The Truth About the Olympic Torch

[John L]

I have to confess that I did not know that the history of the olympic torch is relatively new, and that it came from the 1936 Olympics. That's right, by the NAZIS. One of the most unknown aspect of this party was it's pagen influence, and the torch ceremony is just an extension of it's pagan practices. So, today we are continuing this tradition.

Did you all know that?

The Truth About the Olympic Torch



by R J Evans, Apr 9, 2008
With the protests in London and Paris, world focus has turned on to the Olympic Torch. Perhaps it is time to re-appraise its history.

There were scenes of chaos on the streets of Paris and London in early April 2008. The Olympic torch - that age old symbol of the harmony that can co-exist between nations - was in the eyes of many hijacked by a ruthless totalitarian regime to become a representation of their own state pride. A most ancient and venerable of symbols became the target of protestors who objected to the regime's treatment of its own people.

Perhaps it is time to have a look at the history of the Olympic torch.

Imagine you were asked about the origins of the Olympic torch. Like many people, you might say that the torch was carried throughout Ancient Greece in order to signify to the population that the games were about to commence. It was used, you might say, as a universal sign of peace - an indicator that people could travel without threat of violence to Olympia to attend and participate in the games.

If you believe this then you haven't been reading your history books properly. The origin of the torch is much more recent than that. In fact it is very much a twentieth century idea and we have one gentleman to thank for it. Step up and take a bow, Mr Adolf Hitler.

The ceremony the world has been witnessing did not even originate when the modern Olympics started in the late nineteenth century. The whole ritual was devised by a Doctor Carl Diem. He was responsible for running the infamous 1936 Berlin games and it was he, in fact, who devised the whole torch bearing scheme.



Diem was an opportunist. He was not a member of the Nazi party and had been appointed to run the games before Hitler and his cohorts came to power. He was very quick, however, to adapt to the new regime and cooked up a propaganda mechanism bar none to demonstrate the might of the fledgling Third Reich. He ended the war as a fanatical commander, urging thousands of German youths to their deaths as the allied forces approached. He lived till he was eighty, long after the war and the sacrifice was over.

There are 3,422 kilometres between Mount Olympus and the Temple of Hera and Berlin. Diem persuaded the Minister for Propaganda, Josef Goebbels, that it would be a hoot if the same number of perfect young Aryans ran the route. An even greater hoot would be the fact that the route between Athens and Berlin ran through countries such as Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Austria and Czechoslovakia. All these countries were targets for the Nazis - places where they wished to - and would - increase their influence.

With some irony, on its way through Hungary, the flame was accompanied and serenaded by Romany gypsies who only a few years later would end up in the concentration camps in their hundreds of thousands.

So what exactly did the ancient Greeks do? It is true enough that a flame burned permanently in the temple of Hestia - one of their many goddesses. It is also true that some relay races were run with the athletes carrying burning torches. However, the ancient games were proclaimed with crowns of olives. Messengers would be sent outwards from Athens wearing these crowns and it was this that represented the four yearly truce. There were absolutely no torch relays until Mister Hitler came along.



And so went ahead one of the greatest and enduring propaganda coups of the twentieth century. You can still see the propaganda film “Triumph of the Will” by the Nazi director Leni Riefentsahl to see the sheer breathtaking audacity of the regime that invented the Olympic torch “event”. That many people are unaware of its true origins may not excuse the world a second blind-eye moment.

[John L]

I have to confess that I did not know that the history of the olympic torch is relatively new, and that it came from the 1936 Olympics. That's right, by the NAZIS. One of the most unknown aspect of this party was it's pagen influence, and the torch ceremony is just an extension of it's pagan practices. So, today we are continuing this tradition.

Did you all know that?

The Truth About the Olympic Torch



by R J Evans, Apr 9, 2008
With the protests in London and Paris, world focus has turned on to the Olympic Torch. Perhaps it is time to re-appraise its history.

There were scenes of chaos on the streets of Paris and London in early April 2008. The Olympic torch - that age old symbol of the harmony that can co-exist between nations - was in the eyes of many hijacked by a ruthless totalitarian regime to become a representation of their own state pride. A most ancient and venerable of symbols became the target of protestors who objected to the regime's treatment of its own people.

