The Political Dimension and Organisational Aspects of the Participation of the Polish Football Team in the 1936 Summer Olympic Games in Berlin

Abstract

The 1936 Summer Olympic Games went down to the history of sport as the event dominated by the Nazi ideology. It was held in the German capital city, which is in a very close proximity to Poland, a country that shared mostly bad historical experiences connected to Germany. Also bilateral, political relations between these two countries were always considered as complicated. The event was therefore crucial for the Polish political and sport decision-makers, especially considering the particular position of the sport in the Polish constitutional system of the 1930s. In this context, a very important role was going to be played by the Polish footballers. They were thus considered as representatives of the discipline that was always considered as the one attracting most of the international public attention.