Hitler's Olympics - Hitler's World: The Post War Plan - S01 EP05 - History Documentary

foreign Leisure and artisan now these aren't  words you're normally put together but   for Adolf Hitler they were an integral part  of his plan to control Germany's Workforce   and to indoctrinate citizens of the Third  Reich with the ideals of the Nazi regime in this episode I'll see how Hitler used  the Olympic Games to promote Nazism how he   controlled the Leisure Time and holidays of his  citizens by developing the world's largest travel   agency and how by constructing the world's  biggest beach resort he hoped to brainwash   the people of the Reich in preparation  for World War II when people say that   Nazism is totalitarian that really means they  wanted total control of all aspects of life   if you're going on a Nazi holiday you better  prepare for some Nazi indoctrination [Music] when Hitler came to power in 1933 he was Keen  to provide a showcase for his new Nazi regime   one that would make the International Community  take notice of the new Germany and to stamp his   country's Mark firmly on the world map he chose  to do that with the staging of the Olympic Games by far the largest single International  Event held during the Nazi period was the   1936 Berlin Olympic Games hundreds of thousands  of people from all over the world came to view   this sporting spectacular but for the Nazi  regime it presented another opportunity it   enabled them to show the world that Germany was  now a tolerant place a wealthy place a place that   seemed in fact happy it was an opportunity the  Nazis sees with both hands and boy did it work   foreign was particularly Keen to  outshine the Americans who had hosted   the successful 1932 games in Los Angeles  he therefore ordered a newly built 100   000 seater Stadium for the track and field  events six gymnasiums and multiple other   venues and what's more he was going to put on the  most spectacular ceremony the world had ever seen   I think they really had three main objectives with  the 36 Olympics one was to produce Olympics which   were faultlessly organized and secondly to produce  the Olympics which were meticulously choreographed   thirdly most controversially of course to produce  Olympics which would demonstrate Aryan superiority   in August the Olympic games are held in Berlin  which Hitler has transformed into the Showplace of   the Third Reich on this occasion he intends that  foreign visitors be impressed by Nazi efficiency   the material achievements of his new order  they built this out for modern stadium in   Berlin type to house the main events they cleaned  up their acts to the extent of that they removed   anti-semitic signs from Germany temporarily  there were signs like you wouldn't sin here   negative ones Jews are welcome here outside  most if not every village in the rage those went   um signs saying only Aryans could  sit on park benches they went too   but this was just uh if you like a massaging of   the image masterminded by the propaganda  and Enlightenment Minister Joseph Goebbels no the Nazis actively masks their racial  views from the International Community   but while black and Jewish athletes  were allowed to compete in the events   the local population of gypsies in  Berlin was rounded up and held in camps so people who visited were left with  the impression that the country was   warm welcoming and peaceful little did they know during the build up to the Berlin Olympics there  were several campaigns worldwide calling for a   boycott on the basis that Nazi involvement  made the whole event morally questionable   the Germans had been awarded the  Olympics before Hitler came to power   and there was real indecision in part of some  of the world's Nations specifically Britain   and the United States whether they wanted  to participate in this particular Olympics   because they kind of figured that the Germans  could use it purely for propaganda purpose   the British told them right up front that  unless they ease the restrictions on Jews   and they let all Jewish athletes compete they  would not come and the Americans there were of   course Americans who were also telling them that  well unless you do this we're not going to come make this a total of 49 Nations took  part in the games and ambassadors and   Spectators from across the globe filled the  venues in support of their home countries   you've really got to imagine what it would have  been like in August 1936 this would have been   packed with tens of thousands of people  but the one everybody had their eyes on   was Adolf Hitler he was up there in his stand  and he almost literally had the world at his feet   and all around him would have been Olympic flags  but more gratifyingly for Hitler was swastikas   the swastikas of the Third Reich if you want  a better symbol you're not going to find it or   the fact that the Nazis were seeking to own the  games they wanted to own the Olympics forevermore in in point of that in 1936 Berlin  Olympics were really the start of   the Razzamatazz that we see in the  Olympic Games to this to this day   it's I think the 1936 Olympics are probably you  might describe you know the first really modern   if you like media Savvy Olympics it was actually  the first games that were televised [Applause]   and as well as being televised it was also the  first