Tablet Magazine

In the days leading up to the 4×100 meters relay race in the Berlin Olympic Stadium, ticketed as a signature event within the games and scheduled for the final day of competition, Marty Glickman strolled confidently among competitors from more than 50 nations from all over the world and made friends easily. Thinking back to the opening ceremonies, a week or so earlier, he was gratified to wear his country’s colors and proud that he, like all American athletes, did not raise his hand to Hitler in the Olympic salute that awfully resembled how the Germans paid tribute to their leader. The most the U.S. contingent would do was turn “eyes right” as they passed the Fuehrer’s box in the grandstands. Perhaps it was then, when they espied Hitler, that the joking about him looking like Charlie Chaplin began in their midst. As an American patriot, Glickman was also pleased how his team’s flag carrier did not dip Old Glory to a foreign potentate as other countries did....

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