Architecture as a mode of self-representation at the Olympic Games in Rome (1960) and Munich (1972)**

^*This article based on a lecture was given at the conference ‘New Political History in transnational perspective’, 15–16 February 2008 at the EUI in Florence.

Abstract

The Olympic Games are a major media event that draws attention all over the world. This tremendous media coverage gives the host country in particular the opportunity to introduce itself to a global audience and at the same time to transport a national identity as well as a political statement. This article shows, by analysing the architecture of the Olympic Games in Rome (1960) and Munich (1972), how a political statement can be transported by sports facilities. This kind of view assumes an understanding of politics, which not only includes political action in general. Item cultural events can be used as an object of investigation for analysing a political self-conception. In this way the article points out the function of sports facilities besides the capacity as a place for competition. The ‘new political history’, which develops in combination with the ‘cultural history’, argues that symbolism is a mode of communication that gives access to the sociopolitics of the past. The article elaborates the different factors which impact on the meaning of a symbol and points out the different opportunities for interpretation. According to Umberto Eco, the article understands the stadium as a sign that is turned, primarily by media and social interpreting, into an architectural symbol. In a last step it takes this interpretation in a broader context to define a political statement of Italy and Germany at the respective time.

Keywords:

• Olympic Games
• architecture
• Germany

Notes

^*This article based on a lecture was given at the conference ‘New Political History in transnational perspective’, 15–16 February 2008 at the EUI in Florence.

 1. Guttmann, The Olympics, 16f.

 2. Houlihan, Sport and International Politics.

 3. The Olympic charter is published on the website of the IOC: http://multimedia.olympic.org/pdf/en_report_122.pdf (accessed July 16, 2008).

 4. Nora, Lieux de memoire.

 5. Bale, Sport, Space and the City, 1f. Bale, Landscape of Modern Sport, 123.

 6. Germany hosted the Olympic Games in 1936 and used the event as a forum for national propaganda. Rome applied unsuccessfully for the Games four times (1924, 1936, 1940, 1944) under Mussolini; Ferrara, L'italiani in palestra, 213–65.

 7. Guttmann, The Olympics, 16f.

 8. The Games in Berlin or the boycotted Games of 1980 in Moscow and 1984 in Los Angeles have been widely investigated; Rippon, Hitler's Olympics.

 9. A new view offers the study of Christopher Young. Christopher Young, and Alan Tomlinson. National Identity and Global Sport Events. Culture, Politics, and Spectacle in the Olympics and the Football World Cup. New York: State University of New York, 2005.

10. This area of research is mainly influenced by Murray Edelmann, Politics as Symbolic Action.

11. For a detailed description of the German case see: Frevert and Haupt, Neue Politikgeschichte.

12. The concept ‘symbol’ is not clearly defined. Ernst Cassirer has noted that no other concept of aesthetics is so difficult to define: Cassirer, The Philosophy of Symbolic Forms.

13. Schneider, Der Warschauer Kniefall.

14. Göhler, “Symbolische Politik,” 68f.

15. Rosenfeld, Munich and Memory.

16. Eco, “A Componentional Analysis of the Architectural sign/Column.”

17. Dayan; Katz. Media Events, 19f.

18. In the case of the Munich and Rome Olympics one also has to bear in mind that the memory of the former fascist states was very much alive. The public still shared the knowledge about the cruelties and atrocities under the rule of the ‘Führer’ and the ‘Duce’, and the negative experience of the Second World War.

19. Patrizia Dogliani also explicates in her article about the war monumental how the meaning of the memorials and their intended function changed during Italian history. But she concentrates mainly on the time between 1871 and 1943, and gives only a short overview of the Italian Republic: Dogliani, “Constructing Memory.”

20. Pilley, Official Report of the Olympic Games.

21. The Olympic committee was dominated by politicians and people from high society. The Olympic Games were under the patronage of the German president Gustav Heinemann. The president of the NOK was Willi Daume, president of the German Sportbund, and vice-presidents included Hans Jochen Vogel, mayor of Munich, and Hans Dietrich Genscher, German minister of the interior.

22. Balbier, Kalter Krieg, 222f.

23. Der Spiegel quoted Aicher, caricaturing him as a dreaming artist: “Mit Farben kann man Politik machen,” no. 31 (1972): 28–38.

