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Nazi Olympics exhibit finishes stay at Stark Center

  • Zephyr Melton
  • Feb 4, 2016
  • 2 min read

After a six-month stay at the Stark Center, the Nazi Olympics Berlin 1936 Exhibit ended its run on Friday.

The exhibit, located in the North End Zone of DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium, capped a stay as a multimedia experience regarding the crossover between sports and politics. Quotes, timelines, videos and pictures were all used in the exhibit to depict the 1936 Olympics and the impact that it had on international and domestic politics.

Produced by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the exhibit featured the athletes who were associated with the games, whether they participated, boycotted, or were banned from participation.

Dr. John Hoberman, a professor who helped conceptualize some original aspects of the exhibit over 20 years ago, said he believed the exhibit was nicely done.

“Well, I am a little biased,” he later said.

Sarah Bentley, a local resident and frequent visitor of historical exhibits, said she heard about the Nazi Olympic Exhibit after seeing an ad in the newspaper. Her experience taking piano lessons from a

Holocaust refugee as a child piqued her interest in the subject matter.

The exhibit allowed patrons to glimpse into the past with a combination of text and videos regarding the Nazification of the usually peaceful Olympic games, and highlighted some of the human rights violations that were typical of the Nazi regime. The exhibit was accurate in capturing the gruesome nature of some of the injustices that took place not only during the Olympics, but the aftermath as well, Bentley said.

“It is depressingly accurate,” Bentley said. “I’ve read about it a lot, but seeing it makes it even more depressing.”

With a slew of text-based panels, exhibit guests could digest the information at their own pace. Videos of Nazi party members and other people connected to the Olympics could also been seen throughout the duration of the exhibit.

“They [the Nazi party] decided in 1933 that this [the Olympics] could be a useful propaganda exercise,” Hoberman said. “That by hosting the world at an international event and by giving people a good time, and ostensibly subscribing to the principles of the Olympics movement of peace, that they could fool the rest of Europe into underestimating its determination to go to war and colonize the rest of Europe.”

For Reed Hauser, UT sport management major, the exhibit illustrated just how important sports can be. The exhibit showed him how seemingly unconnected things, such as sports and politics, still have a distinct connection.

“Sports can be used as a medium to change world views and even influence laws and policies,” Hauser said.

In addition to the Nazi Olympics Exhibit, the Stark Center houses archives and other materials regarding the history of physical cultures and sports. It was originally founded by Jan and Terry Todd, UT faculty members.

This exhibit and the Stark Center made a lasting impression on Hauser as he said he plans on visiting again when the next exhibit comes about.

“It was very informative and I hope that many more people were able to see it,” Hauser said. “I look forward to seeing what they have next.”


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