The activist that I would like to highlight is Gretel Bergmann, the “Great Jewish Hope”! Gretel was one of Germany’s top female high jumpers, who was intentionally excluded from the 1936 Berlin Olympics due to her being a Jewish woman. According to the New York Times (2017), “In June 1936, just a month before the Olympics, Ms. Lambert, then known as Gretel Bergmann, won a meet against some of the best German high jumpers with a leap of 5 feet 3 inches” and the record would have been good enough to win the gold medal but due to her being Jewish, she was barred.

At the time, Hitler was in power and the creator of the Nazi regime and its great disdain for Jewish people and people who were not white Germans. It is believed that at the time, Adolf Hitler wanted to use the Berlin Olympics to display that the Aryan race was superior to all other races who attended. This also explains the anger Hitler possessed towards Jesse James won 4 gold medals during the Berlin Olympics because it debunked his racist agenda and propaganda.

Gretel was barred but was told to attend the to take part in the meet and training before the Olympics, which she considered a joke. The Nazis did this to portray they weren’t singling her out because of her race, and they even threatened her and her family if she didn’t attend training even though she wasn’t allowed at the Olympics. The article states that she refused to go and declined “the officials’ offer of a standing-room ticket, “free of charge,” for the Olympic track and field games. Travel expenses and hotel accommodations were not included in the offer”. Denying the Germans could’ve cost her life, but she stood by what she believed and didn’t attend. She didn’t want to help push the façade that Jewish people were being treated well by Germans.

Gretel Bergmann is viewed as having the courage to stand up to the German Nazi Regimen at their height and putting her safety at risk to make a point for Jewish athletes. As for how outside media reported this occurrence, I could not find any that tracked the revolt she staged, only articles after she passed. But she is viewed as an important Jewish figure. Her not attending showed the Nazis were discriminatory, as she also shared the letter of them banning her, even after they brought her to Germany to compete initially.

References:

Berkow, I. (2017, July 25). Margaret Bergmann Lambert, Jewish athlete excluded from Berlin olympics, dies at 103. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/25/sports/olympics/margaret-bergmann-lambert-dead-barred-from-1936-olympics.html