This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 11/17/2022
[SPORTS]. –– [1936 OLYMPICS]. PLACZEK, Otto (1884–1968). Berlin Olympiade 1936 medal. Bronze medal designed in the Art Deco style depicting a nude man with one foot raised upon a step on the recto and the Reichsadler (Imperial Eagle) clutching the five Olympic rings on the verso. The 1936 Berlin Olympics were considered by Adolf Hitler to be a coming out party of sorts for the Third Reich and its ideology. Ultimately Germany took home 89 medals, although the humiliating defeat of German athletes by African American athlete Jesse Owens in four events is said to have dampened the victory for Hitler. The bell and Reichsadler image was designed by Johannes Boehland and was of particular significance to Nazi Germany; during preparations for the games Hitler had had a new, 9.6 ton steel bell cast in Bochum specifically for the ceremonies with the legend “Ich rufe die Junged der Welt” (“I call the youth of the world”) inscribed upon it.