The secret stories of Olympia  The  Olympic  flame  was  first  lit  in  Amsterdam  in  1928.  This  world-­‐famous  symbol  was  not  an  ancient  Greek  invention,  it  was  Dutch.  The  only  thing  missing  was  a  torch  relay,  which  was  invented  by  the  Germans  in  1936.      

   I  wrote  three  articles  about  the  history  of  this  famous  symbol:  

1. About  Constantin  Kondylis,  the  first  man  ever  holding  the  torch  2. About  the  fightings  in  Vienna  during  the  first  torch  relay  in  history  3. About  the  fightings  in  Olympia  in  1948  when  the  Olympic  fire  was  lit  

 As  a  sports  historian  I  am  specialized  in  the  political  history  of  the  Olympic  Games.  I  wrote  these  articles  for  the  Dutch  website  www.Sportgeschiedenis.nl      My  articles  and  activities  on  social  media:  

-­‐ www.sportgeschiedenis.nl  -­‐ www.olympischstadion.nl  -­‐ www.geschiedenis24.nl  -­‐ https://twitter.com/jRRT/  -­‐ https://twitter.com/_geschiedenis  -­‐ https://twitter.com/olympisch  -­‐ https://twitter.com/anderetijdens  

 Jurryt  van  de  Vooren  Amsterdam  July  20,  2013          

The secret story of Olympia  Constantin  Kondylis  carried  the  first  Olympic  torch  in  history.  It  would  later  save  his  life,  as  I  discovered  during  my  visit  to  Olympia  in  2004.    The  Greek  Olympia  is  world-­‐famous  because  of  the  Olympic  Games,  which  were  organised  by  the  ancient  Greeks.  Every  two  years,  in  the  run-­‐up  to  the  Summer-­‐  and  Winter  Games,  the  Olympic  flame  is  lit  in  Olympia.  It  is  one  of  the  most  famous  symbols  in  the  world  and  fascinates  everyone  involved.      In  the  village  of  Olympia  this  fascination  has  now  faded.  Many  of  its  men  have  been  selected  for  the  torch  relay,  for  up  until  1984  it  was  customary  for  local  boys  to  carry  the  torch  to  the  municipal  boundary  and  hand  it  over  to  someone  from  the  outside  world.  However,  as  the  flame  was  on  its  way  to  Los  Angeles  that  year  a  serious  disagreement  arose  between  the  Greeks  and  the  IOC  (International  Olympic  Committee).  The  Americans  sold  the  rights  to  carry  the  torch  at  enormous  prices,  an  act  the  Greeks  considered  an  insult  to  their  cultural  heritage.  The  mayor  of  Olympia  threatened  to  ban  the  lighting  of  the  torch  so  the  IOC  took  charge  and  saved  the  ceremony.  The  boys  of  the  village  lost  the  privilege  of  carrying  the  torch.    Constantin  Kondylis    In  1936  the  Olympic  torch  relay  was  organised  for  the  very  first  time.    The  honour  of  becoming  the  first  torch  bearer  in  history  was  bestowed  upon  a  man  named  Constantin  Kondylis.  A  striking,  clean  cut  figure  and  sports  fanatic,  whose  fluency  in  German,  Turkish,  Italian  and  of  course  Greek,  made  him  the  ideal  choice.    His  image  was  also  perfect  for  the  propaganda  of  Hitler  and  national  socialists.      There  to  witness  the  event  was  Constantin’s  younger  brother  Angelis.  I  met  him  on  my  visit  in  2004.  He  was  80  years  old  then  and  lived  with  his  wife  two  villages  down  from  Olympia,  within  the  same  municipal.  Constantin  had  passed  away  several  years  earlier.  The  only  tangible  reminder  Angelis  had  of  his  brother  was  a  match  box,  about  two  inches  wide,  with  an  image  of  Constantin  carrying  the  torch.  Back  then,  right  after  the  Olympic  flame  was  lit,  millions  of  these  boxes  were  put  into  circulation.      There  was  something  odd  about  the  image  on  the  box.  Kondylis  was  wearing  a  loincloth  and  he  was  slightly  more  blonde  than  in  real  life.  Also,  he  was  carrying  the  torch  in  his  right  instead  of  left.  So  there  was  a  clear  difference  between  the  ‘Kondylis  with  torch’  image  on  the  original  picture  and  the  one  on  the  matchbox.  On  the  matchbox  he  looked  far  more  Aryan.  Apparently,  German  propaganda  went  so  far  that  even  on  a  small  matchbox  the  first  Olympic  torch  bearer  had  to  look  like  a  good  Aryan.    Execution    While  Angelis  was  taking  a  closer  look  at  his  Aryan  brother,  he  said:  “After  the  torch  relay  my  brother  went  to  Athens  to  study  law.  After  that  he  went  to  Turkey  and  Italy.  He  also  worked  for  the  Foreign  Office  and  the  Ministry  of  Tourism”.    That  was  how  Constantin  developed  and  used  his  language  skills,  which  would  come  to  save  his  life  during  the  war.  Angelis  recounted  how  Constantin  was  captured  by  the  Germans  during  the  war.  He  was  to  be  executed.  As  he  was  facing  the  firing  squad  he  stepped  forward  and  spoke  in  fluent  German:  “Don’t  you  know  who  I  am?  My  name  is  Constantin  Kondylis.  In  1936,  in  Olympia,  I  was  the  first  Olympic  torch  bearer.”  

