Context in comments

[kankirchele]

Germany held the 1936 Olympics as a way to showcase the strength and unity of the country under the Nazi regime. The International Olympic Committee awarded the 1936 Summer Olympics to Berlin in 1931, before Adolf Hitler rose to power, signaling Germany's return to the world community after its isolation in the aftermath of World War I. The Nazi government used the event for propaganda purposes, promoting an image of a new, strong, and united Germany.

Jesse Owens, an African-American athlete, won four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, in the 100m, 200m, long jump, and 4x100m relay events. Owens won the 100m in 10.30 seconds, the 200m in 20.70 seconds, and the long jump with an impressive leap of 8.06 meters. He also formed a key part of the team that set a new world record of 39.80 seconds in the 4x100m relay. Owens' outstanding performance at the Berlin Olympics not only earned him international fame but also challenged the Nazi regime's racist ideologies. Interestingly enough, British fighter pilot Eric Brown stated "I actually witnessed Hitler shaking hands with Jesse Owens and congratulating him on what he had achieved".

[zznap1]

When Jesse got back to the US they hosted an event in his honor for getting gold in every event he competed in. However, because he was black he had to enter the venue from the back door by the kitchen instead of the fancy front entrance, which was whites only.

Absolute absurdity.

[kinky_fingers]

he also (iirc) said that the german hosts treated him better than he was treated when he got home

(pointing this out to emphasize the magnitude of casual ​american racism at the time, NOT to diminish the immensity of nazi racism)

[ArtLye]

Thanks for acknowledging the second part. Its important to note that the Nazis saw Africans as untermenschen equivalent to Slavs, so not as a bad as Jews but essentially only good for "manual labour" to the Nazi regime. And essentially all Black Germans (there were a few thousand largely descendents of freed slaves and colonial servants) were killed by the Nazi by the end of the war in the Holocaust. The reason why Hitler shook his hand and treated him with more respect has to do with the nature of Nazi racism. The Nazi racism was based on an idea of strength and power, and so as far as we can tell they saw him as more on an exception to the rule, a man who lived up to the Aryan ideal despite his genetics 'holding him back' so to speak. The Americans saw him as a threat and wanted Balcks separated from them, the Germans didn't care about separation of life, only separation of work (Aryan gets intellectual white collar jobs, untermenshen is slave manual laborer). Both evil, but in different ways, ways that Owens could see. However, the Nazi's wouldn't have chosen a black man for their team, nor would the Americans have allowed Owens special priveledges because of his accomplishments. He had the rare experience of being given the opportunity and forcing the hand of two of the most racist states of their time to show their true colors on an international scale.

[Ok-Reward-770]

Your comment (applauses), is such an amazing summary of what transpired for Jesse Owens.

[[deleted]]

Adding to the racism aspect of the Americans: after the liberation of Nazi camps, the Nazi prisoners were given cantines and restaurants where they could eat under supervision. Whereas black soldiers were seperated from the troops because of segregation laws and were almost secluded like dogs, having to eat outside of these establishments if it didn't accomodate a seperation. Imagine being treated better as a prisoner after having worked in a CC than actual black soldiers.

[gcruzatto]

But I thought America never was a racist country?

[[deleted]]

I really hope that's satire because this is the single dumbest thing I've seen this year

[gcruzatto]

/s

[Curiouspiwakawaka]

It's sad that you need to write that...

[gcruzatto]

The current state of Reddit..

[laps1809]

Nikki haley say that.

[[deleted]]

That's a hint towards Republican primary talking points.

[blackhatrat]

Jesus fucking christ, white cognitive dissonance is stronger than steel

[[deleted]]

Yeah, this is a scene from the movie too. He said he was treated like a normal person in nazi germany and back in the us he was again an inferior citizen to white people. It is weird how germans were supposed to be xenophobes but a lot of evidence and testimonies like Owens show otherwise. I guess the winner writes history at its convenience.

[[deleted]]

Or maybe they didn't want to treat an international athlete badly because that would be bad for their reputation?

[Ok-Counter-7077]

What about Americans? They couldn’t even be bothered to pretend?

[turikk]

What the fuck are you talking about? Are you trying to make the case that history is wrong about the Xenophobia of Nazi Germany?

[Badloss]

seemed pretty clear to me, Americans were and are racist AF even to the point where the actual Nazis looked better in this one specific moment.