24. Rosenfeld, Munich and Memory, 156.

25. Der Spiegel called the stewards “Safariordner”: “Dös pack' ma,” no. 12 (1972): 68–73.

26. See for example the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ): Zorn über zügellosen Mord, no. 206, September 6, 1972, 3. See also: Reeve, One Day in September; Dahlke, Anschlag, 66f.

27. The terrorist act and its function within the staging of politics within the Olympic Games cannot be discussed here, but will be investigated in my dissertation, written in the context of the DFG-funded (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) Research Training Group ‘Transnational Media Events from Early Modern Times to the Present.’

28. Willi Daume describes this situation very colourfully in his memoirs: Daume, Deutscher Sport. See also his interview with the political magazine Der Spiegel: “Dienen wir überhaupt einer guten Sache?,” no. 35 (1972): 28–38.

29. In 1938 British Prime Minister Chamberlain landed at the Oberwiesenfeld, to negotiate the Munich agreement with Hitler. After the Second World War, 10.85 million cubic metres of debris were accumulated.

30. Grube, Bauten, 31.

31. The Times, “Olympic city where pleasure has become a way of life,” July, 30 1971, 4.

32. Behnisch, “Gesamtwerk Olympia,” 9–11.

33. His father Otto March built the “Deutsche Stadion,” which both sons, Werner and Walter, rebuilt for the Olympic Games 1936: Marg, Stadia and Arenas, 14.

34. Mandell, The Nazi Olympics.

35. Rosenfeld, Munich and Memory, 150.

36. Marg, Stadia and Arenas, 97.

37. Judt, Postwar, 563.

38. Paulmann, “Auswärtige Repräsentationen,” 30f.

39. Deutsche Bauzeitung, “Olympische Sportbauten,” no. 4, April 1, 1970.

40. This supposition can be documented with extensive international newspaper imagery, which always shows the Munich roof as pars pro toto for the Olympic Games. For example: Kobe Shinbun, January 1, 1972; Al Madinas, Djidda, October 28, 1971; Sydney Morning Herald, July 15, 1972; Süddeutsche Zeitung, June 22–23, 1968; Münchner Merkur, October 1, 1968.

41. Bode, “Das menschliche an der Olympischen Architektur,” 140.

42. Los Angeles Times, “German Knowhow Ready for Olympic Games,” June 18, 1972; New York Times, “Architect is First '72 Olympic Winner,” March 17, 1968.

43. The exact construction is described in Grube, Die Bauten, 59f.

44. Washington Post, “Designing In, Under and With the Earth,” April 8, 1972; Chicago Tribune, “Munich Pushes Ahead for Olympics,” April 9, 1972; New York Times, “Next Stop Munich,” October 30, 1968.

45. Sydney Sun Herald, “Munich'72 wants to forget the past,” August 22, 1972.

46. Sydney Sun Herald, “Munich'72 wants to forget the past,” August 22, 1972

47. Irish Independent, “Why Germany spends £185m on Olympic City,” July 22, 1971.

48. The article only shows an extract of the media analysis, which is undertaken in my dissertation Project “Cultural Re-integration? The Olympic Games of Rome (1960) and Munich (1972) as Transnational Media Event.”

49. Beyond doubt the audience is not a homogeneous group. A distinction can be drawn between the audience in the stadium, in front of the TV, between newspapers and radio stations, between national and international viewers. And even these groups cannot be described as homogeneous: Rothenbuhler, “The living room celebration of the Olympics.”

50. “Wer das Stadion der Achtzigtausend nicht von innen gesehen hat, kennt München nicht! … Ist man durch die breiten Publikumsschleusen gelangt, steht dem Zeltdach-Erlebnis nichts mehr im Wege…. Ich richte mich auf der anatomisch geformten grünen Sitzschale (auch das ein ganz neues Tribünengefühl) ein wunschlos zufrieden…. Und als ich dann hinuntergeklettert war an das olympische Seeufer und im Gras saß, war es fast wie Ferien” (translation by the author), quoted in FAZ, “Olympisches Herzklopfen,” no. 197, August 26, 1972.

51. Draesner, Spiele.

52. Washington Post, “Munich Embroiled over Olympic Tent,” March 13, 1968; New York Times, “Mounting Costs of Olympics are Decried in West Germany,” November 16, 1969.

