Reminds me of the time Hitler, and the Nazi regime in general, treated black US athletes better in the 1936 Olympics than their own country. He was famously racist obviously, yet somehow managed to keep up the appearance of not being a madman (which he definitely was) for long enough to milk the obvious PR benefits of hosting the Olympic games. We’d call it “sportswashing” nowadays.
Though it seems contemporary accounts are divided on whether he snubbed black medalists or not, and how much; he apparently didn’t shake hands, but e.g. Jesse Owens said that wasn’t actually a big deal, and that Hitler waived at him in a friendly manner (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_Owens#1936_Berlin_Summer_Olympics). Though either way, we have to remember that “better than the US at the time” was a really low bar. Owens never met the US president, got invited into the White House or anything like that, despite being a multi-gold medalist.
Reminds me of the time Hitler, and the Nazi regime in general, treated black US athletes better in the 1936 Olympics than their own country. He was famously racist obviously, yet somehow managed to keep up the appearance of not being a madman (which he definitely was) for long enough to milk the obvious PR benefits of hosting the Olympic games. We’d call it “sportswashing” nowadays.
Though it seems contemporary accounts are divided on whether he snubbed black medalists or not, and how much; he apparently didn’t shake hands, but e.g. Jesse Owens said that wasn’t actually a big deal, and that Hitler waived at him in a friendly manner (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_Owens#1936_Berlin_Summer_Olympics). Though either way, we have to remember that “better than the US at the time” was a really low bar. Owens never met the US president, got invited into the White House or anything like that, despite being a multi-gold medalist.