Hitler's Games

Exclusive Extracts from Olympics: The India Story by Boria Majumdarand Nalin Mehta

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Nowadays I hear of the princely comforts provided for national teamstraveling overseas, and the fuss players raise if they happen to miss evena cup of tea! When we used to travel, the name of our country and thegame were the only two things that mattered.

—Dhyan Chand on India’s title defence at the 1936 Berlin OlympicGames[1]

‘Will India Lose Under My Charge?'
Dhyan Chand's Delhi Dilemma

Despite having comprehensively beaten the world in 1928 and 1932,India’s supremacy in field hockey was still in doubt on the eve of theBerlin Games in 1936. This was because all of Europe had stayed awayfrom the 1932 hockey competition at Los Angeles on account of theGreat Depression and also because European hockey had improvedby quite a few notches in the interim. Accordingly, trying to defendthe title at Berlin in 1936 was the biggest challenge Indian hockey hadever faced. That India was ready for it was evident when the Indianteam won all 48 matches on its tour of New Zealand in 1935. [2]

But it’s the nature of sport that even the greatest of champions canhave an off-day. There was a big flutter when the Indian Olympicteam, picked after the inter-province trials at Calcutta in January–February 1936, lost 1–4 to a Delhi Hockey XI on 16 June at the MoriGate ground. This was unprecedented and the shock defeat starteddark murmurs. Touring international cricket sides would in later yearslearn to attribute their defeats in the Indian capital to the mysteriousmalady called ‘Delhi belly’. Dhyan Chand, the newly appointed captainof the national team, did not, of course, use the same excuse but hisbewilderment and shock were there for all to see. In his autobiography,published 16 years later, he beautifully described the after-effect ofthis wake-up call:

My experiences thus far had been to win matches and not lose them. Iremember that in 1932, after our return from the Olympic tour, webeat Delhi by 12 goals to nil. I never recognized Delhi as a big hockeyplaying center, but on this day they were right on top of us and completelyoutplayed us. The news of this defeat created adverse opinions about us,and while we were touring other centers before we finally sailed fromMumbai, this particular defeat kept worrying me. For the first timeI was captaining the Olympic team; will India lose the title undermy charge? [3]

Later generations would justifiably remember Dhyan Chand as a wizardwho could do no wrong. But his musings after the Delhi defeat revealedthe eternal truth of all sport: even the greatest of legends are onlyhuman. By now Dhyan Chand was worried about his legacy and sufferedfrom moments of self-doubt. In the run-up to the Berlin Games,Dhyan Chand’s anxieties were particularly pertinent, for hisappointment as captain was mired in controversy. Despite being thebest player, Dhyan Chand’s claims for captaincy had been circumventedin 1932 on account of what was seen as his inferior social status. Alowly soldier in the Army, he had been passed up as captain earlierdespite being the best player in the team and its talisman. By 1936the sheer weight of his exploits and his towering presence on the fieldforced a rethink. But Dhyan Chand was only too conscious of the newresponsibility and the tremendous burden on him at a time whensocial divides still largely governed public life. One small slip, and theknives would be out for him. As he noted, ‘I was bypassed in 1932possibly because of my academic handicaps and so-called social positionin life. I was still an ordinary soldier, holding a minor rank.’ [4] PawalankarBaloo, the great Dalit cricketer at the turn of the 20th century, whosesocial origins initially denied him entry into the Hindu Gymkhana inBombay, would have sympathized. Baloo overcame high-caste derisionto become one of the Hindu Gymkhana’s greatest stars in the BombayPentangular but was never made captain. It wasn’t until 1923 that hisbrother Pawalankar Vithal broke the captaincy barrier in cricket.[5] InDhyan Chand’s case, class barriers had been the biggest obstacle andthe fact that he was finally given the captaincy placed him underenormous pressure at Berlin.

To The Führer:
An Indian In Berlin

Of all the Olympics before the world wars, none is better documentedon film than the Berlin Games. This can partly be attributed to advancesin film technology but a major reason lies in the propaganda value ofthe Games for Adolf Hitler, who had ridden on the Weimar Republic’spost-Versailles discontent and humiliation to achieve power throughthe Berlin putsch of 1933.[6] Berlin won the bid for the 1936 Gameslong before Hitler and the Nazis came to power [7] but for a leader whohad just openly repudiated the Treaty of Versailles, the Olympicsbecame an occasion to promote Nazi ideology. [8] Joseph Goebbels, theReich minister for popular enlightenment and propaganda, played abig part in convincing Hitler of the publicity value of the Games andfilm-maker Leni Reifenstahl, a favourite of Hitler’s, was commissionedto film them. Her film Olympia originated many of the techniquesnow commonplace to the filming of sports. [9]