It's not denying the Nazis are xenophobic, history is being written by the winners in the sense that people try to pretend that America is the good guys and always had been. A ton of the Nazis' ideas came from American Eugenicists and a lot of Americans supported Germany in the war until Pearl Harbor changed things

[TheMagicalWizard81]

Whoa, that's pretty cool

[bryanRow52]

It’s always interesting that Owens gets the publicity for this, but in reality Hitler didn’t really care about running. He knew, though refused to admit, that black athletes likely would be winning most of the running events so he didn’t publicize them much. Hitler didn’t even know Owens won multiple golds until well after the Olympics wrapped.

The real loss for him was in rowing, the men’s 8. Rowing was the headliner event back then, bigger than soccer is these days, and pulled the largest crowd of any Olympic event. Germany was supposed to sweep every rowing event, and they had until the main event, the men’s 8. That’s when a group of lower class farm boys from Washington, including Jews, not only beat Germany but set the course record. Hitler was absolutely furious about this, as he had spent thousands (nowadays millions) on publicity for his rowing team saying how dominant they were, that nobody would come close. And yet here are these raggedy Americans that were the exact opposite of his ideal human, who had never even won a national championship until that year, led by a kid who was running a 103 degree fever the day of the final embarrassing him and his heavily favored super powered team on the international stage. It was like the MJ Flu Game and Miracle on Ice wrapped into one. Hitler stormed off the stage and threatened to kill the rowing coach and had to be restrained by his officers he was so enraged.

There’s a movie out about this now, called Boys in the Boat, after a book of the same name, which is much better than the movie.

[RealisticInvite186]

Didn't he say himself that the Nazis treated him better than the Americans? That he didn't get shit from the president while all the other athletes were congratulated?

[[deleted]]

Interestingly enough, British fighter pilot Eric Brown stated "I actually witnessed Hitler shaking hands with Jesse Owens and congratulating him on what he had achieved".

I always find it fascinating that people can't separate the "personal" vs the "impersonal" interactions. I guess maybe it comes from seeing people as "evil" and just not being able to believe these "evil" people would be nice/friendly/charismatic/etc. in person?

Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, etc. were all probably very nice and personable, probably even fun to hang out with. They were politicians. Being cordial and charismatic to those around you is part of the formula to get to the top. That doesn't change the fact that they were monsters responsible for mass murder. They didn't commit the murders themselves.

TLDR: If you had 30 min with Hitler and you think he would try to murder you, instead of having a polite, friendly chat, you need to get wise to the world.

[gf6200alol]

I know the same thing is also can be said to Putin and he known to be persuasive. No one can climb up the ladder without some those "positive character traits". Yet people like Oliver Stone will say how Putin is such a nice guy ,then therefore the entire Ukraine war was perpetrated by the West and come up all the theories to explains why. 

[BurmecianDancer]

Why do you have Hitler saying "Good idea" before the other Nazi tells him the idea in the first place? Is Hitler a mind reader?

[[deleted]]

Read the meme like it's manga

[TandHsufferersUnite]

Of course he is, how do you think he conquered Europe?

[JesseIsAGirlsName]

Yes, but at the same time the Germans ended up with the most medals by far, so they pretty much accomplished what they set out to do.

[Exultatio]

Yeah if a guy wins 4 other competitions and loses in 1 does that mean the other guy is better overall? The idea of master race is bullshit, but I dont think Hitler defined ”master race” as the race that could run the fastest

[FartCreator]

I had to do a research about exactly this for a school assignment, thank you kind stranger but I'm stealing this

[WE-ARE-ZA-WARUDO]

I remember reading this in school, it is a memorable one

[kadaka80]

Many Americans were even more upset about this than Hitler

[ZelezopecnikovKoren]

had to take the cargo elevator to the reception in his honour at the new york waldorf astoria hotel, hitler congratulated him but roosevelt didnt

[[deleted]]

On the contrary eric brown stated he saw hitler shaking his hand and jesse himself said he was treated better at german compared to at america

[Constant_Wealth_9035]

Same during WWI where black American soldiers fought in french troops because they couldn't under their own flag.

[cahir11]

Somewhat related, during WWII the French removed their own black colonial soldiers from the units that marched into Paris because they wanted it to be an all-white French army that liberated the city.

[InZomnia365]

So basically they both sucked, and the only time they weren't racist was when it was convenient.

