Black American Jesse Owens wins an Olympic gold medal at Nazi Germany. 1936

Image from external-preview.redd.it and submitted by Caminsky
image showing Black American Jesse Owens wins an Olympic gold medal at Nazi Germany. 1936

arb7721 on September 2nd, 2020 at 01:06 UTC »

Many Americans imagined that black athletes would be poorly treated in Berlin, but the 100,000 Berliners chanting “Jes-say O-vens” as he won the 100m proved the contrary. Owens and his black teammates enjoyed freedom of movement and equality seldom experienced stateside. The Nazis wanted to use the Olympics to display a renewed Germany to the world. International Olympic boycott movements had threatened the opportunity. Consequently, the Olympic village was integrated and all racist propaganda was suspended for the duration of the games. Robert Vann, an African-American newsman, wrote: “These German people are mighty fine. They have a spirit of sportsmanship and fair play which overrides the color-barrier”.

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The51stDivision on September 2nd, 2020 at 01:38 UTC »

It’s an amazing photo, but what triggers me is that everytime it’s posted people always talk shit about the “nazi” behind Jesse. So here’s the full story (I’m pasting my reply from a earlier repost):

This photo gets reposted once every few months and hey I’m cool with that, it’s a historic image. But what I wish people could also repost along with it is the quite truly beautiful friendship between Jesse Owens and Luz Long (the German silver medalist giving the Nazi salute). The two did not know each other prior to the Olympics. After Jesse fouled his first two jumps and looked like he might not enter final, Luz walked up to him and gave Jesse tips based on his observations. After Jesse won the gold Luz was the first to congratulate him, and walked with him to the dressing room. Jesse later: “It took a lot of courage for him to befriend me in front of Hitler... I would melt down all the medals and cups I have and they wouldn't be a plating on the twenty-four karat friendship that I felt for Luz Long at that moment.”

Luz later served in the Wehrmacht. The two corresponded during the war. In his last letter, Long wrote to Jesse and asked him to contact his son after the war and tell him about his father and "what times were like when we were not separated by war. I am saying—tell him how things can be between men on this earth.” Luz Long was sadly killed in Sicily in 1943. Jesse Owens kept communication with Luz’s family, and later served as best man at Luz’s son's wedding.

Tl;dr: Not all Germans are Nazis, and not all Nazis are evil not everyone in the Nazi party was evil (I don’t think Luz was even in the Nazi party anyways) Just like how not all Republicans or Democrats or Russians or Chinese are evil. Friendship can exist beyond race and nationality. Some in the comments don’t seem to understand this.

Edit: Ok I’ve made a mistake. Luz Long was indeed a member of the NSDAP. But he was drafted (not voluntarily) into the Wehrmacht and in the last years expressed his doubts and disillusionment with the Nazi regime (more details in the German wiki). Was he a true Nazi or just a regular German caught up in the currents of history? I‘m not his biographer so I simply cannot comment. But I don’t think this takes away anything from the story of him and Jesse Owens. What we do know for a fact is that he embraced Jesse in front of Hitler, and the two men became genuine friends despite racism, Nazism and the World War. And I think that in itself is quite beautiful.

Also some people seem really triggered by me saying “not all Nazis are evil.” I guess they misinterpreted that as Nazi-apologism, which was not at all my intention. I’m simply pointing out the fact that we cannot lump everyone under a nametag and just assume they are all “evil.” Nazi ideology is pretty much evil, but there were also those who were forced to join the cause even though they did not believe in it, or those who were simply fooled and caught up in the frenzy but later realized their faults. Schindler was technically a Nazi, as so was John Rabe. They’ve certainly made mistakes and chose the wrong side of history, but would you call them “evil”? I guess this is the real TLDR: History is always nuanced and we should not view things in pure black and white; there is always more to the story.

Ok I feel stupid even having to say this, but: No I’m not a Nazi or trying to whitewash Nazism. Heck I ain’t even white. I’m a leftist and definitely would’ve been prosecuted in Nazi Germany in the 1940s.

I’m just somebody who studies history and wish more people would appreciate the untold stories of history. Fuck the Nazis and goodnight.

Fandorin on September 2nd, 2020 at 02:55 UTC »

See that little Japanese old man between Jesse and the Japanese athlete? That's Jigaro Kano, the founder of Judo, and one of the greatest martial artists of all time.