 The  soldiers  hesitated  and  dropped  their  rifles.  They  knew  about  that  torch  relay,  which  was  an  enormous  propaganda  stunt  back  in  1936  and  carried  the  Olympic  flame  to  Berlin  and  on  to  the  Olympic  Stadium.  It  was  the  first  Olympic  flame  relay  in  history  and  it  was  heavily  exploited  by  the  Nazis.  The  first  man  in  this  historic  relay  had  to  be  someone  special  –  even  if  he  was  one  minute  away  from  being  executed.  The  soldiers  took  him  away  for  further  investigation.      This  investigation  showed  that  in  1936  Kondylis  indeed  was  the  first  Olympic  torch  bearer.  The  Germans  gave  him  an  official  document  stating  that  from  this  day  on  he  was  to  be  left  in  peace.  Kondylis’  life  was  saved  purely  and  simply  because  he  was  the  first  person  in  history  to  carry  an  Olympic  torch.      A  Dutch  radio  documentary  about  Olympia,  Constantin  Kondylis  and  his  brother:  http://www.geschiedenis24.nl/ovt/afleveringen/2004/Ovt-­‐27-­‐06-­‐2004/Het-­‐Spoor-­‐terug-­‐Het-­‐Olympisch-­‐Kroonjuweel-­‐een-­‐radioverhaal-­‐over-­‐het-­‐Olympisch-­‐Vuur.html      Serious  incidents  during  the  1936  torch  relay    The  Olympic  torch  relay  is  a  symbol  for  peace  and  unity.  During  the  first  ever  relay  in  1936  this  illusion  was  cruelly  disrupted  by  serious  political  incidents  between  fascists  and  anti-­‐fascists.    ‘A  quite  serious  message  from  Vienna’  announced  the  Dutch  newspaper  De  Leidsche  Courant  on  30  July  1936.  ‘Here  Austrian  national  socialists  have  upset  festivities  organised  for  the  ceremonial  welcome  of  the  Olympic  flame  to  the  Austrian  capital.’    Protesters  shouted  ‘Heil  Hitler’  in  the  hope  of  spreading  this  message  loudly  through  to  the  radio  reporters  present.  To  prevent  this  from  happening  the  live  broadcast  was  immediately  cancelled.  In  other  parts  of  the  city  acts  of  vandalism  occurred,  especially  in  Vienna’s  Jewish  district.  It  looked  like  a  coordinated  anti-­‐Semitic  ploy,  a  deliberate  German  provocation  in  Austria’s  capital.              Hundreds  of  protestors  were  arrested.  Among  them  were  some  Germans,  which  aroused  suspicion  that  Berlin  was  working  on  some  hidden  agenda.  For  years  national  socialists  had  been  fighting  for  the  idea  of  a  Greater  Germany  in  which  Austria  and  Germany  would  come  together.      The  Olympic  flame  incident  hit  Vienna  like  a  bombshell.  This  could  have  threatened  political  stability.  The  Austrian  government  called  an  emergency  meeting  and  issued  a  firm  declaration.  ‘Austria  is  not  to  be  fooled  with’.    The  national  socialist  media  in  Germany  responded  firmly  too.  They  saw  the  incidents  as  Jewish-­‐Marxist  provocation.  Their  journalists  pointed  out  that  the  protesters’  appearance  had  been  ‘quite  Jewish’    The  furore  during  the  torch  relay  rapidly  increased  the  political  tension  between  Germany  and  Austria.  All  this  happened  right  before  the  start  of  the  Olympics.  An  Olympics  that  had  to  be  a  triumph  for  the  Germans.  Eventually,  the  200  protesters  that  had  been  arrested  were  sentenced  to  between  one  week  and  two  months  imprisonment.  Two  years  after  the  torch  relay  Austria  did  indeed  join  Nazi  Germany.    