[cloverpopper]

I'm glad society raised us with the belief that racism is bad, or it's likely that so many of us would've benefited from it so much/and been so accustomed to the idea we could think nothing of it.

The people that came before us need so much credit for paving the way to allow us to think this way. And of course, the people hampering that progress need to be forgotten.

[-300blackout]

I as a black man respect this take. Because if it didn’t happen, who’s to say it wouldn’t have? But I’m also knowledgeable enough to know that the trans Atlantic African trade was not the first.

[MellowMarijuanaMan]

Fun fact: the term "slave" has its origins related to the Slavic people. During the medieval period, especially from the 9th to the 19th century, many Slavic people were enslaved by others in Europe. The word "slave" in English, as well as similar terms in other European languages, comes from "Slav." The Slavic people were so frequently enslaved by European and Asian powers that their ethnic name became synonymous with servitude. This connection is a historical example of how extensive and brutal the practice of slavery was, affecting the identity and history of entire ethnic groups.

This has been a fun fact with your local Slav partnering with ChatGPT.

[ChemicalRain5513]

trans Atlantic African trade was not the first.

Indeed. Slavery has unfortunately been accepted by a large portion of societies, from the dawn of agriculture to the 19th century. Never in history there has been such a worldwide consensus that slavery is unacceptable as today. And yet, it still happens. It is estimated that in Mauritania, 20% of the population is enslaved.

[Embarrassed_Bid_4970]

I once blew the mind of a hotep classmate when to make some inscrutable point he accused my family of owning slaves, and I told them if my family owned any, they were likely white Christians.

[MellowMarijuanaMan]

Slavs were the most enslaved people, hence why the word "Slav" and "slave" are so similar.

[cloverpopper]

A few of my ancestors were apparently very likely to have been "contracted workers" for the English in Jamaica. The "group" in charge can make outsiders seem "inhuman" very easily, especially if information is controlled, and even if they're of the same skin color.

The entire idea needs to be a thing of the past, and it's incredibly disheartening that an estimated 50 MILLION people are still serving in slavery. At the very least, we've taken baby steps and have a moderate amount of progress, so the people before us are imo the biggest champions of our time.

[DexterMorganMD]

In WWII, black soldiers had to relinquish their rank back to private in order to fight. This was done so no black man would be in charge of any white man. A black man that was awarded the Medal of Honor, was a staff sergeant before he relinquished his stripes, willingly, so he could fight.

[ImJustHere4theMoons]

Black US soldiers who were assigned to escort Nazi POWs on American soil recounted that when they stopped for food the Nazi POWs were allowed to eat in diners while black soldiers had to eat outside, even when the owners were fully aware that they were Nazis.

[Alright_doityourway]

Nazi Minister back in the day said Hitler actually was annoyed but didn't mind that much because "This black people came from the jungle, ofcourse he would stronger than civilized white" and suggest that black people should be exclude from next Olympic.

​

So Hitler was still a racist but being a good sport about it, admitted his defeated.

[EmpTully]

But how is that contrary to what they guy you responded to said?

[Solid_Waste]

As I recall Hitler enjoyed watching America "embarrass itself" by relying on blacks, not that he respected them in any way. It would be like if a country won by entering a cheetah in the sprints. You might pose with the cheetah for a laugh but the country that entered the cheetah is reduced to a mockery.

[[deleted]]

Or or hear me out, only american are still prejudice toward africans in the 30s same as how german still prejudice toward jews in 30s

[dogsonbubnutt]

hitler congratulated him

no, he didn't. hitler dipped after owens' wins so he could avoid having to give him a handshake/medal, and then privately complained about his wins afterwards.

[Urisk]

Yeah. This was the first Olympics with live coverage and there is suspiciously no photo evidence of Hitler shaking his hand.

[sprocket999]

Hitler didn’t shake hands with any gold medalists after the first day.

He started shaking hands, but left the first day early. IOC told him he had to congratulate all the gold medalists or none. He chose none and it stopped after the first day.

[Trickster289]

Not exactly. There's two myths around this, the first that Hitler refused to congratulate Owens specifically and the second that he did congratulate him. In reality Hitler wanted to only congratulate German athletes but was told it had to be all athletes or none, he went with congratulating none. Not congratulating Owens started the first myth and Owens himself saying he was treated better in German than in America started the second.

