In the wave of exhibitions sweeping across France in view of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, one, presented by the Shoah Memorial, addresses the political side of these major sporting gatherings. Although imagined by Pierre de Coubertin to serve the cause of peace
“thanks to peaceful and courteous struggles”
between athletes from different countries, the games will never escape their time and the great geopolitical balances.
Reserved for male athletes in the first editions, for
“civilized peoples”
in Saint Louis in 1904, taking place without Germany in 1924, transforming into a fascist demonstration in 1936 in Berlin, subject to South African apartheid, theater of 'a taking of Israeli hostages by the Palestinians in Munich in 1972... They will also be hostages of the world, with their share of boycotts and discrimination.
Also read August 1, 1936: the Olympic Games in Nazi times
“Flags, anthems, parades, all while displaying a jovial smile on a martial appearance: the spectacularity of nationalism is consubstantial with them”
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