53. Scharenberg, “Nachdenken über die Wechselwirkungen,” 159f.

54. The Times, “Finance Problems for Munich,” July 18, 1969; The Times, “Munich's £10m Olympic Tent,” July 23, 1969.

55. Melbourne Herald Tribune, “Germans' Sheds,” July 8, 1972.

56. FAZ, “Sind es Ersatzkriege?,” August 5, 1972; Der Spiegel, “Wir sind da so hineingeschlittert,” no. 31 (1972): 28–38.

57. New York Times, “People Who Play in Glass Houses,” August 21, 1972; Olympisches Feuer, “Nachrichten aus der Olympiastadt,” no. 11/12 (1969): 17–21.

58. The Province, “The Monster of Munich,” July 8, 1972.

59. Australian Women's Weekly, “Munich Thinks big for the Games,” June 28, 1972.

60. New York Times, “Big Talk at Munich is the Big Cost of Big Roof,” September 3, 1972.

61. Christian Science Monitor, “An Affluent West Germany Seeks Acceptance,” May 24, 1972.

62. Christian Science Monitor, “An Affluent West Germany Seeks Acceptance,” May 24, 1972

63. For example, the Palazzo dello Sport: Thiel-Siling. Architektur. 88f.

64. Telesca, “Tra Beruti e L'Immobiliare,” 52.

65. Davis, “Rome 1960,” 128.

66. Vidotto, Roma contemporanea, 290f.

67. Merwe, “Rome 1960,” 158.

68. This claim can also be found in the writings of G. Papini: Papini, Italia mia.

69. Petersen, “Wandlungen des italienischen Nationalbewusstseins,” 699–748.

70. Großbölting, “Le memoria delle republika,” 331.

71. Telesca, “Sport, politica, affari,” 160.

72. The Games of the XVII Olympiad, “Official Report,” 35.

73. For example: Der Spiegel, “Ein Magherebinier in Rom,” no. 36 (1960): 42f; Die Zeit, “Olympisches Fazit,” no. 38 (September 16, 1960): 4. Also in the writings of Rudolf Hagelstange, Römisches Olympia, 9f.

74. Caporilli, Il Foro Italico e lo stadio Olympico.

75. Camera dei Deputati, “Seduta del 6. Ottobre 1959,” 10612–18.

76. “Molti nemici, molto onore” (tTranslation by the author), quoted in: New York Times, “Mussolini Pillar,” February 21, 1959: 3.

77. “giuro di eseguire senza discutere gli ordini del Duce e di servire con tutte le mie Forze e se è necessario con mio sangue la causa nella rivoluzione fascista “ (translation by the author), quoted in: L'Unità, “Il Foro Italico ancora deturpato dall'apologia del Duce,” May 14, 1959, 4.

78. New York Times, “Mussolini Pillar,” February 21, 1959, 3.

79. Paul Zimmermann, “ Italians Expected Fuss from the Russ,” Los Angeles Times, October 28, 1959, CI. Also mentioned in the parliamentary debate: Camera dei Deputati, “Seduta del 6. Ottobre 1959,” 10613.

80. Paul Zimmermann, “ Italians Expected Fuss from the Russ,” Los Angeles Times, October 28, 1959, CI. Also mentioned in the parliamentary debate: Camera dei Deputati, “Seduta del 6. Ottobre 1959,” 10613

81. In the third Legislative period (1958–1963) the government changed five times. Fanfani succeeded Tambroni on 26 June 1960 and was in this position until 1 May 1963.

82. New York Times, “Fascist Symbols go for Rome Olympics,” August 9, 1960, 2.

83. New York Times, “Italy is Enjoying an Olympic Calm,” August 16, 1960, 23.

84. Corriere della Sera, “Incedenti al Foro Italico per la cancellazione delle scritte,” August 11, 1960, 1; Il Messaggero, “Manifestazione di protesta al Foro Italico,” August 11, 1960, 4; L'Europeo, “Un fatasma al Stadio dei marmi,” August 21, 1960, 14–18.

85. Großbölting, “Le memorie della repubblica,” 344f.

86. Judt, Postwar, 294.

87. New York Times, “Fascist Symbols go for Rome Olympics,” August 9, 1960, 2.

88. Los Angeles Times, “Italians Expect Fuss from the Russ,” October 28, 1959.

89. Los Angeles Times, “Italians Expect Fuss from the Russ,” October 28, 1959

90. New York Times, “Italy is Enjoying an Olympic Calm,” August 16, 1960, 33.

91. Judt, Postwar, 290.