The backdrop is pre-war Germany. Hitler is flexing his muscles, the Nuremberg Laws restricting the civil rights of German Jews have been passed and the Sachsenhausen concentration camp is being built outside Berlin. Hitler appoints himself patron of the Games, notices condemning Jews are removed and a 110,000-seat stadium is erected by Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels to showcase German supremacy.
Over in England, France and the US debate rages over whether the Games should be boycotted, African-American and Jewish groups in particular protesting Nazi racial policy.
Read the story by Vic Alhadeff In The Australian (sports section).