The torch relay has far outlasted the ugly circumstances surrounding its creation in Nazi Germany
Even though COVID-19 restrictions will cause it to take place at a scaled-down event inside a mostly empty stadium, the moment will likely serve as a moment of pride and excitement both here and around the globe., with stops around the host nation in between — is one of the most popular Olympic traditions.The idea was hatched by an aide to Adolf Hitler in the run-up to the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin.
A lit torch had glowed above the Games staged in Amsterdam and Los Angeles but those had been done on-site, not by transferring an actual flame from Greece. The tradition dates back to ancient Greece, where locals often lit torches to honor the gods. The route Hitler planned meandered for about 2,000 miles from Olympia through the cities and countrysides of Southeast and Central Europe — including the then-nations of Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia, as well as Bulgaria, Hungary and Austria. This was an area where Germany had considerable influence and sought to expand.
“The Nazis knew a good propaganda symbol when they saw one,” wrote author Tony Perrottet in the book “The Naked Olympics.”
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