Perhaps it is time to have a look at the history of the Olympic torch.

Imagine you were asked about the origins of the Olympic torch. Like many people, you might say that the torch was carried throughout Ancient Greece in order to signify to the population that the games were about to commence. It was used, you might say, as a universal sign of peace - an indicator that people could travel without threat of violence to Olympia to attend and participate in the games.

If you believe this then you haven't been reading your history books properly. The origin of the torch is much more recent than that. In fact it is very much a twentieth century idea and we have one gentleman to thank for it. Step up and take a bow, Mr Adolf Hitler.

The ceremony the world has been witnessing did not even originate when the modern Olympics started in the late nineteenth century. The whole ritual was devised by a Doctor Carl Diem. He was responsible for running the infamous 1936 Berlin games and it was he, in fact, who devised the whole torch bearing scheme.



Diem was an opportunist. He was not a member of the Nazi party and had been appointed to run the games before Hitler and his cohorts came to power. He was very quick, however, to adapt to the new regime and cooked up a propaganda mechanism bar none to demonstrate the might of the fledgling Third Reich. He ended the war as a fanatical commander, urging thousands of German youths to their deaths as the allied forces approached. He lived till he was eighty, long after the war and the sacrifice was over.

There are 3,422 kilometres between Mount Olympus and the Temple of Hera and Berlin. Diem persuaded the Minister for Propaganda, Josef Goebbels, that it would be a hoot if the same number of perfect young Aryans ran the route. An even greater hoot would be the fact that the route between Athens and Berlin ran through countries such as Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Austria and Czechoslovakia. All these countries were targets for the Nazis - places where they wished to - and would - increase their influence.

With some irony, on its way through Hungary, the flame was accompanied and serenaded by Romany gypsies who only a few years later would end up in the concentration camps in their hundreds of thousands.

So what exactly did the ancient Greeks do? It is true enough that a flame burned permanently in the temple of Hestia - one of their many goddesses. It is also true that some relay races were run with the athletes carrying burning torches. However, the ancient games were proclaimed with crowns of olives. Messengers would be sent outwards from Athens wearing these crowns and it was this that represented the four yearly truce. There were absolutely no torch relays until Mister Hitler came along.



And so went ahead one of the greatest and enduring propaganda coups of the twentieth century. You can still see the propaganda film “Triumph of the Will” by the Nazi director Leni Riefentsahl to see the sheer breathtaking audacity of the regime that invented the Olympic torch “event”. That many people are unaware of its true origins may not excuse the world a second blind-eye moment.

[Palladin]

John,

I didn't know this above,but a few days ago,the first "torch" ceremony was photoed and it was a female. The caption below said the torch bearer was going thorugh a ritual in honor of the godess......,forgot which myth it was,maybe Diana or Artemis.

Wish I could find it,but that did indicate it was traditional Greek paganism that nurtured this idea.

[Palladin]

John,

I didn't know this above,but a few days ago,the first "torch" ceremony was photoed and it was a female. The caption below said the torch bearer was going thorugh a ritual in honor of the godess......,forgot which myth it was,maybe Diana or Artemis.

Wish I could find it,but that did indicate it was traditional Greek paganism that nurtured this idea.

[Monsieur Le Tonk]

The original Olympic Games were held in honour of Zeus, so during the period of the games fires were lit at both his temple, and that of his wife Hera. The Olympic flame was reintroduced at the 1928 games in Amsterdam. The relay from Olympia, as pointed out in the OP, was devised by Carl Diem for the 1936 games in Berlin. The flame for the modern Olympics is lit at the site where Hera's temple once stood.

"traditional Greek paganism"

Greek polytheism was civilising and cosmopolitan, I doubt they thought themselves pagan.

[Palladin]

Tonkster,

Pagan in my lexicon is polytheism,I'm well aware the ancient Greeks were advanced compared to their neighbors. Hera,that's the one,that's what the ceremony is about,HERA.

