When Adolf Hitler commissioned Nazi Germany’s favorite film director Lenny Reifenstahl to document the 1936 Berlin Olympics, he and his propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels could not have imagined there would be a nation other than the United States, which Will refuse to salute the Führer. The British India contingent consisted of a group of inexperienced athletes, with only a two-time champion hockey team, led by its resident magician Major Dhyan Chand. Global media attention was focused on the United States refusing the traditional right-hand salute to Hitler during the opening ceremony, but who would have thought that a contingent of amateur athletes dressed in golden ‘Kullahs’ and light blue turbans did the unthinkable. Will do
The team, along with their flag bearer Dhyan Chand, refused to salute and it was a more emotional than political decision, taken by the team, when the entire Third Reichsang sang the two national hymns ‘Deutscheland’ and ‘Horst Wessel Laid’. In the book ‘Olympic History: The India Story’ co-authored by Boria Mazumdar and Nalin Mehta, he quotes gold-winning team member Mirza Naseeruddin Masood as describing the opening ceremony. “It left a strange impression on the Indian contingent and not a single eye remained dry. India stood before our imagination… somehow touched the fountain of our national sentiments, and the unity and solidarity of the people in the ‘stadium’ made us look at our poverty, plight and discord with shame and regret.” Masood Ek He was an accomplished man beyond the field of hockey, as he served the Government of India in various capacities, including as a personal secretary to Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, the first education minister of independent India.
He was also the UNNESCO Head of Mission in Australia, Consul General responsible for Muscat, Oman, and finally Ambassador to Saudi Arabia. However, despite being socially elite compared to Dhyan Chand, one of Masood’s biggest regrets was his deprivation of the captaincy of India in 1936. And very few people knew that Masood was actually one of the five national selectors tasked with choosing the captain.
Masood, in fact, expressed his displeasure in a book ‘The World’s Hockey Champions’ – 1936′, written and published in 1937. For Dhyan Chand, what the score-line of India’s matches at that Olympics will not reveal is the tremendous pressure he faced as media reports suggested the defending champions were no longer invincible.
Also the fact that the 1932 Olympics, without the participation of the major European countries due to the Great Depression, became a sham and those who know hockey would tell that India suffered a lot of fighting while retaining the yellow colour. had not faced. Metal in Los Angeles. This impression gained strength when India lost to a select Delhi XI 1-4 at the Mori Gate ground in the national capital. It was the same Delhi XI that the Indian team defeated 0-12 on their return from LA four years ago. Dhyan Chand, in his autobiography ‘Gol’, which first appeared in weekly installments of the prestigious ‘Sport and Passtime’ magazine published by ‘The Hindu’ group in 1952, wrote about that loss before the Berlin Games.
“…This particular defeat kept worrying me. It was the first time I was captaining an Olympic team; will India lose the title under my charge?,” Dhyan Chand’s doubts were evident in his autobiography. The Hockey Federation had only Rs 6600, according to the book, Rs 40,000 was needed to send the team to the Indian Hockey Federation and for this the Nizam was required. Gaikwad of Hyderabad and of Baroda to grant him bail.
The Nizam donated 5000 rupees, the rulers of Baroda gave 200 GBP (then 3600 rupees) and, with contributions from other princely states, ensured that the team boarded the ship. A further 1700 rupees were spent on the flight of Ishtiaq Dara to SOS, who played a big role with Dhyan Chand at the business end of the tournament. Interestingly, during the next Olympics in 1948, Dara moved to post-Partition Pakistan and represented the new nation.
Training in the Gulf of Aden ‘The Statesman’ sent a correspondent to cover the games and old reports suggest that the first five days of their journey were difficult and that the players, usually on deck, were used to training. , they had to postpone their plans. When the ship finally halted for four hours in the ‘Gulf of Aden’, the Indian crew found a brick-layered sandy ground for a quick training session.
Suddenly they learned that the 5/14 Sikh Regiment stationed in Aden used that field. Once word spread that Dhyan Chand was there, the entire regiment set out to take “one of his” and watch the training session. Autographs of Josef Goebbels and Hermann Göring Two of Hitler’s trusted men – the chief propagandist Goebbels and the Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring – were there to ensure that there was no effort in their quest to change the image of the Führer along with conducting a spotless event. was not released, for which US$30 million was being spent.
Call it a classical case of paradox or irony, but those who did not wish to salute Hitler, flocked to get autographs from two real war criminals. “One day when we were in the dining hall, who should walk, but almost Hermann Göring, dressed in his military attire! We followed him at Triss to get his autograph. Later some of us took Dr. Goebbels’ autograph took it,” Dhyan Chand had said.
Hitler’s eight goals case against Germany Did Dhyanchand face media scrutiny? Of course he did. After India won the opening match 4-0 against Hungary,’ the statesman wrote in his next day’s report, “The most disappointing revelation was that Dhyan Chand, the world’s greatest centre-forward, has had his best days. ..” How influential India was in that era can be understood from the fact that even after defeating USA 7-0 and Japan 9-0, the media talked about that “if Germany wins, then This will be a lesson for India that it deserves.” Worst of all, these comments were fed by team manager Pankaj Gupta. However, the tone and tenor changed after France’s 10-0 loss and Germany 8-1 in the final, Berlin’s ‘Morning Post’ applauded India’s effort. Legend has it that Dhyan Chand wanted better speed and maneuverability, and therefore, wearing rubber-soled sneakers, sacrificing traditional spike boots on the grassland. This helped him dribble at a faster pace. He scored a dozen runs and the Morning Post’s match report had some unforgettable lines. “These players are said to glide on the turf as if it were a skating rink and the Japanese in twinkling sticks, normally so agile, were mesmerized.” Dhyan Chand was at the top of the world, his team scoring 38 goals to win the gold medal, securing his place in history. He was ‘Captain Marvel’ and accepted in every sphere of society that once discriminated against him.
The statue of Dhyanchand was installed in the Austrian capital Vienna before the National Stadium in Delhi. Post Script: Dhyan Chand never met Adolf Hitler personally and according to scholars and researchers, the story of Hitler offering him a post in the German Army is an urban myth.
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