Commmemorating the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Berlin today.This post was going to be accompanied by a Royal Enfield themed Hitler spoof video that I made, but the owners of the copyright of "The downfall", the movie with the famous scene, are cracking down on the videos. Moreover, jewish organizations have complained about them, saying they trivialize the meaning of what Hitler represents. Since it is not my intention to offend anyone, I left only one still of the video on the left, you can fill with your imagination the rest.
On with the post: The Third Reich was well aware of the value of sports as propaganda. The most famous examples of course are the 1936 Berlin olympics and the heavyweight boxing world championship attempt of Max Schmelling (both backfired for the Nazis). Less well known was Hitler's attack on the motorcycling sports world, which culminated with BMW winning the 1939 Isle of Man TT. The Germans started methodically, attacking first the trials events, where they won the International Six Days Trials in 1934. Because the event was not in Germany it was not easy for the Nazis to significantly capitalize politically on it, but winning the race gave them the opportunity to host the event in Bavaria in 1935. There they were not going to pull any stops and would generate huge publicity with another win.
The DKW team did indeed win a gold medal in Bavaria, but the Nazi celebration was tarnished by the fact that the Royal Enfield factory team also got a gold medal. The team was mounted on 350cc Bullets and consisted of Ted Thacker, T. Stewart and the Dutchman F. A. Vermaak. Stewart and Thacker also gained individual gold medals.
Jorge, I wish I had thought of this! Excellent post. The Hitler spoofs could be very funny. I never felt they trivialized HIM. They made the subject being spoofed seem trivial and funny in comparison to Hitler, who really was no joking matter. Thanks for a great post.
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