East Rochester Post: A Chilling Reminder of Hitler's Olympics

Wednesday, May 16, 2001

Guest Essay Although the outside temperature hit a record high, I felt the chill wind as I went through the traveling Holocaust exhibit, "The Nazi Olympics Berlin 1936," displayed at the ESL Sports Center at Monroe Community College. The Berlin Games became a permanent stigma of the Olympics movement because the games legitimized the Nazi dictatorship and heralded the onset of World War II. The Committee on Fair Play in Sports, New York, stated on November 15, 1935: "Nazi Germany is endeavoring to use the Eleventh Olympics to serve the necessities and interests of the Nazi Regime rather than the Olympics ideals." History has pushed the International Olympics Committee to face another crossroad when it selects a site for the 2008 Games, in Moscow in July. Beijing has entered the race with Toronto, Paris, and Istanbul. In anticipation of the IOC visit early this year, CNN reported Chinese President Jiang Zemin as stating, "If we can't exterminate Falun Gong soon this will be seen as a major weakness of the communist party...the authority and prestige of the party is at stake." Beijing has ordered provincial leaders to "take speedy and effective measures to crush Falun Gong." That sounded like a chilling echo of Hitler's racial policies that aimed to "purify" the Germanic "Aryan" population. In 1936, Hitler viewed the Olympics as an opportunity to advance Nazi ideology. Sixty-five years later, Jiang wants to grab the Games to maintain his cruel dictatorship, which has lost its legitimacy in the eyes of the Chinese populace. Since July 20, 1999, Jiang Zemin's illegal persecution of Falun Gong has not only deprived over seventy million people the right to practice the universal principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance, it has also resulted in the mental and physical torture of countless Falun Gong practitioners. Over 50,000 people are detained and tortured in labor camps. Hundreds of people are illegally sentenced to jail terms. Hundreds of people are held in mental hospitals and destroyed with drugs. To date over 200 peaceful people have died due to torture while in police custody. Jiang can paint the grass green in Tiananmen Square for the IOC visit, but not his crimes. In its annual report, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom said that the Chinese government has expanded its crackdown on unregistered religious groups, tightened control on official religious organizations, intensified its campaign against the Falun Gong spiritual movement and increased control over official Protestant and Catholic churches. The report offers a list of non-binding recommendations, including censuring China over human rights and opposing its bid to host the Olympics. On May 3, the United States "National Day of Prayer", President Bush sharply assailed Beijing's "unreasonable and unworthy" religious persecution. In a speech to the American Jewish Committee, Mr. Bush stated that in China, "Churches and mosques have been vandalized or demolished. Traditional religious practices in Tibet have long been the target of especially harsh and unjust persecution. And most recently, adherents of the Falun Gong spiritual movement have been singled out for arrest and abuse." He called these acts of persecution as "acts of fear -- and therefore of weakness." In March, the U.S. lawmakers passed a non-binding resolution to urge the IOC to reject China's bid. In letters to both the Chinese and the International Olympics Committees, Jan Becker, a former Australian Olympics swimmer, raised three questions:

• Will Falun Gong practitioners be allowed to attend the Olympics--bearing in mind that practitioners may not only be spectators like myself but athletes and officials as well?
• How will the Chinese Olympics Committee guarantee the safety of myself and other Falun Gong international practitioners attending the Olympics?
• How will the Chinese Olympics Committee guarantee that our personal belongings such as Falun Gong books and tapes of the music for exercising are not confiscated on arrival, which is the practice that occurs in China today for International Falun Gong practitioners?

Like Jan, I am not against the Chinese people being awarded the 2008 Olympics. However, I am haunted by the nightmare that our children may be presented with another tyranny's Olympics exhibit. Will the IOC take the opportunity to clear its record and act with courage?

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