Jewish athletes gather in Berlin for Maccabi Games

Europe has seen a sharp rise in anti-Semitic activity in recent years, and Germany is no exception.

“It is a special joy for us that the [games] are taking place in Germany for the first time”, said a statement from Joseph Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany.

Eager to showcase his self-proclaimed “master race”, Hitler constructed Olympiastadion in the heart of Berlin to host the 1936 Summer Olympics.

In a nod to the past, organizers of the 14th edition of the games are holding a Holocaust memorial service ahead of the opening ceremony later in the day, and many youth athletes were to visit the former Sachsenhausen concentration camp just outside the city.

Organiser Alon Meyer said the decision to host the Games in Berlin was a hard one. “We will be able to highlight that Jewish life is part of German society and that Jews have not been chased away”. Though only Jewish athletes can compete, “let’s play together” matches are also being staged with non-Jewish professional and celebrity teams.

The 1936 Olympics took place three years after Adolf Hitler became German chancellor.

Besides basketball, football, tennis, swimming and fencing, the Maccabi Games offer bowling competitions, chess and bridge – “the sport of Jewish grandmas”, joked Osterer.

To be held under tight security, the 14th European Maccabi Games have “strong historical and political significance”, said Chancellor Angela Merkel, who expressed Germany’s “gratitude” for the rebirth of Jewish life in the country responsible for the Holocaust.

National Archives and Records AdministrationIn the Olympic Stadium, German spectators salute Adolf Hitler during the Games of the 11th Olympiad. In the end, only part-Jewish fencer Helene Mayer was allowed to represent Germany in 1936. He added that the police should be able to meet the challenge. He went on to say that the location of the games is a “signal of reconciliation”.

National Archives and Records AdministrationJesse Owens competes in the 100m final in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. The first North American JCC Maccabi Games were held in 1982 with 300 athletes; the JCC of Greater Pittsburgh sent its first group in 1983.

They resumed in 1959 in Copenhagen. For the first time, 70 years after the end of the Second World War and 50 years after the resumption of diplomatic relations between Germany and Israel, more than 2,000 athletes from 36 countries around the world will compete in 19 sports at the Olympic Park.

“We want to set a mark internationally and show that Judaism in Germany has found its solid place, that it is vital and diverse, and that it is an accepted part of the country”.