OLYMPIA 1936 – A black and white card album of photographs from the 1936 Olympics held in Nazi Germany. Published by PET. CREMER Dusseldorf. One of the rare card albums that accompanied the most famous Olympics of the 20th century. A complete album on all the cards, and in excellent condition.
The design of the album is by the German artist Hans Schwager. The photographs on the cards were taken by some of the famous photographers of the time, including Heinrich Hoffmann, Franz Hofmann and Warner Bischoff. The album was a commercial success, and upon release sold over a million copies.
The album is divided into chapters according to the various sports competitions held at the 1936 Winter Games Olympics in the Bavarian ski community of Garmisch-Partenkirchen from 6–16 February and then the 1936 Summer Games in Berlin six months later from 1 to 16 August in running, hurdling, horse racing, sailing, ice surfing, darts, Hockey, and more. The pages themselves were designed according to the various sports, with each page having a large illustration of the specified sport, serving as a background for the cards pasted on it. Each chapter has an introduction (text in German) reviewing the achievements of the various athletes in this sport and praising the German athletes compared to the athletes of other nations. Among the ‘cards’ that appear in the album are rare photographs in themselves – three cards of the American athlete, one of the greatest athletes of all time – Jesse Owens, who participated in it and won 4 gold medals. Also note card 131 featuring Sonia Henney of Norway, considered the greatest Figure skater ever with gold medals in three consecutive Winter Olympics (1928, 1932, 1936) and many world titles, card number 4 showing 400 meter gold medalist Archie Williams, and others.
In the album, Nazi propaganda is overt and implicit as the Nazis do at this Olympics, for example on the title page is a photograph of Adolf Hitler and the caption: “The leader in the stadium”, and underneath it a photograph of the relay runners as they entered Berlin with swastika and Olympic flags hanging along the avenue above them. In a review of the winners and losers in each profession, the American and other contenders are referred to as “blacks” against the other nations referred to by their names.
The 11th Olympics, held in Berlin, the capital of Nazi Germany, under dictatorial rule at its peak, are one of the most historically memorable Olympics of the 20th century. The Nazi propaganda apparatus, headed by Joseph Goebbels, Germany’s Minister of Propaganda, used it to raise German morale. Indeed, to this day the Olympics are considered an example of the success of Nazi propaganda. Goebbels and director Leni Riefenstahl (conducted by cinematographer Hans Ertel) produced the two-part film Olympia (about two years after Riefenstahl’s Triumph of the Will), which presents the Olympics in the light of Nazi propaganda, using fascist and Nazi aesthetics, and the Nazi visual treasure trove presented by Riefenstahl, as well as raising the values of “Race” and “Volk”. This was done through various visual motifs whose purpose was to present the perfect physiology of the Aryan race through artistic photographs of Greek athletes. In order to misrepresent the regime’s as tolerant externally, during the Olympics the Nazis refrained from harming people of the “inferior” race (Jews, blacks, etc.), and all anti-Jewish signs were removed. However, after the Olympics there were claims that the players were discriminated against because of their origins. The Jews, including the Yishuv in Eretz Israel, boycotted the Olympics and organized alternative Olympic games, in which non-Jewish athletes also participated.
Note: The cards glued in the album are usually referred to as “tobacco cards” This is actually a mistake. Pet Cremer made soap/cleaning products and laundry products, and it produced the special cards on their own and not as part of a collection in cigarette packs.
A full list of all the cards that appear in the album see here
A complete album with all 144 cards pasted to its pages. The album is preserved in excellent condition!
