gold medals (7) four years before the Nazis invaded the country and occupied it up until the nation’s eventual surrender in May of 1945.
It’s also notable that a small and less significant side effect of the Nazis starting the Second World War was the cancellation of the Summer Olympics in 1940 (originally given to Tokyo, then Helsinki) and 1944 (London) as well as the Winter Olympics in 1940 (Sapporo) and 1944 (Cortina d’Ampezzo).