The IOC apologized and removed a Twitter message that some saw celebrating Nazi Germany’s celebration of the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
GENEVA – The IOC apologized on Friday and removed a Twitter message that some saw as Nazi Germany’s celebration of the 1936 Olympics.
Joining a message thread on Thursday a year before the Olympic cauldron was ignited at the postponed Tokyo 2020 Games, the International Olympic Committee used its official account to tweet a movie about the first torch relay entering the Berlin stadium. .
“We apologize to those who are offended by the 1936 Berlin Olympics film,” the IOC wrote Friday.
“We have removed this film, which was part of the film series with the message of unity and solidarity, from the @Olympics Twitter account.”
Responses to the original IOC message on Thursday expressed surprise from Twitter users by streaming footage of the Berlin Games, and suggested that the Olympic corps was unaware of the story.
The official museum at the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp added its response to the IOC in the thread of the message on Friday.
“For 2 weeks, the Nazi dictatorship camouflaged its racist and militaristic character,” said the verified account of the Auschwitz museum. “It exploited the Games to impress foreign viewers with an image of a peaceful and tolerant Germany.”
The IOC message also included images of Jesse Owens, the American black man who won four gold medals in athletics in Berlin.
Owens “taught the Nazi regime a resounding lesson, breaking its despicable fascist claims of racial superiority,” the IOC wrote Friday.
“We understand that the film about the 1936 Berlin Olympics that includes this story was not perceived in this way.”
The apology follows a comment last week by German IOC President Thomas Bach that “there was no reason to rewrite history at this time” about one of his predecessors, Avery Brundage.
Brundage, president of the IOC for 20 years until 1972, has long been criticized for his racist views and for being a Nazi supporter at the Berlin Olympics, where he led the United States team.
The San Francisco Museum of Asian Art, which houses an extensive collection donated by Brundage, last month removed its bust from the exhibition. The museum director described Brundage as “a hateful person.”
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