Jesse Owens was the star of the 1936 Olympics.

Seventy years ago this month, this humble room was Jesse Owens' abode in the Olympic Village, the place where he slept, relaxed and swapped jokes with other athletes at the 1936 Games.

The black athlete scooped four gold medals in sprint, long-jump and relay events in front of a boisterous, flag-waving crowd in Berlin's Olympic Stadium, enraging Nazi leader Adolf Hitler who was dreaming of world conquest and the superiority of the German race.

Historic accommodation

Besides Owens, more than 4,000 other athletes from 49 nations were housed in the Olympic Village in Elstal, half-an-hour's drive from Berlin in the state of Brandenburg.

The Olympic Village housed male competitors for the Games from August 1-16, 1936. Female athletes were accommodated in separate accommodation, closer to Berlin.

The 55-acre complex today belongs to the German Credit Bank (DKB), which has created a foundation and aims to promote the site as an Olympic Village museum.

On September 16, a special sports day event is being staged in Elstal "in memory of the great Jesse Owens," who died in 1980 in Tucson, Arizona.

A chequered history

The Olympic Village has had a chequered history since its 1936 glory days. During World War II, the German armed forces turned it into a military training establishment.

From a nearby airfield, planes of the Nazi Condor Legion flew on secret missions to Spain in the mid-1930s to support the forces of Francisco Franco in the Spanish Civil War.

From the same region in the summer of 1968, contingents of Russian troops headed back across the border into then Czechoslovakia to "assist" in the Warsaw Pact crushing of Alexander Dubcek's dream of "socialism with a human face."

At the end of World War II, the Olympic Village had another role, serving for a spell as a refugee camp for those fleeing from the former German-occupied territories or from the Baltic countries.

That chapter ended with the arrival of Soviet army forces. The Olympic Village then became a huge-sized military barracks, complete with wall paintings of the Red Army's triumphant race across eastern Europe in 1944-1945.

Some 40,000 officers and troops were stationed in the village, or close by, during the 1960s - 1980s, part of the half-a-million strong Soviet force that formed a menacing ring around isolated West Berlin during the Cold War era until being withdrawn in 1992.

Restoring the past

Last year the DKB invested 250,000 euros (312,000 dollars) in restoring some of the Olympic Village's properties. But many others still remain in a parlous state. This year alone 150,000 euros will be spent simply on maintenance of buildings and green areas.

Still standing today is the single-storey building which contains Owens' room.

"Naturally tourists are eager to visit the Jesse Owens room," says Dietmar Gallabi, who works as a guide in the Olympic Village, conducting visitors round the site.

"By today's standards I suppose it looks somewhat sparse, but back in 1936, l can tell you, it was viewed as luxury accommodation."

"All the village buildings were equipped with central heating, double-glazed windows and excellent kitchen facilities," he says. "In special two-year training courses, German 'adjutants' were taught to speak the language of visiting athletes, and to deal with any special requests they might have."

"In fact, everything possible was done to present a picture of Germany's 'peaceful intentions' in 1936, although most athletes were aware of the recently-introduced Nazi race laws," he says.

Returning home

Among a recent small group of visitors to tour the Olympic Village this week was 71-year-old Horst Koblitz. The son of a then professional soldier, he grew up just yards away from the entrance.

His home was in Elstal until 1961 when, as he puts it, "it became difficult in the GDR (German Democratic Republic). My family had other ideas and left for West Germany. We've lived in Mainz ever since."

Koblitz told Deutsche Presse-Agentur that "out of curiosity" he first returned to Elstal five years ago, eager to see the Olympic Village and other places "forbidden to us for so long."

Now, he's back again, eager to see what has "further developed" in the Olympic Village, and what buildings are still remaining.

"I would like to see the Olympic Village restored from that which still remains from that time," he says, his wife standing beside him.

As he stumbles over rotting wooden boards in the now tumbledown village swimming pool, he emerges to point at a large nearby structure. "Over there in that big building you have the original Olympic Village 'House of Nations' complex," he says.

"I would like to see that brought back to life and restored. It could serve as a wonderful school and sports complex," he says.

"Sport should be the central idea and at the very heart of any future activity here."

2 August 2006

Copyright DPA with Expatica

Subject: 1936 Olympics, Olympic Village, Jesse Owens