The last Olympics?
Sir: I have no doubt that the members of the International Olympic Committee believe that they had achieved a major concession when South Africa pledged its sport organisations to honour the basic principles of the Olympic code. So did Adolf Hitler! For the same Mr Avery Brundage received the same solemn pledges from Nazi Germany when the United States threatened to boycott the 1936 Olympic Games. Then the Nazis promised not to place any ob- stacles in the way of Jews to qualify for the German team. Needless to say no Jew ever made the German team. As the International Olympic Committee, now and then, cannot in- terfere with the internal policy of its member states nothing could and did prevent the Nazis from banning all Jews from German sports
clubs and depriving those belonging to Jewish sports organisations of their citizenship. The `internal policy' of Nazi Germany made simply any training impossible. This sorry story of Nazi deception and connivance by Mr Avery Brun- dage can be read in Arthur Morse's new book, Why Six Million Died, which has just been pub- lished in the United'States and will be published in England by Seeker and Warburg in April.
Alex Nolan 97 Clifton Court, Northwick Terrace, London NW8
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