LLOYD A. STRICKLAND COLLECTION OF 1936 OLYMPICS PHOTOGRAPHS, 1936
#743

(1/3 cubic foot: 1 F/O)

by: Cathy Keen and Franklin A. Robinson, Jr., March 2002

History

In 1931 the city of Berlin was awarded the summer Olympic games for 1936. The 1936 games (the 11^th Olympiad) featured athletes from 49 countries and some 4,000 athletes participated in 148 events. The games were memorable for many reasons, including the beginning of the tradition of the torch relay, advances in media coverage, and the introduction of canoeing and basketball as Olympic sports. But in particular, they are remembered for the politically charged atmosphere in which they took place, with World War II in Europe just three years away. With Adolf Hitler's election in 1933 and the Nazi Party's rise to power, the games were seen by those in power in Germany as a means to advance the Party's ideologies. As events unfolded and information spread about the persecution of Jews and others by the Nazis, there were more and more demands upon the International Olympic Committee to remove the games from Germany. These efforts did not succeed, and the German government went on to spend huge amounts of money to make the games successful. The Reich Sports Field, a new sports complex built for the summer games, was draped in Nazi regalia for the games. The success of a number of black athletes, notably American track and field star Jesse Owens, was a blow to the notions of "Aryan supremacy" touted by Hitler and the Nazis. The games proceeded to their conclusion without incident. The photographs in this collection provide a cross-section of images of the games of the 11^th Olympiad.

Scope and Content

This collection consists of 149 photomechanical reproductions of scenes and events from the 1936 Berlin Olympics. The scenes are not only of the competition, but include opening and closing ceremonies, officials, crowd scenes, candid shots of the athletes while not competing, medal ceremonies, scoreboards, artworks, and close-ups of Olympic medals. Adolf Hitler appears in three of the photographs, athletes pictured include: Arai, Alice Arden, Gisela Arendt, Anita Barwirth, Brendel, J. Beresford, Eric Bladstrom, Erwin Blask, Bramfield, Jeanette Campbell, Rob Chand, Robert Charpentier, Robert Clark, Ibolya Csak, Ference Csik, Glenn Cunningham, Eckstein, W. Eichhorn, Ilona Elek-Schacherer, Fischer, Tilly Fleischer, Konrad Frey, Gaber, Giulio Gaudini, Friedrich Gerhard, Handrick, Hedwig Hab, Hamuro, Paul Hanni, Harangi, Glen Hardin, Kurt Hasse, Karl Hein, Gunner Hockert, Hornfischer, Erwin Huber, Jamonnieres, Sven Johansson, Cornelius Johnson, Willi Kaiser, Karl, Thea Keller, Adolf Kiefer, Kathy Kraus, Ernst Krebs, Ludwig Landen, John Loaring, Luz Long, Jack Lovelock, Mack, Siegerin H. Maehata, Maier, Sepp Manger, Ria Mastenbroek, Gisela Mauermayer, Helene Mayer, Earle Meadows, Jack Medica, Menne, Ralph Metcalfe, Paula Mollenhauer, Ruthley Moris-Hancock, Glenn Morris, Willie den Ouden, Jesse Owens, Padilla, Palusalu, Heinz Pollay, Ellen Preis, Ringen, Willy Rogeberg, Rom, Ilmari Salminen, Semoff, Gustav Schafer, Sturmer Schulze, Alfred Schwarzmann, Schweickert, Dina Senff, Erwin Sietas, Sollner, Kitei Son, L. Southwood, Hauptmann Stubbendorff, Helen Stephens, H. Straub, Sugiura, Taguchi, Naoto Tajima, Anthony Terlazzo, Forrest Towns, Torsten Ullman, Lu Valla, Volle, Volz, Stella Walasiewicz, Erster Wechsel, Paul Wevers, Harold Whitlock, Sieger Wilson, Archie Williams, Frank Wykoff, Yusa. All but seven of the photographs are 3 x 4 ½", the remainder are 4 ½ x 6 ½". The photographs are part of a souvenir set, as they are numbered on the reverse up to the number 200 (not all numbers are present). The inscriptions on the reverse sides indicate that this is a follow-up set to another set from the 1936 Winter Olympics in Garmisch. Each photograph also has a caption on the reverse, in German. Also included are two postcards of hotels: Hotel Bender and Niederbreisig, which have no clear connection to the Berlin Olympics.

Provenance

Mr. Strickland had the photographs in his possession for over 60 years. In 2000, he donated the collection to the Archives Center.

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