At first glance, one might think both teams are holding up the Nazi salute, one that is representative of fascism and extreme prejudice. But if you look closely, one team's salute is slightly turned to the right, which is the Olympic salute; one that represents good sportsmanship and competition. During the 1936 Berlin Olympics, there was a spell of controversy over the salutes. Athletes and teams were unsure of which salute they should use. Out of respect to the host of the games, Adolf Hitler, some thought it would be wise to use the Nazi salute. However, that salute could be used as a sign of allegiance toward the Nazi party and their political ideologies. The Olympic salute was always good a gesture, but with both bearing an almost identical resemblance, one could hardly discern one from the other as the athletes past by Hitler's podium.
good find. what are the differences though? is the team on the right of the picture turned away? it is really hard to see the difference.
ReplyDeleteTo my knowledge the main difference is that the official Nazi Salute is held at a slightly higher angle, with the wrist tilted to point the fingers up. We had a long discussion about this in the German class I'm taking. Like Jerome said, there was a lot of confusion with this salute during these Olympics.
ReplyDeleteIts tough to tell which team is holding up what really. They could both be holding up the Nazi Salute or vice versa. We're confused to this very day haha.
ReplyDeleteI find it rather ironic that they two were so similar, and somewhat funny that people were confused over which to use. It seems to me that this is a great illustration of the impasse western civilization, of which the Olympics is one of its great symbols, had found itself at the time.
ReplyDeleteThey probably were Nazis on the inside, so they pretended to be confused. The Nazis kicked butt the first round. Well the Germans did. They beat Luxembourg 9-0. They probably fixed the game because they were knocked out in the next round.
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