sporting event to be broadcast live to   special screening rooms throughout Berlin while  coverage of the events could also be accessed   via the radio in over 40 countries worldwide  Nazis actually developed a look for it which   which probably hadn't happened before they showed  things like can the torch relay which was a which   was an innovation of the 1936 Olympics which  was designed to to sort of link it back to the   classical past and to link Nazi Germany to to the  to the classical past as well [Music] thank you [Music] [Applause]   inside the stadium the world's greatest athletes  competed for their places on the winners podium   there were many notable achievements from  the Netherlands Hungary and of course Germany   but the one person everybody was  watching was the USA's Jesse Owens   it was the African-American athletes that gave  Hitler this problem and they were there to compete   and they were there to win and this was right  in the face of aryan's superiority and he did   not really know how to handle this and neither did  the German propaganda teams they just they didn't   know how to handle the fact that African Americans  were winning medals against German Aryan athletes [Applause] [Music]   of course it would have been highly embarrassing  for the Nazis if Germany had actually done badly   during the games but you know what Hitler  needed worried Germany did spectacularly   well she won 33 gold medals nine more than  the Americans and she topped the medal table   but the Nazis also won another games  they won the propaganda games because   all those International visitors they  went home and they told everybody that   actually Nazi Germany was a really decent  place Hitler had Hoodwinked the world [Music] the national media were there in force there  were a lot of international visitors and   you know although there was some disquiet  amongst the more observant and insightful   foreign correspondents a lot of people went to  end wrote rather glowing accounts of the game   so you know in that sense uh gerbils and Hitler  and others will have regarded it as a success and   you know famously a lot of international and  particularly American Business visitors and   American journalists went away and basically  said you know all these things you've heard   about the Nazis actually I think these guys  are okay the newspapers heralded them as the   greatest Olympics ever in fact the New York  Times went as far as to say the Olympic Games   brought Germany back into the fold of Nations  what a result this was for the Nazi regime Hitler wanted to capitalize on the success of the  Olympics by promoting Germany as an international   tourist destination for foreign visitors he hoped  that in doing so it would bring in much needed   money for the economy and to help towards his  plans for the rearmament of the German military yes I mean part of what the Nazis were  focused on during the 1930s after they'd   come to power was the projection  of their image of Germany abroads [Music] the Nazis were always trying to package  Germany to create an impression of   growth and forward movement and strength both  for their own population but also for other   people coming in to visit the country it's  no coincidence that they built the biggest   airport in Europe even though they didn't  have very many planes it was all for effect   it also Market Germany as a holiday destination  and Germany was portrayed in a lot of the holiday   literatures this idiotic particularly sort of  rural idyllic place and that theme was taken   through into the uh the advertising of Germany  is a holiday destination but it was done I think   overwhelmingly for propaganda reasons to try and  demonstrate that you know Germany was now back on   a more secure footing and it was a place that you  know people would want to come and visit [Music] as well as advertising campaigns they also offered  favorable exchange rates and subsidized travel   to and from the Reich in the hope of luring  in foreign holiday makers with foreign money the Germans are a very hospitable race and  that sort of helped and that is I think a   lot of what was in the German character and in  fact not a lot of the achievements of the Weimar   regime which actually had been underplayed the  Nazis capitalized upon so the Germans were very   friendly people and that you know showed when  foreign tourists went there but they did a lot   in the in the way of publicity and that and you  know tourist offices in most in most countries [Music] part of the Nazi tourism policy was  to make Germany an international capital of   arts and culture museums of Fine Art to  rival those of Paris London and New York   Linz was a town in Austria where Hitler had spent  part of his Youth and he sometimes spoke wistfully   of one day retiring to linse with Frau Brown  Ava Brown his mistress laid his wife he wanted   to make Linds one of the few German cities  of Germany after the answers when Austria   was conquered that would be a special showdown  of the movement of Nazism along with Berlin the   capital of Germany and Munich the Cradle of the  movement by right the cultural capital in the   town where vadma is very composer had lived  and lince was one of the towns on that list while the creation of museums and galleries might  be seen as a positive step Hitler had intended to   