Early on the morning of May 20 the huge bell cast for the the 1936 Olympics pealed for the first time through the skies over the city of Berlin. Less than ten years later it had been shot through with an anti-aircraft shell and was hanging silent in its burned-out tower overlooking the Olympic stadium.
Hitler Decides to Back the Olympic Games
In 1931 the IOC awarded the 1936 games to Berlin, a large step for Germany on her path towards acceptance and reintegration after defeat in the First World War. Although not yet Chancellor, Hitler had already made the Nazi party position on the Games very clear, declaring that as they were a creation of Freemasons and Jews it would be impossible for a National Socialist Germany to host the Games.
In fact Hitler's attitude changed quite rapidly as a result of Goebbel's influence once they were in power. The Minister of Propaganda saw the Games as a way of spotlighting the regime's achievements, and soon Hitler was backing them, declaring that sports would improve the welfare of the volk.
Hitler's backing changed the plans for the Olympics and especially the design of the stadium from a rather modest affair to a grandiose mix of architecture and performance. New plans for a stadium, swimming pool, athletes' village, the open area Mayfield and a hall and bell tower were drawn up.
Design and Construction of the Olympic Bell
In 1932 the German organizing committee had decided to commission a bell as the symbol for the Games. The job went to a foundry in Bochum, north of Cologne and the completed bell was then transported over several weeks to Berlin, where it arrived on May 11 1936. It was a triumphant journey, being greeted by school children and saluted by the SA as it passed through towns and villages.
The bell was a massive object weighing over 30,000 lbs.. The casting included a number of symbols and an inscription. There were of course the linked olympic rings, a German eagle, an image of the Brandenburg Gate, the dates of the games and between two swastikas around the rim of the bell, the words, " Ich raufe die Jugend der Welt ", I call the youth of the world. The bell had been designed by the sculptor Walter E Lemcke (1891-1955). He was responsible for the design of the gold chains to be worn by IOC officials during the ceremonies and also the swastika and eagle "Hoheitszeichen" on Goering's new Air Ministry on the Wilhelmstrasse.
The bell was hung in the 247 foot high Glockenturm, a very slender, square tower standing on top of the massive Langemarck Hall. It was built as a memorial to the 80,000 students and teachers who died at the battle of Langemarck in Belgium in 1914. The two buildings, the crypt-like hall and the slender tower look back across the Mayfield to the main stadium.
On the day of the opening of the Games, Hitler travelled slowly through the crowds in his open Mercedes from the Chancellery to the plaza in front of the Langemarck Hall. He inspected an honour guard, entered the hall to commune with the spirits of the the first war soldiers, then went up the stairs to emerge on the platform overlooking the Mayfield.
All of the Olympic athletes were there, arranged in their national teams. Hitler strode through them, past the two large sculptures of men and horses and entered the main stadium to the cheers and salutes of 100,000 spectators. As he stood at the podium, all the flags of the nations taking part were raised to the sound of the Olympic bell ringing out, and the Games began.
Fate of the Bell and Tower
The Olympic stadium survived the war undamaged and now refurbished is busy today with football games and other events. But the Olympic bell was badly damaged when an anti-aircraft shell was fired through it during a bombing raid. In the last battles around Berlin the tower was burned out and then in 1947 was demolished by the British occupation forces. The bell fell through the tower, was badly cracked in the fall and subsequently buried.
It was recovered in 1956 and between 1960-62 the tower was reconstructed under the direction of the original architect, Werner March. A new bell was commissioned and the original now sits beside the main stadium displaying its war damage and the two incompletely removed swastikas on its rim.
Sources
WALTERS, Guy: Berlin Games, how Hitler Stole the Olympic Dream, John Murray, 2006.
LADD, Brian: The Ghosts of Berlin. Confronting German History in the Urban Landscape, University of Chicago Press, 1997.
MANDELL, Richard D: The Nazi Olympics, Macmillan, 1971.
 |
 |