 The  torch  relay  raised  protests  in  other  countries  too.  On  31  July  1936  Dutch  newspaper  Het  Vaderland  reported  on  the  relay  arriving  in  Czechoslovakia.  ‘Yesterday  afternoon  the  Olympic  flame  crossed  the  intersection  on  the  road  to  Sezimovo  Usti,  between  Soběslav  and  Tabor.  A  delegation  of  Czech  Sokols  was  there  to  watch,  as  well  as  a  large  number  of  school  children  and  their  teachers.  Shortly  before  the  arrival  of  the  torch  bearer  Dr.  Benesj,  the  Czech  president,  arrived  accompanied  by  his  wife  and  several  high  ranking  officers,  among  them  the  chief  of  the  Stringl  protocol.’      “I  wish”,  Benesj  said  “that  the  entire  Czechoslovakian  population  would  participate  in  this  parade.  I  wish  the  torch  relay  all  the  best  on  its  way  from  Czechoslovakian  territory  to  the  eleventh  Olympic  Games  in  Berlin  and  hope  our  representatives  at  these  Games  will  be  successful.”    That  same  day  the  Leidsche  Courant  reported  on  the  events  in  Prague:  “Last  night  the  Olympic  torch  arrived  in  Prague,  and  festivities  were  organised  on  the  Alstaedter  Ring.  The  Foreign  Affairs  minister,  Dr.  Krofta,  welcomed  the  torch  bearer  on  behalf  of  the  President  of  the  Czech  Republic  and  the  government.”    However,  the  Dutch  newspapers  didn’t  report  on  the  several  demonstrations  in  Prague  surrounding  the  flame,  as  happened  in  Yugoslavia.  Despite  the  best  efforts  of  the  stewards  there  to  protect  it,  protesters  frequently  managed  to  put  out  the  flame.    These  protests  had  been  instigated  by  Greek  communists,  who  considered  the  Games  of  1936  a  propaganda  stunt  by  Hitler.  They  wanted  to  do  everything  they  could  to  disrupt  the  torch  relay  as  much  as  possible.    These  are  a  few  examples  of  how  supporters  and  opponents  of  Nazi-­‐Germany  confronted  each  other  during  the  1936  torch  relay.  Understandably,  none  of  these  disputes  were  mentioned  in  the  official  reports  of  the  games.  After  all,  the  flame  was  meant  to  represent  peace  and  harmony  between  people.        The  bloody  start  of  the  1948  Olympic  torch  relay    The  1948  torch  relay  went  from  Olympia  to  London.  A  bloody  civil  war  was  raging  in  Greece  at  that  time,  and  the  torch  relay  got  off  to  a  very  grim  start.  This  was  carefully  omitted  in  the  official  reports.    The  1948  torch  relay  was  the  first  one  after  the  Second  World  War  and  was  therefore  symbolised  as  a  march  for  peace.  Throughout  Europe  the  torch  bearers  were  welcomed  with  open  arms:  “May  the  Olympic  flame  bring  us  the  triumph  of  love  over  hate,  of  peace  over  war.  Let  this  flame  be  a  flame  of  love  and  confidence.”    The  deadly  battles  during  the  ceremony  in  Olympia  and  the  failed  murder  attempt  of  the  first  torch  bearer  were  not  mentioned.  After  all,  these  acts  of  violence  were  incompatible  with  the  message  of  peace  and  were  even  left  out  of  the  official  report  of  the  1948  Olympics.  Even  the  torch  relay’s  bloody  start  was  overlooked.      In  1948,  in  the  aftermath  of  the  Second  World  War,  a  gruesome  civil  war  raged  in  Greece.  Communist  guerrillas  were  fighting  government  troops,  who  were  backed  by  Great  Britain.  ‘The  usual  ceremony  of  bearing  the  Olympic  torch’,  anticipated  the  Dutch  daily  newspaper  De  Waarheid  on  9  July  1948,  ‘will  present  difficulties  this  time.’          

These  worries  were  confirmed,  for  on  20  July  the  same  newspaper  had  the  following  report  on  the  ceremonies:  ‘Fighter  aircraft  circled  over  Olympia.  The  access  roads  were  packed  with  armed  soldiers.’    According  to  the  Nieuwe  Leidsche  Courant  bloody  battles  had  broken  out:  ‘At  the  temple  of  Zeus,  near  Olympia,  Greek  guerrillas  shot  at  journalists  and  naval  officers  who  were  on  their  way  to  the  lighting  of  the  torch.  One  soldier  was  killed.’      The  communists  were  looking  for  Konstantinos  Dimitrelis,  the  first  torch  bearer.  Dimitrelis  was  a  corporal  in  the  Greek  army  and  served  at  Olympia  in  1948.  He  reportedly  took  off  his  uniform  during  the  ceremony,  put  down  his  weapon  and  walked  off  with  the  torch.  This  was  a  dangerous  move,  and  the  spectators  were  lucky  to  avoid  the  bullets  flying  around.  Dimitrelis  survived  the  attack  and,  to  his  Greek  family’s  frustration,  gave  the  torch  to  an  uncle  in  Chicago.      The  lighting  of  the  fire  in  Olympia  in  1948  was  a  battle  between  two  forms  of  propaganda.  On  one  hand  you  had  the  ideology  of  the  Olympic  Games  and  their  host  Great  Britain,  on  the  other  hand  the  beliefs  of  the  Greek  communists.  Had  the  guerrillas  executed  their  deadly  plan  with  success,  this  would  have  been  a  severe  blow  for  both  the  Greek  and  the  British  government.  No  expense  was  spared  to  prevent  this  from  happening.  A  Greek  battleship  lay  off  the  coast  to  protect  the  Olympic  flame,  which  was  rapidly  transported  to  continue  its  journey  through  Europe.      The  fact  that  there  had  been  a  fatality,  despite  all  these  precautionary  measures,  seemed  a  victory  for  the  Greek  communist  propaganda.  However,  this  incident  was  so  carefully  omitted  in  the  official  chronicle  that  eventually  it  was  more  a  pyrrhic  victory.  For  what  good  is  a  won  battle  if  it  remains  unnoticed?