1937 The XIth Olympic Games Berlin 1936 Official Report

Description

First Edition, Illustrated, Publishers' Original Binding, Very Scarce

The full official report of the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games, issued by the German Olympic Committee. With a wealth of significant photographs, this very scarce work is perhaps the most extensive record of the 1936 Olympics, covering the history of the event, the venues, the opening ceremony, the event's proceedings, as well as medal tables and the results of each event. For many, the Berlin Olympics bring to mind the achievements of Jesse Owens, who won four gold medals in the face of Hitler's attempts to use the games to promote ideas of racial supremacy and antisemitism. The initial pages of the work include full-page portraits of prominent leaders of the Third Reich including Adolf Hitler and Hermann Goerring, captioned by quotations. Purple stamp from Stallag VIII-B to the title page of both volumes. Stalag VIII-B near Lamsdorf in Eastern Germany was originally, from 1860, a Prussian training camp. It served as a prisoner of war camp first in the Franco-Prussian war and later as a POW camp in World War One. In 1939 it was reopened to house Polish prisoners. Though later it housed prisoners from all the allied nations including from 1944 the overflow from Stalag Luft III after the famous 'great escape' of 1943. It had an extensive library (as did Stalg Luft III) and this copy comes from that library. Blind stamp of the Imperial eagle clutching the Olympic rings to the front endpaper of both volumes. Captioned by the motto of the 1936 Olympic Games, 'Ich rufe di Jugend der Welt', which translates to 'I summon the youth of the world'. Undated. Dated using estimations from the University of Birmingham Library.