fill the museum at Lintz with stolen art from the  countries he was planning to invade and conquer   Hitler had very strict views on the kind  of paintings that people should be admiring   so he set about trying to control the way  people viewed and even appreciated art   you love the classical art he had no trap with  any sort of modernism anything after the late 19th   century around the time of his birth was anathema  to him and this was of course the period of   expressionism of surrealism of abstract art coming  in all those were uh banned by the regime and then   they went so far to Stage a special exhibition  originally in Munich it later traveled around   called an exhibition of Antarctica of degenerate  art despising Modern Art Hitler ordered the   removal of artworks he deemed inappropriate  for museums and galleries across Germany   they were then to be displayed alongside  other so-called degenerate works in the   hope of discouraging citizens and foreign visitors   from pursuing their appreciation of  the growing surrealist art movement facts attracted more visitors despite the mocking  captions around the pictures and sculptures   displayed then an exhibition of official  approved Gemini that went on at the same time [Music]   but while the Nazi tourism machine used holidays  to promote the virtues of the regime they   were also an integral part of Hitler's plan to  remove the anti-nazi German labor unions [Music]   he started this process by declaring the 1st   of May an annual public holiday  for all workers across Germany and use this as an opportunity to give a speech  directly addressed the workers themselves declared that the slogan of the day would be  honor the work and respect the workers and he   urged them to unite for the good of the nation very next day with the workers on his  side the Nazis marched into the Labor   Union offices arrested their officials and  closed the organization down [Music] thank you the Nazis wanted to take control of the  labor unions because they they didn't   want industrial unrest they didn't want  any resistance to their plans to rearm   re-militarize Germany that involved a massive  ramping up in production uh across a range of   a range of Industries and it was felt that  the labor unions were links to the social   Democrats and to the Communists and possibly  also to to the Soviet Union would uh would   be a source of resistance the Nazis wanted to  get control of the unions and to stamp out any   left-wing opposition that might come from  those unions and they were quite effective   in in doing that when they took over the  trade unions in on the 2nd of May 1933. place the labor unions it closed with a single  nationalized Union known as the German labor front   he made membership compulsory for all  workers and demanded absolute loyalty   and obedience in return he would offer them  something they had never been given before   state-funded Recreation and Leisure Time  [Music] the German labor front decided that   it not only wanted to control people in work  but also outside it so it established a whole   program of sports entertainment and socializing  that it called strength through Joy [Music]   strength through Joy run by Robert lay under  this umbrella organization called the German   labor front this was supposed to replace the trade  unions so German Workers were not members of trade   unions but when you actually compare them with  the situation of industrial workers in Britain and   France the extracurricular hero activities that  were given made their work situation a lot better   in German the word freiner Joy has a rather  special meaning it doesn't easily translate   joy was not an individual emotion it was a  collective ecstasy that came from a shared   objective fulfilled so that Joy is the  reward for effort so strength through   Joys and Justice of throwaway line it  meant the people could become people of   joyous nature if they could contribute  positively to the Germany they're building strength through Joy was a was a good way of  giving if you like sweetness to the public   but also controlling them controlling this  was an aspect of their private life when a   family went on holiday so the Nazis wouldn't  want there they would want at all times the   state to be the be-all and end-all for  people not the family so the best way   of doing that was to have an organization that  provided cheap holidays cheap travel on cruise   ships on purpose-built holiday blocks on  the North German coast and controlling   people's Leisure Time through this state  organization through this Nazi outfit [Music] thank you via the strength through Joy  organization German Workers were even   given the opportunity of purchasing their own  car having seen what Henry Ford had achieved in   America Hitler was inspired to create a robust  and affordable people's car kdf Volkswagen strength through Joy was going to organize the  the rollout of the people's car the Volkswagen   we know that it never actually rolled out people  were going to save up for a car just as they did   in Henry Ford's Factory it was really stolen  from Henry Ford you could buy a Model T Ford   if the worker saved up so many uh you know  increments you know year by year and he was   going to do the same thing [Music] the people's  car would be made available to Citizens through   