WEBVTT - Introducing: Hitler’s Olympics

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<v Speaker 1>One of my strongest childhood memories was the nineteen seventy

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<v Speaker 1>six Olympics in Montreal, my homeland's first Olympic Games. I

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<v Speaker 1>was a kid. My family didn't have a television, but

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<v Speaker 1>we rented one just for the occasion. Two rabbit ears

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<v Speaker 1>on top of a grainy black and white set. We

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<v Speaker 1>put the TV in the fireplace because there was no

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<v Speaker 1>other place for it, and I watched everything. The Romanian

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<v Speaker 1>Nadya Komenich bewitching the world in gymnastics, my running hero

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<v Speaker 1>John Walker powering away around the final curve to win

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<v Speaker 1>the men's fifteen hundred meters. I still get nervous thinking

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<v Speaker 1>about that race, and the women's ford by one hundred

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<v Speaker 1>freestyle relay, maybe the greatest swimming race ever. I fell

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<v Speaker 1>in love with the Olympics that summer, and these Olympic

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<v Speaker 1>that I love and that so many millions of people

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<v Speaker 1>around the world love might not exist if the Games

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<v Speaker 1>had not been held in nineteen thirty six in Adolf

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<v Speaker 1>Hitler's Germany. The modern Olympics started in eighteen ninety six,

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<v Speaker 1>and if you've gone to any of those early games,

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<v Speaker 1>you would think you were at some kind of side show.

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<v Speaker 1>It was the Nazis who gave us the Olympics we

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<v Speaker 1>have today. They were really really good at putting on

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<v Speaker 1>a big show. Hitler one of the games to be

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<v Speaker 1>a showcase of Aryan supremacy, to rally the German people,

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<v Speaker 1>to give legitimacy to the band of thugs he had

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<v Speaker 1>gathered around him, and to make the case that Germany

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<v Speaker 1>was a true world power. And the United States went

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<v Speaker 1>along with all of it. Why, that's what the new

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<v Speaker 1>season of Revisionist History is all about. Hitler's Olympics. Over

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<v Speaker 1>nine episodes, my colleague Ben that Haffrey and I will

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<v Speaker 1>tell the story of the games, behind the games, not

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<v Speaker 1>who won what, not how a stirring come from behind

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<v Speaker 1>burst of effort led to victory. Instead, we're exploring the

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<v Speaker 1>furious machinations leading up to the Olympics and the genuinely

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<v Speaker 1>difficult moral questions that surrounded the Berlin Games. And along

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<v Speaker 1>the way we're going to introduce you to an extraordinary

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<v Speaker 1>cast of characters. There's Charles Cheryl, diplomat, athlete, internationalist, man

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<v Speaker 1>of parts, the ranking American member of the International Olympic Committee.

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<v Speaker 1>I have led the hapless life of anybody you ever

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<v Speaker 1>met in your life. We'll spend time with Avery Brundage,

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<v Speaker 1>champion athlete, self made millionaire, a man who saw in

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<v Speaker 1>the thirty six Games a chance to expel his personal

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<v Speaker 1>demons and seize control of the entire Olympic movement, and

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<v Speaker 1>the irony of it is. The more important the Olympic

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<v Speaker 1>Games become, the more problems we have. An incredibly clear

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<v Speaker 1>eyed American reporter named Dorothy Thompson. I think that Hitler

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<v Speaker 1>is appreciable Nera shooting us, and therefore I think we're

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<v Speaker 1>appuciably Nera requlying. Then there's Jesse Owens, winner of four

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<v Speaker 1>gold medals, the African American star of the nineteen thirty

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<v Speaker 1>six Games. That was the beginning to the end of

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<v Speaker 1>a very long dream. I'm sure you've heard of Jesse Owens.

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<v Speaker 1>But Ben is going to tell you a story about

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<v Speaker 1>Owens that I guarantee you have not heard. Not to

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<v Speaker 1>mention side trips to a small town in Alabama, a

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<v Speaker 1>seminar on a crucial but all but forgotten Supreme Court

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<v Speaker 1>case called Giles v. Harris O, and a lesson from

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<v Speaker 1>a legendary triple jumper. He didn't have a jiggle, We

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<v Speaker 1>didn't have a change. No, he didn't have a jiggle

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<v Speaker 1>or a gideayo. Yeah. Heroes and villains, the clear eyed, in,

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<v Speaker 1>the deluded, the forgotten, and the misunderstood, all of them

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<v Speaker 1>going to Hitler's Olympics. You will never see the games

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<v Speaker 1>the same way again. Subscribe to pushkin plus to hear

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<v Speaker 1>the first five episodes of Hitler's Olympics early and ad free.

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<v Speaker 1>Find pushkin plus on the Apple show page for revisionist

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<v Speaker 1>history or at pushkint f M slash plus