The opening ceremony of the eleventh Olympic Games took place here this afternoon in the Stadium at the Reich Sports Field, and the athletic competitions will begin to-morrow morning. It was probably the longest ritual that has ever heralded the opening of these Games. It was arranged and carried out with mathematical exactitude by the German Organising Committee, and in the course of it there were moments of beauty and significance which one will remember.
There were others ╤ not many of them ╤ when one felt that the strength of German national feeling had a little outgrown discretion, but it was a memorable ceremony, immensely enhanced by the nobility of the great Stadium in which it was carried out.
There were 100,000 spectators on the field, and there must have been at least as big a crowd waiting outside, and hundreds of thousands of people stood or sat on camp stools throughout the morning till evening along the five miles of the route from Berlin by which Herr Hitler passed in state to the Reich Sports Field. The huge cement Stadium is half-sunk beneath the level of the ground, so that, walking into it from outside, one found oneself already half-way up the tiers of seats and looking down on the green grass and the red running tracks far below.
THE SETTING
At each end a broad flight of steps runs to the outside ground level, and at the top of each there is a great gate. The eastern one opens towards the city, the western╤the Marathon gate╤flanked by two towers, leads to the May Field, on which a quarter of a million men paraded at once. On the far side of the May Field rises the bell tower, 250 feet of stark masonry in which hangs the full-voiced Olympic bell.
The Stadium and the May Field are artistic achievements of which any country might be proud.
On the top of the towers which flank the Marathon gate a steel-helmeted military band was posted, the gestures of the conductor clear and tiny against the western sky, and it was a sudden burst of music from them which heralded the arrival of Herr Hitler. Amid a continuous thunder of cheering he appeared through the Marathon gate followed by the members of the International Olympic Committee in frock-coats and chains of office. They slowly descended the steps and walked along the track to their places in the stand, after which the whole great audience joined in singing ╥Deutschland ueber Alles╙ and the ╥Horst Wessel╙ song with a tremendous-voiced fervour.
Next came more music and then a sudden ╥Achtung╙ from the announcer, followed by the command ╥Raise colours╙ simultaneously by more than fifty flagstaffs round the topmost rim of the stadium. The flags of the competing nations were hoisted and unfurled themselves lightly against the sky, and the Olympic bell was tolled in deep booming notes. The Games were open.
PARADE OF ATHLETES
The most spectacular part of the ceremony, however, still remained. The march of the 53 teams into the arena began, five thousand of the finest athletes in the world, in their uniforms of white, or crimson, or green, or brilliant blue, circling the track and forming up finally in a dense array on the grass facing the main stand, each team with its banner in front of it. Each as it came in front of Herr Hitler dipped its flag and saluted him in its own way. Many teams gave the Olympic wheel, others, including the British, merely turned their heads to the right, some took off their hats or caps or berets, a few, including the Americans and the Chinese, laid their hats against their hearts.
Suddenly a forest of arms shot out in return, and the German spectators broke into a deafening roar of applause, which continued unabated as long as the French team was on the track. The symbolism of the German and the French arms bridging the gap was so sudden and vivid as to be intensely moving. Whether they misunderstood the French salute was not realised, but the overwhelming response of the spectators warmed one╒s heart.
It was unfortunate that our own team came next, and obviously chilled the growing enthusiasm of the crowd a little by its colourless eyes-right. Later the Austrians were greeted with almost as much warmth as the French, and for the same reason.
Last of all came the big German team of over 400 competitors, marching perfectly, and when they entered the stadium the two German national songs were played again, somewhat to the discomfiture of the American spectators, eager to cheer their own team, which was at this moment marching round the track.
Some of the Americans in the crowd did not allow the music to prevent them from cheering their own men. The German team gave their national salute; there followed a speech by the president of the German Olympic Committee; Herr Hitler declared the games open and then the Olympic flag was hoisted; the artillery fired a salute and thousands of pigeons were released to flutter from the track like grey snowflakes blown in a gale.
THE OLYMPIC FLAME ARRIVES
Richard Strauss╒s Olympic Hymn was played, and then all eyes were turned to the eastern gates. On the top of the long steps a runner in white was standing with a lighted torch in his hand. He was the last of a long line that has brought the Olympic flame three thousand miles across Europe. He ran lightly and beautifully down the steps and along the track carrying the torch aloft, ran up the opposite flight of steps and lit the Olympic fire between the towers of the Marathon gate. As the fire gushed upwards the huge crowd broke into a roar of cheers.
Little remained to be done. Louis, the Greek winner of the first modern Marathon in 1896, presented Herr Hitler an olive branch brought from Athens. The flags were dipped and a German athlete ascended the rostrum and took the Olympic oath on behalf of all the competitors. The choir sang the ╥Hallelujah Chorus,╙ and at last the long ceremony was over and the athletes were free to march away and rest for a little before their labour of the coming day.