a saving scheme at the price of 990 reich's  marks the equivalent value of a small motorbike the idea of the people's car was to put a  cheap car in the hands of every German family it was a really great design a very lightweight  car with a body that could be easily bolted onto   the chassis and an air-cooled engine very  simple easy to maintain maybe not the best   in very hot weather or under high loads but for  a dirt cheap practical durable car it was really   beautifully engineered as generations of people  after World War II discovered when the VW Bug   became one of the most popular vehicles  in the history of the automobile [Music] designed by none other than Ferdinand  Porsche it could comfortably fit two   adults and three children this will give  families the Third Reich the ability to   travel across Germany and attend the other events  that strength through Joy would provide for them the basic design was made the first prototype   models were made but at that point  the second world war broke out and   production had to be switched to military means  and the people's car took a back seat and it   was only uh revived so successfully after the war  was over [Music] before strength through Joy the   average German worker could only have dreamed  of a family trip to the theater but under the   Nazi regime it was made accessible to them for the  first time through open-air amphitheaters known as   thin Platts here German citizens could see plays  performances or classical music concerts everyone   so long as you didn't mind the fact that all the  performances were skewed towards promoting Nazism it's when you're in one of these places  that you realize quite how closely they   were modeled on Ancient classical amphitheaters up   here you've got this great row of seats  and steps that rises about 30 or 40 feet   and around me here you've got this fantastically  perfect semi-circular stage which is acoustically   fantastic now if you put on a play venerating  National Socialist ideology in this sort of   place it makes you feel as if that very ideology  is rooted in something very very ancient indeed   and therefore gives the impression that nazism's  roots are far deeper than they actually were [Music] addition to this through Joy also provided  holidays for its members and in 1937 they began   construction of the first of their custom-built  cruise liners the mighty MV Wilhelm guslof   launched that same year it was 684  foot in length and weighed over 25   000 tons big enough to accommodate some 1900  German Workers functionaries and crew members it would go on to complete over 60 cruises and  transport roughly 65 000 holiday makers [Music] the holidays and the cruises were I mean  part and past love the Nazi policy to keep   the people Suite the bread and circuses  aspect of the regime and undoubtedly I   mean it worked William shirer in his capacity  is American foreign correspondent goes on one   of these cruises and although he says it was  very organized much more organized than his   taste really but he felt the German Workers on  the cruise were all enjoying themselves very   much and there was this feeling well you know  the regime is providing this for us [Music]   destinations such as Italy  Dira and the Norwegian fjords   and all food drink and entertainment were  provided for the passengers as part of the package   but while it may seem idyllic the reality  was quite different many passengers remarked   on the strict daily routines and the  lack of free time for any relaxation   it was a very controlled activated holiday  in which people wouldn't want to wouldn't   be allowed to wander off on their own  or wouldn't be encouraged to wander off   on their own and do their own thing they  would do the recognized approved things but a key part of strength of  strength through Joy also was   the sort of educational aspect of it so  you know people might go on a Nazi cruise   but they'd have to listen to another a  lot of Nazi lectures while they did it   they had 40 bathrooms they had 100 showers  but they had 156 propaganda speakers if   you're going on a Nazi holiday you better  prepare for some Nazi indoctrination [Music] but if cruises weren't your thing or you  wanted to get your feet back on dry land   the Nazis had that covered too [Music]   1936 Hitler had ordered the construction  of a truly colossal holiday Resort [Music]   head of the German labor front Robert lay  had wanted to emulate and even surpass the   British holiday Resort Butlins he believed that  every German worker deserved a beach holiday the biggest single surviving  edifice from the strength   through Joy movement is this prora holiday camp [Music] it was built between 1936 and 1939 here  on the island of rugen in northeastern Germany   and from where I am it stretches a staggering  four and a half kilometers all the way down there thank you [Laughter] [Music] [Laughter] prora was designed to hold 20 000 beds in  total we two in each room which would also   contain a wardrobe and a sink there would also  be communal showers and washrooms on each floor [Laughter] [Music] is a guide here at Flora   and he's agreed to meet me to tell me more  about life at this Nazi holiday Resort so Jan this place is absolutely huge do we um know  how many people helped to build this Camp yeah 2   000 Brokers worked here in the