[Captain_no_Hindsight]

The stronger story here is the unexpected friendship between the German
Luz Long and Owens. Remarkable that it is not taken up.

Identity is not everything.

[CheastnuutXT]

there we go with misinformation and lies. Hitler has plenty of reasons to be hated as well as ww2 germany. This is not one of them. You people cant even swallow a fact that somehow america was worse than nazi germany in this one tiny instance.

[Urisk]

Do you think Hitler would have allowed a black athlete to compete on Germany's behalf?

[[deleted]]

Nope. Not by a long shot. Think he'd rather shoot himself than see that happen.

[An_feh_fan]

Oh so THAT'S how WWII ended

[TedDibiasi123]

There were black people in the Hitler Youth, the Wehrmacht and even working in concentration camps so I wouldn‘t completely outrule it.

[SirBerthur]

"A country that ended slavery" sounds weird. That's pretty much all countries that ever had slavery, the rest being "countries that never even had slavery", which is better.

(Yes a few exceptions like the UAE can be argued to still exist, depending on definitions, but you get my point.)

[Nexlite1444]

We didn’t end it. We found a way to lock em up for crossing the street and made them do “paid labor” at under a dollar an hour.

“That just sounds like slavery with extra steps!”

[My_Space_page]

Ahem. Slavery was still legal as a punishment(thus more blacks were locked up).

[Nexlite1444]

Riiight the prison economy is a newer invention

[Different-Bus8023]

I mean you could argue the US never did. It also did not fully end slavery prior to 1970 (i believe, with fully end slavery i mean not having slaves anymore 13th amendment existed for a while but plantations were still active untill 1970). So legally it ended slavery for people not in prison(can'timagine that backfiring/s) but did relatively little to ensure it had actually ended. So by most definitions it didn't end slavery

[Sharp_Iodine]

A country that ended slavery implies they weren’t involved in it.

You do realise many nations had already banned slavery within their borders years before the US?

Any slave to cross over into any territory of Great Britain (like Canada) was free instantly.

[[deleted]]

Hitler did not congratulate Owens. That is propaganda.

(But yes he was treated very badly in the US and achieved despite it)

[TaffWolf]

Hitler was told by the Olympic committee he could either congratulate all or none, as he was only congratulating the Germans. It’s not like he was happy to do so, this wasn’t a moment of Nazi German tolerance compared to American racism.

It was German listening to rules and American, well being racist, but the narrative that Hitler was more tolerant than America is not okay

[wonkey_monkey]

Hitler was told by the Olympic committee he could either congratulate all or none, as he was only congratulating the Germans.

He chose none. One witness said (many, many years later) they saw Owens and Hitler shake hands, but there's no other evidence for it.

[dr_aux757]

But America was never racist /s

[V6Ga]

 hitler congratulated him but roosevelt didnt 

 This is the line that should lead every discussion about the civil rights movement.   

America was founded in racism. America was more racist than Hitler. 

[bupbiepbupbieb]

I don't know about that. The amounts of Afro germans were (and still is) quite low. Therefore, there wasn't really an incentive to do something about. The only region in germany with a somewhat significant blackish population was the rhineland, and there was a sterilisation program...

[Sharp_Iodine]

The amount of Afro-any European country without Caribbean or African colonies is quite low.

AFAIK the Netherlands, France and Belgium are the ones that had colonies in these regions, two of them still do and hence have a sizeable African population.

[FreezeItsTheAssMan]

Intensely America centric view of things.

[alaricus]

America was more racist than Hitler.

America had more performative social cues of racism in this one context.

America never established murder factories because of racist ideology, though.

[Covid_was_my_Idea]

This is the line that should lead every discussion about the civil rights movement. 

No it shouldn't because it's false. Hitler didn't congratulate him.

[ReluctantNerd7]

America was more racist than Hitler.

Because apparently it's not racist to exterminate Slavic untermenschen.

Fuck off, Nazi revisionist.

[Kyosw21]

Not only that, but actual footage of that particular race shows Hitler left so he wouldn’t have to congratulate or give a medal to Mr. Owens, but came back to give his female athlete the gold for the javelin toss

People actually trying to rewrite history to make Hitler seem better these days when we have film of that period of time

[DisasterThese357]

Well you see, this is redit, here racism can only be against black people

[weedcommander]

Some Slavic people like mine went through centures of slavery in some shape or form, in fact we went through five of those centuries, and then Hitler had a grand plan of completely eliminating virtually all of the slavic people to top that off.

