Nazi use of rallies and sport

• Huge rallies were organised by Goebbels to promote a sense of German unity and show off the new strength of Germany and the Nazi party.
• An annual meeting was held at a huge open air parade ground in Nuremberg, and Goebbels ensured the 1934 rally was filmed by Leni Riefenstahl in the infamous film ‘Triumph of the Will’.
• A statue of a giant eagle, with a 100 foot wingspan dominated the Nuremberg stadium, which had 130 searchlights around it to light it up at night and space for 200,000 supporters.
• Sports stadiums were similarly covered in Nazi symbols, most famously the Olympic stadium built in Berlin to accommodate 110,000 spectators and Nazi sporting success at the 1936 Olympics, where Germany won 33 gold medals. This was hailed as proving Nazi ideals on ‘racial purity’.
• Visiting teams from abroad, including the England football team in 1938, were expected to show respect to the Nazi state by making the Nazi salute during the German national anthem.