The country’s president calls it “historically problematic”. A former chancellor sees a chance “to clearly show Germany has learned from history”. A historian fears the optics of “an anniversary celebration”. An economist predicts the “positive effects” that could prevail.As India aggressively positions itself as a candidate to host the 2036 Olympics, centring its pitch on peace, religious diversity and economic rise, its rival bidder, Germany, confronts a question overshadowed by its past: exactly a century after the ‘Nazi Olympics’, should Berlin stage the Games again?Germany’s two previous Olympic hostings are remembered for troubling reasons: The 1936 Games became a propaganda showcase for Adolf Hitler, and the 1972 Summer Olympics saw a terrorist attack in the Athletes’ Village that killed 11 Israeli team members. Germany has signalled its willingness to host the Games for a third time — in 2036, 2040 or 2044. The first option, however, has prompted uncomfortable questions.The debate resurfaced last week after German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier warned that deliberately choosing 2036 risked turning history into a marketing device. “The President views the year 2036 as historically problematic for a German bid,” a spokesperson for Steinmeier was quoted as saying by Reuters.The German Olympic Association President, Thomas Weikert, responded by saying that ‘all dates would remain open’. “We want to show a positive Germany. This would also apply to 2036,” he said.Instrumentalisation of historySteinmeier suggested that the issue isn’t that Germany shouldn’t host — it’s that the centenary year is uniquely sensitive.Critics argue that returning to the Olympic stage exactly 100 years later could unintentionally create a symbolic ‘echo’ of 1936. The centenary framing could reopen wounds for victims of Nazism and their descendants. There are fears that it could also trigger international media narratives that focus heavily on Hitler’s Games rather than modern Germany. Then, there are concerns that far-right groups, which have gained political momentum in recent years, could appropriate the symbolism of the anniversary.Story continues below this ad Adolf Hitler at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. (Wikimedia Commons)Speaking to German media outlet Tagesspiegel, historian Oliver Hilmes said: “There is almost an anniversary character, the strange impression of a 100th anniversary celebration, which is somehow positive.”The newspaper also published a survey, which found that 67% of Berlin residents oppose a bid to host the Olympics in any year, indicating that many locals feel uneasy about hosting in the same city as the historic 1936 Games.Germany was awarded the Games in 1931. In 1933, after Hitler came to power, he and the Nazi government issued a declaration — at the request of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) — stating that the Games would be open to “all races and denominations.” Just two years later, the Nuremberg Laws were enacted, bringing the regime’s antisemitic and racist ideology to the forefront. During this period, Germany also significantly strengthened its military.Critics of the IOC argue that Germany should have been stripped of the Games after Hitler seized power in 1933. An American-led boycott was also proposed, but it did not materialise. Ultimately, the 1936 Olympics saw nearly 4,000 athletes from 49 nations compete — a record number at the time. According to reports, the number of visitors also surpassed previous Olympic records.Story continues below this adExpress Research | How with 4 Olympics golds, Jesse Owens ran Hitler out of his Aryan supremacy theoryThe Games, though, are remembered more for Hitler’s propaganda for his political ideology of the Aryans’ racial superiority. In his interview for the newspaper Tagesspiegel, the historian Hilmes explained: “Joseph Goebbels, the Minister of Propaganda, was able to convince Adolf Hitler that the Games could be used as a podium for a major staging. And so they tried to politicise them for their own purposes. The stadium was built, enormous sums were invested in a very short time.”“By the way: Even the basic sporting idea that the better might win could not please the Nazis. In their world of thought, ‘the Aryan prevailed’. And so, it was perceived by Hitler as a shame that the Black American Jesse Owens finally won four gold medals in Berlin,” he added. However, Germany ended up winning the most medals (including the gold ones) at the event.Confronting historyThe supporters of the German bid point to the country’s political culture, built around Erinnerungskultur (translated as a ‘culture of remembrance’). It involves open acknowledgement of the history of the Nazi period and their persecution of Jewish people and other minorities.Story continues below this adFormer German Chancellor Gerhard Schroder directly disagreed with President Steinmeier’s comments, taking to LinkedIn to explain his rationale. “I do not share the concerns of the Federal President,” he wrote. “Hosting the Games in Germany on that date would offer an opportunity to demonstrate to the world, and also to the younger generation in Germany, what we as a democratic Germany have learned from our history.”Support for the proposal extends beyond local political circles. For instance, historian Jens-Christian Wagner told the German media outlet Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk that bringing the 2036 Olympics to Berlin would be a ‘positive step’. Wagner serves as director of the Buchenwald Memorial Foundation. The Buchenwald concentration camp, located near Weimar, was the largest concentration camp on German soil between 1937 and 1945.Wagner, though, stressed the importance of critically examining how the 1936 Olympics were appropriated: “On the one hand, sports facilities that were already used in 1936 will also be used,” he said, adding that those would have to be used carefully. “We have to deal with this very consciously and the question of how sport can be misused for political purposes has to be addressed.”