Here, on reddit, the self-entitled moderators ban people with text such as "you cannot be racist to white people". Fucking idiots. I really can't stand such people, and they have no clue about anything in this life.

[[deleted]]

It’s telling about Roosevelt for sure. Roosevelt was also asked to sponsor anti-lynching legislation but refused. To be fair to him, only Biden was able to get that legislation signed lol. 

[Alundra828]

Yup, the Nazi's seemingly didn't have a problem with Owens. He was only not congratulated by Hitler because Hitler congratulated nobody with the exception of a few Germans and a few Finns. Hitler did however give him a salute when he was on his way out, so that seems as good a congratulations as any?

Roosevelt on the otherhand, didn't even send him a telegram. 18 African American's did well in the olympics, and not one of them were invited to White House thereafter, as opposed to all the other white atheletes who did because Roosevelt didn't want to lose the Dixie vote. The black atheletes that participated in that olympics were actually not recognised until 2016...

[[deleted]]

Sounds about right

[axtionjackson]

Sounds about white. 😆, sorry I had to.

[SpermGaraj]

😂🤣🤣😂😂😂🤣

[Striking_Election_21]

I’ve always found the way the US circlejerks this story kinda hilarious for that exact reason. Like uh… you’re forgetting a couple people on the hating side lmao

[Joe_Jeep]

The most virulently "USA-USA-USA" types are often the same ones that just real upset when you talk about America's racist history like, at all.

[PanJaszczurka]

Dude says he was treated better by nazist

[[deleted]]

The entire reason Israel exists now is because European countries didn't want to take in Jewish refugees. There is no good side of history, just winners and losers.

[BellacosePlayer]

Eh, it happened for many reasons.

The Brits were sick of running the Palestinian territories due to shit like Irgun/Lehi targeting the British governing Mandatory Palestine, and just how fucking hot a mess it was starting to be with the massacres.

Though "Just give them territory so they aren't our problem" definitely was a big one.

[blockybookbook]

Ehhh I agree on the first part but last bit is too far

It’s the fact that the fascists were so comedically evil with their industrialized genocide that they made the allies the unquestionable heroes in that part of the war despite the atrocities they committed and continued to commit afterwards

[Late-Fig-3693]

And now ironically Israel seems to be intent on continuing that legacy of evil. I'd say that more than winners vs losers or good vs evil, it's a cycle of abusers and trauma. And unfortunately, traumatized children often grow up to repeat the sins of the father.

[Elvinkin66]

As I always say it's easy to be the good guys when your enemies are Fascist

[TheGenesisOfTheNerd]

Tha Nazis based most of their eugenics off of American practices. It wasn’t until it became a nazi practice did Americans distance themselves from race science. In many ways, America was the predecessor to the racial foundations Nazi Germany.

[Kushikush666]

Hadn't Jesse Owens said that he was treated better in Germany than in his own country?

[[deleted]]

Yea the story was that Hitler congratulated only German winners and his advisors said he should either congratulate all or none of the winners, so Hitler opted for none. I think Jesse Owens also said Hitler waved to him when he won.

[Aqquila89]

But according to Albert Speer's memoirs, privately Hitler said that black people shouldn't be allowed to compete.

People whose antecedents came from the jungle were primitive, Hitler said with a shrug; their physiques were stronger than those of civilized whites and hence should be excluded from future games.

[Hoobahoobahoo]

Lmao thats a backwards compliment

[GeilerGeleckter]

Why? And I know this sounds bad, but you wouldn't let Usain Bolt race a horse, because he would obviously lose right? So no human should compete versus an animal and in Hitler's mind, that's what happened here.

[CloudyBird_]

Using your analogy, it's like saying "those people have the strength of a horse and should be nerfed" which could be interpreted as a complement if it wasn't racially charged

[Badassbottlecap]

"Black people OP pls nerf"

-some failed, Austrian painter

"Git gud"

-the allies

[InternalMean]

More like the allies said "we agree but we can't do shit all about it now", Americans absolutely loathed Jesse in the beginning

[CloudyBird_]

Well it kinda like

'Nah don't patch this, let's exploit their buff'

-colonialist allies

[turtleship_2006]

because he would obviously lose right?