National Socialist  time um yeah 2000 and were they slave laborers or   forced laborers or they were normal Builders no  more normal Builders forced laborers came in the   Second World War Two poor [Music] do you think  that German people during the Nazi period would   have liked to have come on holiday here do you  think this would have been a fun thing for people   to have done yeah it's a paradise because holiday  make holidays only for people with a lot of money   in the past and for a worker it was a paradise  to come here on the island room on the poetic sea well they were extremely popular and again  this was one of these sort of the aspects of   of Nazi Germany there's a lot of more  sympathetic foreign observers thought   was you know something that the Western  democracies could imitate or introduce camp where all the facilities were provided  and where you need to leave the region   you could be there for how many days  you were and and you were a shared   experience families could be catered For  the idea of an all provide all provisions   holiday all provided holiday it's really  a very Advanced a modern notion and it   becomes a model of so many other things but  that that's a groundbreaker you might say for a German worker just to be able to go on a  cruise or to a beach resort was unprecedented   nothing like this existed anywhere in Europe  but in true Nazi style there would have been   little time for the holiday makers to relax so  do we know what the tip the typical day would   have been like for the holiday maker here  yeah the holiday makers haven't free time   it's all you have to go from one program point  to the next you have to go to reports about uh   out of Hitler or something like this swimming  go to the flag parade that was the idea behind   the holiday it's no full time you have to  make holiday with the community because   Community can say this is a this is not a national  socialist person so we can took it took him out of   the community so in a way it's like brainwashing  isn't it you're making everybody think and   behave in the same way yeah yeah um I love  Hitler's idea was to motivate them for the war there was a great emphasis on Sport and in control  of all um Leisure Time you know it would be like   if you like a militarized version of Batman's  uh Holiday Camp that the idea that you must be   at all times active and if you were active in  a Nazi organization if you were doing organized   gymnastics uh that was all the better anything  against the private sphere when ideas contrary   to the Nazi the ideology might Prosper was to be  encouraged so again another instrument of control when people say that Nazism is totalitarian that  really means they wanted total control of all   aspects of life so that was everything  from how women had babies to what kind   of sports children would play right up to  how you worked what associations you had it   all had to be organized in one coherent  model in service of Hitler in the state foreign [Music] made up of eight identical buildings and occupying  over three miles of beachfront here families of   the Third Reich would sit together to enjoy  their catered meals and be provided with Nazi   propaganda-based entertainment strictly scheduled  there will be little in the way of downtime or   individual activities everything was designed to  be done in groups and participation was mandatory were there other camps similar to prora um yeah  from this Seaside we saw the plan was to build   five of these or all of them on the Baltic Sea but  only problem was their bid the strength through   Joy organization organized other holidays yeah as  a holidays in all of the Germany Parts you can go   walking you can go to the North Sea you can go  make holiday in Bavaria or something like this [Music] but what the people on these holidays  did not realize is that they were being   secretly watched and monitored the entire time um go in there in this in ships with the holiday  makers and look for people who thinking other   opinions and say okay we we look to them so  just to make this clear the Gestapo would   have been here on prora or on strength through  Joy cruise ships keeping an eye on the holiday   makers yeah yeah it's uh it was so since uh  Joy was created that the gustapo were there   in this programs and the Gestapo would not  have been wearing big coats and hats they   would have been like normal holiday makers  spying yeah normal holiday makers and after   this holiday they wrote a report and this  report goes to the central station [Music]   prora was never fully completed and today it  lies abandoned on the shores of the Baltic Sea   but nevertheless what the Nazis had achieved  with strength through Joy made them incredibly   popular with the German people it helped them  to cement their hold on the country and the lead   up to the second world war [Music] subsidized  holidays subsidized rail travel fitness centers   sporting events as well were organized you know  Athletics leagues fantastic cafeterias enormous   state-of-the-art cafeteria so that people  could go to work get a really good meal maybe   listen to some classical music I mean if you  actually look at strength through Joy you've   got to say that it did improve the working  conditions of industrial workers for example in 1938 180 000 Germans have been on a cruise  