Simon Kuper Simon Kuper

Nazi gamesmanship

The Nazis staged an extraordinary spectacle in 1936. But its military precision gave many cause for alarm

issue 17 February 2018

The British diplomat Robert Vansittart had been warning against Nazism for years, so it was a surprise when he and his wife showed up in Berlin for a two-week ‘holiday’ during the 1936 Olympics. ‘Van’ was impressed by German organisation. ‘These tense, intense people are going to make us look like a C nation,’ he wrote in a confidential report.

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