large.
Baillet-Latourâs confidence was shattered just a few days later. On the evening of Thursday, 21 November Madison Square Park in New York City was filled with 10,000 anti-Nazi demonstrators. The peaceful protesters listened to some twenty speakers in the cold, and broke up at around nine oâclock. On the same day, 138 leading Protestant clergymen and educationists issued a statement demanding a boycott of the Olympics. Any claims that the boycott movement was merely a âJewish-Communist plotâ could no longer be taken seriously.
Now it was the turn of Ernest Lee Jahncke to strike. On 25 November he wrote from his home in New Orleans to Count Baillet-Latour. The letter was just as damaging as that written by Mahoney to Lewald. Jahncke reminded Baillet-Latour that he was the only American member of the IOC who was of German descent, and that he was âproud of that originâ. He then informed the count that he would not do as he had been asked the month before; in fact, he would âdo just the opposite of what you so confidently ask of meâ.
I shall urge upon my countrymen that they should not participate in the Games in Nazi Germany because it is my opinion that under the domination of the Nazi government the German sports authorities have violated and are continuing to violate every requirement of fair play in the conduct of sports in Germany and in the selection of the German team, and are exploiting the Games for the political and financial profit of the Nazi regime.
[â¦] I am convinced, moreover, that to hold the Games in Nazi Germany will be to deal a severe blow to the Olympic idea. And, tragically enough, it will have been damaged by the International Olympic Committee [â¦] If our Committee permits the Games to be held in Nazi Germany, the Olympic idea will cease to be the conception of physical strength and fair play in unison, and there will be nothing left to distinguish it from the Nazi ideal of physical power.
One can only imagine the near-apoplexy Baillet-Latour must have suffered reading this at his desk in the Olympic headquarters inLausanne. But there was worse to come. Less specifically than Mahoney, Jahncke outlined the evidence that the Nazis were breaking the Olympic code by denying the Jews a fair chance to compete. Baillet-Latour would have been used to such charges, however. It was not until the final paragraph that Jahncke delivered his body blow. âLet me beseech you to seize your opportunity to take your rightful place in the history of the Olympics alongside of de Coubertin instead of Hitler. De Coubertin rescued the Olympic idea from the remote past. You have the opportunity to rescue it from the immediate present and safeguard it for posterity.â This was too much for Baillet-Latour to bear. The cheek, to mention the name of the Christ-like de Coubertin in this way! What made matters worse was that Jahncke had released his letter to the press simultaneously. This enabled Brundage to immediately dispatch a telegram to Brussels which counselled: âJahncke statement most unfortunate. He has no official connection American sport. Suggest strong answer from you.â
Baillet-Latour was not to reply, however, until after the crucial AAU vote over participation was taken in early December. Instead of responding to Jahnckeâs specific allegations, he instead wrote that he had been reassured about the Germansâ behaviour by an impressive list of IOC members and officials, presidents and officials of international sporting federations, high authorities in many countries, as well as the German Jewish sporting associations. Naturally, Baillet-Latour was unable to name any of these officials and authorities, and neither would he tell Jahncke which German Jewish sporting associations he had spoken to (even if he had, they were hardly likely to be able to give a true picture). Baillet-Latour was most splenetic over Jahnckeâs mention of
Baillet-Latourâs confidence was shattered just a few days later. On the evening of Thursday, 21 November Madison Square Park in New York City was filled with 10,000 anti-Nazi demonstrators. The peaceful protesters listened to some twenty speakers in the cold, and broke up at around nine oâclock. On the same day, 138 leading Protestant clergymen and educationists issued a statement demanding a boycott of the Olympics. Any claims that the boycott movement was merely a âJewish-Communist plotâ could no longer be taken seriously.
Now it was the turn of Ernest Lee Jahncke to strike. On 25 November he wrote from his home in New Orleans to Count Baillet-Latour. The letter was just as damaging as that written by Mahoney to Lewald. Jahncke reminded Baillet-Latour that he was the only American member of the IOC who was of German descent, and that he was âproud of that originâ. He then informed the count that he would not do as he had been asked the month before; in fact, he would âdo just the opposite of what you so confidently ask of meâ.
I shall urge upon my countrymen that they should not participate in the Games in Nazi Germany because it is my opinion that under the domination of the Nazi government the German sports authorities have violated and are continuing to violate every requirement of fair play in the conduct of sports in Germany and in the selection of the German team, and are exploiting the Games for the political and financial profit of the Nazi regime.
[â¦] I am convinced, moreover, that to hold the Games in Nazi Germany will be to deal a severe blow to the Olympic idea. And, tragically enough, it will have been damaged by the International Olympic Committee [â¦] If our Committee permits the Games to be held in Nazi Germany, the Olympic idea will cease to be the conception of physical strength and fair play in unison, and there will be nothing left to distinguish it from the Nazi ideal of physical power.
One can only imagine the near-apoplexy Baillet-Latour must have suffered reading this at his desk in the Olympic headquarters inLausanne. But there was worse to come. Less specifically than Mahoney, Jahncke outlined the evidence that the Nazis were breaking the Olympic code by denying the Jews a fair chance to compete. Baillet-Latour would have been used to such charges, however. It was not until the final paragraph that Jahncke delivered his body blow. âLet me beseech you to seize your opportunity to take your rightful place in the history of the Olympics alongside of de Coubertin instead of Hitler. De Coubertin rescued the Olympic idea from the remote past. You have the opportunity to rescue it from the immediate present and safeguard it for posterity.â This was too much for Baillet-Latour to bear. The cheek, to mention the name of the Christ-like de Coubertin in this way! What made matters worse was that Jahncke had released his letter to the press simultaneously. This enabled Brundage to immediately dispatch a telegram to Brussels which counselled: âJahncke statement most unfortunate. He has no official connection American sport. Suggest strong answer from you.â
Baillet-Latour was not to reply, however, until after the crucial AAU vote over participation was taken in early December. Instead of responding to Jahnckeâs specific allegations, he instead wrote that he had been reassured about the Germansâ behaviour by an impressive list of IOC members and officials, presidents and officials of international sporting federations, high authorities in many countries, as well as the German Jewish sporting associations. Naturally, Baillet-Latour was unable to name any of these officials and authorities, and neither would he tell Jahncke which German Jewish sporting associations he had spoken to (even if he had, they were hardly likely to be able to give a true picture). Baillet-Latour was most splenetic over Jahnckeâs mention of
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