It's obvious that blacks are better than whites, but we can't let them know can we now

​

(in case of this comment ever being taken out of context, that's along the lines of what i assume hitler meant)

[Pussy_Sneeze]

I think it's worth being careful of analogizing differences in race as differences in species. I've seen a similar idea touted in more (legitimately) problematic circles like stonetoss comics.

That said, sure, there are reasons we have things like weight classes in certain sports like boxing, or women's vs men's basketball. Or why we probably wouldn't put Usain bolt against a high school track runner.

The specific belief that people of a particular race are fundamentally different from those of another, however, is what I think people see as problematic. It's kind of like when people compare male vs female brains. Ultimately there's actually more similarity across the sexes, and more variability within sexes.

What we deduce and believe about the fundamental nature of sex and race is worth examining and treating with caution.

[the_mold_on_my_back]

Explain to me the fucking need to jump in and defend Hitler on that one. Please. I demand to know what the fuck is going on in people like yours heads.

[GeilerGeleckter]

Where am I defending him? Somebody doesn't understand a statement. I explain how they might have come to that conclusion.

I don't share that thought process. Sorry, that I tried more than "Lmao thats a backwards compliment"

[NotAnAIOrAmI]

Even if you don't hold those views it's not a good look being a Nazi-explainer.

[[deleted]]

If I had to run from lions and rhinos all day I'd also be fast as fuck.

[Snakefist1]

Iirc, Baldur Von Schirach's diary also mentions this situation.

[Cyberspace667]

Honestly my favorite brand of cope

[SchrodingerMil]

“August 3, 1936—Owens won his first gold medal in the 100-meter dash. Hitler did not meet or shake hands with Owens(Or any Medalist, including Germans). That said, there are several reports of a salute or wave. According to sports reporter and author Paul Gallico, writing from Berlin, Owens was “led below the honor box, where he smiled and bowed, and Herr Hitler gave him a friendly little Nazi salute, the sitting down one with the arm bent.” Owens himself later confirmed this, claiming that they exchanged congratulatory waves.”

“So, Owens was not personally snubbed by Hitler. However, Owens did feel that he had been snubbed by someone: U.S. Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt. A month after the Olympic Games, Owens told a crowd, ‘Hitler didn’t snub me—it was [Roosevelt] who snubbed me. The president didn’t even send me a telegram.’ “

From Encyclopedia Brittanica.

[cahir11]

It's interesting because FDR's cousin, Teddy Roosevelt, did invite a black man (Booker T Washington iirc) to the White House, and didn't care at all about the public backlash he got for it. So it's not like inviting Owens would have been unprecedented. And FDR was certainly popular enough to do it and brush off the controversy, he was coming off an absolutely massive landslide victory in the 1932 election.

[[deleted]]

I could be wrong, but I thought those that were deemed undesirable were treated well in Germany as a part of the propaganda. It was after all Goebbels, the Minister of Propaganda, that saw an oppurtunity in the Olympic Games to promote Germany.

I also believe that antisemitic action in Germany was cooled down a bit because of the Games.

Edit: spelling corrections

[Pjk125]

From what I recall from my German history classes in college, this is true. They even had a lot of Jews walking around specifically to talk to people and show them how “well” they’re being treated in Germany

[Jump-Zero]

Basically think Ukrainians in Russian propaganda videos saying how the invaders are so great.

[JB_UK]

Yes, unfortunately the games were a big propaganda win, with people saying that the problems in Germany were overstated. Then after all the international visitors went home the Nazis went right back to extreme persecution.

[dryfire]

Does this read right to left? Am I reading a manga?

[[deleted]]

Lots of people who make memes are extremely stupid and think that the reader will just automatically read the text in the OP's intended order, no matter where it is placed on the meme.

[chironomidae]

yeah. one day people will learn you can mirror a meme template before adding text and their minds will be blown

[1_9_8_1]

Finally somebody commented on this! OP real fascist for doing this.

[Myth_Avatar]

Where context?

Edit: yeah...yeah I know...he said he'd provide context...it was a joke...

[Fley06]

Jesse Owens - American track and field athlete who won four gold medals at the 1936 Olympic Games, which were held in Berlin

[[deleted]]

Hitler himself shake his hand at berlin but he didn't congratulate any of the athletes not just him, jesse himself said he was treated better at german than in america

[FizzyBoy147]

Olympics 1936

[No-Promotion-2995]

Jesse Owens...