three million had enrolled in evening gymnastics   and physical education courses and furthermore  just two years before the 1936 burning Olympics   had been an absolute Triumph for the Germans  because it had seemingly shown the country to   be prosperous and the International Community  had seen a country that seemed to be at ease   with itself so if you are an international  Observer around this time you would have   looked at Germany and thought well the National  Socialist regime was good for this country [Music]   start of World War II signaled  the end of strength's rejoy as   Hitler now directed his resources towards  military efforts the people of Germany would   now have to make their own entertainment and one  option that was readily available was the bill   beer was as much part of the German  national identity as Lederhosen or bratwurst   nevertheless Hitler wanted to control that too the Nazis thought about banning alcohol  in the Third Reich and of course Hitler   was mostly a teetotaler but there were  two issues one is they were making a lot   of money on taxational alcohol and two  they were afraid of the public backlash   imagine during these tough times you tell  your people sorry you can't have a drink the Nazis also had very strong policies when it  came to what their citizens were supposed to eat   it was considered the duty of every German  to protect their health and to guard against   disease so that they could be productive members  of the community so with that in mind the regime   published extensive dietary guidelines as  pamphlets and propaganda campaigns so what   was in and what was out out is everything here  eating meat certainly a little bit in moderation   but not very much same with alcohol just a little  bit then you also had white bread that was most   certainly out and what was also out was butter  then on this side of the table you have everything   that the Nazis wanted their citizens to eat so  plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables potatoes   brown bread grains and pulses and all cooked in  olive oil and certainly not with the hated butter   ironically enough everything on this side  of the table was what Hitler liked to eat [Music] uh Hitler had quite cranky views on   um on health having lived a rather sort of  loose life in Vienna before the first world   war where he was a heavy smoker a drinker in  later life he became he became a vegetarian he   really drank and he certainly didn't smoke and he  tried to impose these views on Germany as a whole the Nazis promoted a diet that really had very  little meat it was all about Fresh Foods free   observatives now they also believe that cooking  was bad and they promoted raw foods which is   actually a good thing but they did have some  prejudices about certain types of food for   instance whipped cream was too pretentious  and of course if you over ate that meant you   were a traitor of the state butter consumption  in Germany was was much lower half the amount   of Britain and you know even worse when you  put it against America stay beef consumption   beef consumption three times greater in America  twice as great in Britain and in Germany a vast   majority of their diet is potatoes and bread I  mean goebbles made the famous statement you know   we've got to put guns before butter but people  weren't getting butter in Nazi Germany although   of course the propaganda would suggest you know  they're rolling out this wonderful Master race as   we can see in terms of the food that they ate they  were on a very limited restricted budget all the   way through the period before the second world  war and people were much better off in Britain the German ideal for their uh the the countryside  was reactionary really a throwback a bat to the   land movement against much mechanization Hitler  had an idealist picture of Happy shining happy   peasants on their Farms harvesting in the Natural  Way organic woods but by and large I think the   Nazi ethos is regarding food and diet was quite  a healthy one but one that would encourage   self-sufficiency in Germany as far as possible the  Germans would eat drink German products foreign holidays and Leisure were soon  replaced by death and destruction   so instead of becoming a place where  tourists would take their vacations   Germany was now seen as a place of evil a  country to be feared and avoided [Music]   trees moved to the production of armaments not one  single German worker ever received their so-called   people's car the only guest that stayed at the  beach resort at prora were the Nazi troops that   were billeted there and The Wilhelm guslof luxury  Cruise liner once the flagship of the strength   through Joy movement was attacked by a submarine  while evacuating German troops and civilians   from Prussia killing nearly 10 000 passengers the  largest single Naval disaster of all time [Music] [Music] [Music]   thank you foreign [Music]

Channel: Banijay History

Views: 12,099

Keywords: 1936 berlin olympics, adolf hitler, conspiracy theories, history, history documentary, hitler, hitlers olympics, holocaust, nazi, nazi germany, nazi holiday resorts, nazi propaganda, post war, post war plans, world domination, world war 2, ww2, ww2 documentary

Id: PprqZN0et7A

Length: 44min 9sec (2649 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 07 2023