Which means it's about a non entity even the Greeks themselves stopped believing in 2000 years ago,such is the stupidity of mankind.

[Monsieur Le Tonk]

I would agree, religion is stupid.

[Palladin]

Tonkster,

We agree! Of course, Christianity is the anti religion,in fact,check your dictionary,it is literally the opposite of "religion".

I know you meant all faith in a higher being and NOT religion when you made your statement,but strictly speaking,Christianity(and Biblical Judaism) is the antithesis of religion.

In a dictionary,religion = man's attempt to please or appease God or gods,Christianity is the opposite.

[Monsieur Le Tonk]

OED religion
noun [mass noun]
the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power,
especially a personal God or gods.

The Christian Nicene Creed begins:

I believe in one God the Father Almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth,
And of all things visible and invisible

I would consider that accords exactly with the Oxford English Dictionary definition of a religion.

[Palladin]

With that definition,you would be RIGHT! Several state it is man's attempt to appease God.

"Superhuman" isn't the way I see God,but I won't quibble,you win round 1.

[quadrat]

I have to confess that I did not know that the history of the olympic torch is relatively new, and that it came from the 1936 Olympics. That's right, by the NAZIS. One of the most unknown aspect of this party was it's pagen influence, and the torch ceremony is just an extension of it's pagan practices. So, today we are continuing this tradition.

Did you all know that?

Still working hard trying to hide the connection of Nazism and Christianity? :lol: There was a report last week in our TV that Germany's Catholic church finally apologized for using slave labour in WW2.
We have to be fair and to mention, that Berlin got the games years before Herr Hitler became der Führer. When Germany was a democracy.
Which came to an end with the enabling act that had it's 75th anniversary yesterday. The only party voting against it was the Social Democrats, the parties of the churches and big business voted aye alongside the Nazis. The communist party was already banned. A democracy decided to dismantle itself in order to fight bogus threats.
You might want to compare that with the bogus threat of Islamic terrorism and the patriot act many years later.

[quadrat]

My supper paper was a Time and they printed a history of Olympic boycotts, also compared China and the 3th Reich again. Once more, my supper almost left me undigested they way I put it in, the fairy tale of Jesse Owens. Can't hear the crap about the black gazelle who alledgedly defeated the nazi racial mania any longer. It's all a lie. He suffered in America because he was a negro, and no one mentions that.
A black American who lived from 1913 until 1980, grandsom of a slave. Grew up in a ghetto, stinking poor.
A couple of original quotes by Jesse Owens,

"When I passed the Chancellor he arose, waved his hand at me, and I waved back at him. I think the writers showed bad taste in criticizing the man of the hour in Germany."

"Hitler didn't snub me—it was FDR who snubbed me. The president didn't even send me a telegram."

Jesse Owens was never invited to the White House nor bestowed any honors by Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) or Harry S. Truman during their terms. What exactly did his country for the best athlete of his time? After the games had finished, Owens was invited to compete in Sweden. However he decided to capitalise on his success by returning to the United States to take up some of the lucrative commercial offers he was receiving. American athletic officials were furious and withdrew his amateur status, ending his career immediately.
With no sporting appearances to bolster his profile, the lucrative offers never materialised. Instead he was forced to try to make a living as a sports promoter, essentially an entertainer. He would give local sprinters a ten or twenty yard start and beat them in the 100 yd dash. He also challenged and defeated racehorses although as he revealed later, the trick was to race a high-strung thoroughbred horse that would be frightened by the starter's shotgun and give him a bad jump.

He soon found himself running a dry-cleaning business and then even working as a gas station attendant. He eventually filed for bankruptcy but, even then, his problems were not over and in 1966 he was successfully prosecuted for tax evasion.

He could never move to a white neighbourhood. He could not marry a white woman. He couldn't do a lot of things just because he was a black man in America. He didn't defeat Hitler. He got defeated by his home country.

[Palladin]

Regardless of who invented this ritual,the recent protesting of Tibetans may not be all it is cracked up to be,at least not overseas,it may be that some of it is Chinese operatives. This would explain the sudden organized stuff Tonk wondered about:

HERE