The European Maccabi Games, which run July 28 through Aug. 5, will take place 70 years after the fall of the Third Reich and 50 years after diplomatic relations between Israel and West Germany were established.
They also will be held 80 years after the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, a sporting event presided over by Hitler, which he and propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels used to exploit the Nazi cause. The stadium was packed with Nazi-
saluting fans surrounded by hundreds of swastika flags.
Moreover, Hitler used his influence to prevent Jews from competing, notably the only U.S. Jewish Olympians that year, 400-yard relay team members Marty Glickman and Sam Stoller.
In Berlin on July 28, descendants of Glickman and Stoller will march with Team USA in the opening ceremony.
Although no part of the European Maccabi Games will be held in the 1930s stadium — with 75,000 seats, “it is simply too big for us,” an EMG spokesperson said — the opening ceremony still is expected to draw 15,000 people to the nearby Waldbühne amphitheater, also built for the 1936 Olympics. As the Israel contigent marches in, “Hatikvah” will be played and hundreds, maybe thousands, of Israeli flags will wave proudly.
“I doubt any games anywhere will be as emotionally charged as this one,” Daniel Collins, head of Great Britain’s delegation to the games, told London’s Guardian newspaper.
“It’s a victory for modern Judaism,” said Jay Lipton, a 19-year-old fencer from San Rafael. “There are going to be a lot of goose bumps. I mean, it’s a place that was built for the Germans, and I wasn’t supposed to be allowed there. But in today’s day and age, we can go there and stand proud.”
Lipton is one of nine athletes on Team USA who live or attend college in Northern California. Most are ages 18 to 35, but there are also junior divisions as well as several masters divisions for 35 and older. Most events will take place in Olympic Park, a huge grounds that includes the 1936 stadium.
The other athletes with Northern California ties are men’s basketball players Noah Springwater (San Francisco) and Jeremiah Kreisberg (Berkeley); women’s soccer players Abbie Faingold (Lincoln, Placer County), Sienna Drizin (U.C. Davis) and Sydnie Telson (University of San Francisco); fencer Nathan Milgram (San Jose); youth soccer player Ethan Glasman (Pacifica); and junior swimmer Hannah Edwards (Napa). In addition, athletic trainer Aaron Gill (Kentfield) is part of the U.S. contingent.
With all the focus on history and Germany, it’s easy to forget that this is also a significant athletic competition at which young athletes representing their country just want to do their best.
“Competing overseas is a huge opportunity, especially for someone my age,” said Edwards, 16. “Watching the regular Olympics and seeing the athletes march in, I’ve always wanted to do that. This is definitely going to be a dream come true.” — andy altman-ohr