Coubertin und Hitler

Abstract

Based on one of Coubertin’s eulogies to Hitler of 8 May 1935, Coubertin’s admiration for Hitler, which has been negated or glossed over by research, is re-examined. A thorough evaluation of the diaries of Carl Diem (Secretary-General of the Organising Committee of the Olympic Games in Berlin 1936) shows Coubertin’s early and consistently positive interest in the “Führer”. Coubertin saw Germany as the “guardian of Olympism” and suggested “the foundation of an institute for the permanent study of the Olympic Games”, to which he bequeathed “his papers and unfinished projects”. As a result, an International Olympic Institute (IOI) was founded in Berlin on 22 April 1938, which received indirect recognition from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) by publishing the Olympic Review as its official communication organ. The article concludes with Carl Diem’s attempts to use Coubertin as propaganda for the Third Reich even after his death by emphasising, among other things, “the military nature of his attitude”.