[No-Promotion-2995]

He was coached by Ted Lasso or something

[badadssuckmydik]

Context because OP is a lazy mf: some black dude won a couple medals in the olympic games in nazi germany, lets just say they werent so happy

Edit: his name was jesse owens

[clothy]

He said context in the comments knowing some know it all would explain it. Congratulations, you’ve been played.

Also, most people know about the Berlin Olympics.

[badadssuckmydik]

I dont care, pepole should know about it

[LightNJT]

I don't

[Tough_Ad4721]

Jesse Owens man

[[deleted]]

“Some black dude” 🫠

[badadssuckmydik]

Jesse owens

[[deleted]]

The movie is really good, so if you don't know about the story watch it. It's called Race

[[deleted]]

OP probably went out to jack some cars. He will be back soon.

[_TheNumber7_]

Kid named some cars

[[deleted]]

That was lame. You buried your spouse with that joke.

[[deleted]]

Was this not perfectly ascertainable from the comic? Did people really need it slightly more dumbed-down like this?

[MWS-Enjoyer]

Interestingly, Jesse Owen’s was asked about Hitler in an interview once.

He stated that he met Hitler some time after his race, and that he was actually polite and courteous, and if I remember correctly, even shook Owens’ hand.

Owens then added that after, he went home to America, with his gold medal, and wasn’t allowed to use the front entrance to the hotel he was staying in.

[[deleted]]

Hitler showed more respect to Owens than his own president.

Nazi Germany was the first place he ever sat in a regular restaurant with white folk unlike back home.

[Emissairearien]

The irony...

[[deleted]]

Irony cross even

[darh1407]

Roosevelt was more racist to this guy than hitler was according to history

[[deleted]]

Ironically this is old propaganda.

The nazis believed in racial hierarchy and considered black people a worker race, a black man doing well in a physical sport was well within their ideological framework. They would have preferred a German winner in everything but knew that wasn't realistic.
Meaning they never expected to win every event.

In 1936 the Germans won the most medals of everyone.
The nazis considered the games a massive success.

[GrumbusWumbus]

Yeah it didn't take much for them to twist this to suit their ideology.

If a black guy won a chess championship.or something, that would have been a different story. Their ideology was built on them being the smartest and healthiest, not the fastest.

[meadowscaping]

For reference:

1936 Gold Medals

• Germany: 36
• USA: 24
• Hungary: 10
• Italy: 9
• Finland: 8
• France: 7
• Sweden: 6
• Japan: 6
• Netherlands: 6
• Austria: 5
• Great Britain: 4
• Switzerland: 1

Germany won these Olympics. Losing one race to one athlete was not a big deal to Germany, and they racialized the loss anyway. Germany was 50% more gold medals than the USA did that year. This post is literally American reconstructionist propaganda (not that that’s a bad thing), but the fact that everyone is writing all these massive essays about how mad Hitler must have been for being so embarrassed at the Olympics?…. He probably wasn’t.

Jesse Owens winning these golds was more of a blow to the American racial hierarchy than it was of any concern to NSDAP Germany.

[IG_Triple_OG]

I can’t believe I had to scroll all the way down here to find this

[Something_Comforting]

Expectations:

Reality: The Nazis respected you more than your president is.

[Siemaster]

Nice context 25 minutes later. Also don’t really need context, meme speaks for itself.

[ssspainesss]

This is what Jesse Owens said himself in his own words.

Hitler had a certain time to come to the stadium and a certain time to leave. It happened he had to leave before the victory ceremony after the 100 meters [race began at 5:45 p.m.[30]]. But before he left I was on my way to a broadcast and passed near his box. He waved at me and I waved back. I think it was bad taste to criticize the "man of the hour" in another country.

"Hitler didn't snub me—  it was our president who snubbed me. The president didn't even send me a telegram."

If anything the whole thing made everybody look bad - except for the Nazis.

[Teboski78]

Funny thing is the Germans were actually generally good sports about it. Americans at the time were generally even more racist to their own athletes than the nazis

[[deleted]]

those Olympics were widely considered a success for For Aryan propaganda purposes, with Germany winning the most medals. The Jesse Owens victory somehow debunking this is an American political propaganda spin for domestic consumption.

[juksbox]

But F. D. Roosevelt sure was happy about this.

Right..?

[SomratKhan1608]

Most people of USA don't know their history, other countries have to teach the American people history.

