New York Giants’ Return to Germany Triggers Historical Reflections of Antisemitism and the 1936 Olympic Games

The New York Giants return to Germany this weekend for the first since 1994 when legendary broadcaster Marty Glickman made the trip and relived his encounter with Adolf Hitler and antisemitism that cruelly stripped him from competing in the 1936 Olympic Games at Berlin.The Giants (2-7) play the Carolina Panthers (2-7) on Sunday at Allianz Arena at Munich as part of the NFL’s International Games. The return to Germany conjures memories of the Giants visit to Berlin 30 years ago when the Giants played the then San Diego Chargers in a preseason game at Olympic Stadium.The Giants first international game offered a history lesson of the 1936 Olympics Games where Glickman and Sam Stoller, both Jewish, were removed from the 4×100 relay team and replaced at the last minute by Ralph Metcalfe and Jesse Owens. The American team won the event, giving Owens his fourth gold medal at the historical event. But the removal of the only two Jewish sprinters on the team, from Glickman’s viewpoint, was due to the presence of Hitler.A football and track and field star at Syracuse in his youth and a famed broadcaster in his later years, Glickman was a special guest of the Giants when they made the visit to Berlin three decades ago. While the Giants went through a mid-week practice, he sat in the stands of the empty stadium not far from where Hitler’s box was located and recounted the hurt and the anger he felt after not being able to compete due to the rampant antisemitism in the country.A long-time football writer, Hank Gola was one of the few journalists who made the trip. He can still hear Glickman’s voice today. “It was the greatest interview I’ve ever been in on,” he told the Sun. “I’ve never felt anything like that as Glickman was describing the scene. It was the first time he had been there since ’36 and everything flooded back to him.”Glickman, who passed away in 2001 at age 83, talked about the injustice he felt at being removed from the relay team at the last-minute to avoid offending Hitler, then the Chancellor of Germany. The removal was instigated by assistant coach Dean Cromwell and the head of the U.S. Olympic team, Avery Brundage, whom Glickman later called an “American Nazi.”Owens protested. “Let Marty and Sam run,” he said. “They deserve it.” Cromwell reportedly told Owens, “You’ll do as you’re told.”Glickman was not only disappointed for himself, but also for what competing in the Olympics would have meant. “I wanted to show the world that a Jew could compete and do just as well as anyone else and perhaps better,” he said.Glickman’s return to Berlin was an intense journey. “You could feel his emotion as he was talking,” Mr. Gola said. “It was the greatest interview I’ve ever been a part of in terms of bringing out emotion and raw feeling as he described the events that were going on.”Howard Cross, who played tight end for the Giants from 1989 to 2001, was on the trip and wanted to feel a piece of the stadium’s history. “We were practicing where Jesse Owens won his gold medals and I was walking out to the field one day and I went to the track and knelt down in a sprinter’s stance,” Mr. Cross told the Sun. When someone asked what he was doing, Mr. Cross said, “Jesse Owens was in this lane right here and Hitler was sitting right there. That was a big historical moment.”The Giants will be at Munich this weekend, a city that experienced its own ugly episode of antisemitism when 11 members of the 1972 Israeli Olympic team were kidnapped and killed by members of a militant Palestinian organization called Black September.The Giants desperately need a win to have any hopes of salvaging a thus far disappointing season. Revisiting dark periods of history isn’t a priority. Most of the players weren’t born when Glickman made his emotional return to Berlin and the Munich Massacre was 52 years ago. This trip will be all about football and staying safe.Giants tight end Jakob Johnson, who was born at Stuttgart, Germany, and played collegiately at Tennessee, simply warned his teammates to keep out of trouble. “In Germany we like rules and we like people to stick to the rules,” he told reporters at the Giants training facility in New Jersey. “So don’t do nothing crazy.”

New York Giants’ Return to Germany Triggers Historical Reflections of Antisemitism and the 1936 Olympic Games

New York Giants’ Return to Germany Triggers Historical Reflections of Antisemitism and the 1936 Olympic Games

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