Jumping the Nazis

A story in Ha’artez reports on a new feature film about Margaret Lambert, a German-born Jewish high-jumper who was denied the chance to participate in the 1936 Olympics held in Munich.

The film, Berlin 36, premiers in September in Germany and I predict, before too long, it will be making the international film festival circuits.

According to the article, Lambert, then known as Gretel Bergman,

moved to England when she was 19, and found success in her renewed sporting career. But the Germans unexpectedly ordered her to return in 1936. The United States had threatened to boycott the Olympic Games because of the persecution of Jews in Germany. The Nazi propaganda machine needed to present a token Jew at the Games.

Her father cautioned her that if she refused to come back, their family would be in trouble….

Selected in the core team of high jumpers and spurred on by her anger, Bergmann equaled the German women’s national record of 1.60 meters at trials in Stuttgart. It was June 30, 1936 – one month before the opening ceremony of the Games.

Then came the shock: No sooner had the U.S. Olympic team set sail from New York than Bergmann received a letter saying she hadn’t performed well enough in the trials to participate in the Games and was offered “standing room only” tickets.

Lambert was the subject of Hitler’s Pawn, an HBO documentary released in 2004.

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Kaplan’s Korner on Jews and Sports © 2009 New Jersey Jewish News

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