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The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is defending its decision to sell a limited-edition T-shirt commemorating the 1936 Olympic Games in Nazi-era Berlin.
The $42 shirt sold out on the official Olympic online store. It features artwork from the Berlin Games, which took place three years after Nazi leader Adolf Hitler seized power and one year after the Nuremberg Laws stripped German Jews of citizenship. Nazi authorities staged the 1936 Summer Games to legitimize their regime before the world.
An IOC spokesperson recognized the Games’ link to “Nazi propaganda.” However, the committee said the design belonged to a broader collection marking “130 years of Olympic art and design.”
“While we of course acknowledge the historical issues of ‘Nazi propaganda’ related to the Berlin 1936 Olympic Games, we must also remember that the Games in Berlin saw 4,483 athletes from 49 countries compete in 149 medal events,” the spokesperson said. “Many of them stunned the world with their athletic achievements.”
Historical Symbols Carry Historical Responsibility
The Berlin Olympics served a clear political purpose. Nazi officials used the event to project strength and stability. At the same time, antisemitic laws shaped daily life in Germany. Authorities barred most Jewish athletes from representing the country. They also removed overtly antisemitic signs from public view during the competition.
Scott Saunders, CEO of the International March of the Living, said the Games helped normalize a government that was already persecuting Jews.
“As the world reflects on this latest controversy, it is impossible not to recall that we are approaching 90 years since the 1936 Berlin Olympics, an event the Nazi regime used to legitimize itself on the global stage while persecution of Jews was already well underway,” Saunders said.
“Sport has the power to unite, to inspire, and to elevate the very best of humanity,” he added. “But history reminds us that it can also be manipulated to sanitize hatred and normalize exclusion. The lesson of Berlin is urgent. When antisemitism resurfaces in public life, whether in stadiums, streets, or online, silence is not neutrality. It is complicity.”
Ninety years after the Nazi regime used sport to legitimize hatred, antisemitism is once again being normalized — across campuses, streets, and online platforms. Global institutions cannot afford historical amnesia.
Take Action
CAM has launched Report It — a secure app to report antisemitic incidents anonymously and in real time. Don’t stay silent — download it today on the Apple Store or Google Play. See it. Report it. Stop it. Together, we can fight this hate.