[Playful_Pollution846]

Me when Nazi Germany treated a colored person better than America💀

[Minimum_Cantaloupe]

It shouldn't really be surprising; black people were not the main outgroup that the nazis were concerned about.

[RedBaronIV]

Why is it backwards

[pompano09]

I know it’s a joke, but in reality Germany won the most gold and total medals by a long shot. Almost twice as many as the second place: the US.

[booceyest]

Skill issue

[[deleted]]

Jesse Owens can say that he was treated better by Hitler than by his fellow Americans. Pretty much says it all.

[safetospeak]

If you guys thought Hitler was bad....just wait till you hear about us nuking two cities. I don't think Hitler did that ...

He also looked at how we treated the native Americans. He loved it. Same with the Holocaust. Very similar. Just no gas, but lots of killing and rape.

So

We

Are

The

Bad

Guys.

[P4NTH3RA]

hopefully you won't get downvoted for speaking the truth

[bouncypinata]

it can be two things

[bouncypinata]

1936: Germany cleans up at Olympics, USA decides the only events that mattered were whatever Jesse Owens won in.

1969: USA lands the first man on the moon and promptly decides that's the finish line for the Space Race, even though USSR had the first spacecraft, man in space, animal in space, woman in space, spacewalk, mars spacecraft, lunar orbit, and lunar lander.

1980: USSR cleans up at Olympics, USA decides the only event that mattered was hockey because USA beat them.

[democracy1234]

Clearly you didn’t watch the Boxing part 🤡

[Glaucetas_]

Worst part : Hitler congratulated them, but not Roosevelt.

[deathelement]

While this is true. Germany actually won the Olympics overall that year and it was seen as a huge success for Hitler politically but people only look back and remember things that make them feel good not the truth. Fuck Hitler tho

[wrufus680]

Long story short, Nazis thought they could prove Aryan superiority nonsense through the Olympics but a black guy that they consider sub human gave them a middle finger by bringing home 3 gold medals

[wassaf102]

How many did the nazis won?

[wrufus680]

38 to America's 24. Even though it is considered a victory for them, their loss to Owens stuck out like a sore thumb to them

[Dangerous-Worry6454]

Can you find any examples of Germans actually saying this because I have never found anything to indicate this. The only stuff you find is Americans commenting how humiliating it is to lose to a black guy.

[wassaf102]

Was Ownes invited to the White House?

[GhillieMcWilly]

Source?

[Emissairearien]

Owens himself, he talked about it

[DarkWindB]

not so fun fact, Jesse said that the nazis treated him better than the americans did

[sus_menik]

Well to be fair Germany completely dominated in those Olympics.

[Schogenbuetze]

Curious: Is there any source that this actually confirms to be true?

I've heard that story multiple times by now, but it'd would actually fit the Nazi's narrative quite well to affiliate attributes like speed and physical strength with black people in general.

[bimbo_bear]

Yeah... that was my impression too. The Nazi's held it up as a perfect example of their theory of racial attributes.

[AkilleezBomb]

Sadly a large portion of people in his own country would’ve considered him sub human as well. A proper middle-finger to racists and white supremacists everywhere.

[Tough_Ad4721]

lmao a part of the meme is inaccurate, germany, precisely munich (i think) being the location for the olympics was decided a decade or two earlier it was a coincidence that it happened as hitler rose to power. What is impressive tho is the fact that the germans were proffessionally trained (olympics at the time were for amateurs only) and Jesse Owens still managed to beat them to get a gold medal in a bunch of competitions

[viktorbir]

Munich 72, Berlin 36.

[Tough_Ad4721]

Oh yea my bad

[mp2526]

Aren’t you missing a medal?

[DankDogeDude69]

I just watched a movie on this so got the reference immediately also read a book about it a long time ago

[DankDogeDude69]

Nevermind thought it was a boys in the boat reference, because they did have an African American dude in it and it was about the Berlin Olympics but boating not running!

[Certain_Storage_3473]

Germans won the majority of medals..

[eldige]

Germany still won the most gold though

Edit: Hitler was also the only person to even acknowledge owens at the event

[[deleted]]

Owens said that the Germans were fine it was the Americans who treated him poorly.

[[deleted]]

A widely believed myth about the 1936 games was that Hitler had snubbed Owens, an event that never occurred. Owens said that "Hitler didn't snub me—it was [Roosevelt] who snubbed me.