Berlin 1936

This short book takes us through the sixteen days in August 1936 when the Olympic Games were staged in Berlin. With a chapter dedicated to each day, it describes the events in the German capital through the eyes of a select cast of characters – Nazi leaders and foreign diplomats, athletes and journalists, writers and actors, nightclub owners and socialites.

While the competition inside the Olympic Stadium provides the focus and much of the drama – from the triumph of Jesse Owens to the scandal when an American tourist breaks through security and kisses Hitler – Oliver Hilmes also takes us behind the scenes and into the lives of ordinary Berliners: the woman with a dark secret who steps in front of a train, the transsexual waiting for the Gestapo’s knock on the door, and the Jewish boy hoping that Germany may lose in the sporting arena.

During the Games Nazi oppression was temporarily lifted and the book offers us a last glimpse of the vibrant and diverse life in the German capital in the 1920 and early 1930s which the Nazis set out to destroy: it evokes the novels of Christopher Isherwood and Fassbinder’s Berlin Alexanderplatz – but we are already entering the dark world of Fallada’s Alone in Berlin.

Aceasta scurta carte ne duce prin cele saisprezece zile din august 1936 cand au avut loc Jocurile Olimpice la Berlin. Cu un capitol dedicat fiecarei zile, acesta descrie evenimentele din capitala Germaniei prin ochii unei distributii selecte de personaje - lideri nazisti si diplomati straini, sportivi si jurnalisti, scriitori si actori, proprietari de cluburi de noapte si socialisti. Stadionul Olimpic ofera punctul central si o mare parte din drama - de la triumful lui Jesse Owens la scandalul cand un turist american trece prin securitate si il saruta pe Hitler - Oliver Hilmes ne duce, de asemenea, in culise si in viata berlinezilor obisnuiti: femeia cu un secret intunecat care paseste in fata unui tren, transsexualul care asteapta sa bata Gestapo la usa si baiatul evreu care spera ca Germania poate pierde in arena sportiva. In timpul Jocurilor, opresiunea nazista a fost temporar ridicata si cartea ne ofera o ultima privire asupra vietii vibrante si diverse din capitala Germaniei din 1920 si inceputul anilor 1930 pe care nazistii si-au propus sa o distruga: evoca romanele lui Christopher Isherwood si Fas sbinder's Berlin Alexanderplatz - dar intram deja in lumea intunecata a Fallada's Alone din Berlin.