Berlin 1936: The closing ceremony - Indian flag holder

The video archives of the International Olympic Museum containreams of footage of the Games that captured them in everydimension—both on and off the field. In the IOC videos, Hitler andNazi officials feature as prominently as the athletes themselves;Wehrmacht soldiers and disciplined rows of volunteers form thebackdrop to what German officials wanted to be remembered as thegreatest Games ever. Hitler removed signs stating ‘Jews not wanted’and similar slogans from main tourist attractions. Simultaneously,Berlin was ‘cleaned up’, the ministry of interior authorizing the chiefof Berlin Police to arrest all gypsies and keep them in a special camp.[10]All in all, the German government was believed to have spent thethen astronomical sum of about $30 million on an event that wasmeant to showcase the master Aryan race, as Hitler believed theGermans to be, as also to package the progressive and united face ofGermany for a global audience.[11]

It was to these Games that Dhyan Chand’s hockey players and therest of the Indian athletes, still a part of the British empire, nowheaded. Interestingly, when the Indians, twice Olympic champions,set sail from Bombay on what was perhaps the mission of their lives,there was scarcely anybody around to see the team off. As recountedby one of the team members:

Only the Bombay Customs players, Aslam, Feroze Khan, Jagat Singhand Brewin were with us, so were Behram Doctor and S.K. Mukherjee.The pier was crowded but none took notice of us world champions!Those of us who had been on tour before found this a new experience andnot a pleasant one.[12]

The first part of the journey was rough due to turbulent seas and allthe players, except C. Tapsell, E.J.C. Cullen and Assistant ManagerPankaj Gupta, were seasick. While most of them recovered in a fewdays, Joe Phillips and Babu Nimal from Bombay repeatedly requestedthe team management to send them back. By now the team wasworried about this lack of practice. The Statesman correspondentaccompanying the hockey players noted that they were used topractising on the deck but the rough seas precluded that possibilityuntil the fifth day of the voyage when they played hockey for anhour. [13]

In fact, only when the boat docked at Aden were the Indians ableto practice full throttle. In Aden, the Indians had four hours on shoreand kept themselves busy. The seriousness with which the hockeyplayers were approaching their title defence was apparent from thefact that even on this small break in their voyage all they wanted todo was play. Soon after arrival the visitors went looking for a hockeyground and found the regimental training field of the 5/14 PunjabRegiment, which was then stationed at Aden. Members of the regiment,who had no prior knowledge of the arrival of the Indian Olympicteam, were puzzled but elated at suddenly seeing their countrymen.This episode was documented by one of the players in his diary:

We left the boat with hockey sticks in hope that some hockey field or aplot of ground might be available where we could stretch our limbs. Weasked the bus driver to take us to a hockey ground and he took us to asandy plot of land, level but full of pieces of bricks, which we afterwardsfound to be the regimental ground. [14]

Once the nets were put up, the Indians asked the officer present if theground could be used for practice. An unnamed Indian player laterrecounted to a newspaper reporter that at first, ‘He hesitated but assoon as he discovered we were the All-India team and that DhyanChand was with us…he allowed us to play.’[15] The name of DhyanChand worked like a charm and once the regiment learnt of the team’sarrival the bugle was sounded; in five minutes the entire battalioncame out of its barracks to watch the players. It was a surprise gift forthem and many of the subedars and privates who knew Dhyan Chandwere pleased to see him in Aden. They felt embarrassed because theIndians had come without prior notice and hastily tried to put togethera civic reception for the world champions.

During their brief stay at Aden, the Indian hockey players alsofound time to watch a game of football and were amazed at the highstandard and popularity of the sport. As an Indian player recalled: ‘Afootball match was being played on an adjoining ground and therewere large crowds watching the game. I was surprised to see footballpopular in a desert and was more surprised to see the Arabs andSomalis play barefeet…The scouts from Calcutta instead of going toQuetta, Rangoon and Banglore would be well advised to come toAden. I found four players good enough for any Calcutta team. Theirdribbling and ball control were revelations to me.’ [16]

Getting Göring and Goebbels’ Autograph:
In the Heart of the Third Reich

For the Indian team, surviving as it was on a budget, the journey toBerlin was not the most comfortable. Having docked in Marseilleslate on the night of 10 July, the Indians were to catch a connectingtrain to Paris en route to Berlin, but they missed the connection. AsDhyan Chand explained: ‘Dock workers there were on strike, and thepassengers were put to great difficulty in getting their baggagethrough. It took us time to unload our luggage ourselves and get itthrough the Customs and other formalities, and the result was thatwe missed our train to Paris. We were lodged in an ordinary hotel inMarseilles for the night’. [17] It was only on the morning of 11 July thatthe Indians boarded a train for Paris. In Paris, as in Aden, not manywere aware of their arrival and the players spent a quiet day,undisturbed by the city’s sports media. For some of them ‘this wasfame with a vengeance’.[18] In sharp contrast to the luxuries afforded tomany modern sportsmen, this team of Olympic champions arrangedits own travel at the lowest cost. Dhyan Chand’s recollection of thisjourney was written in words that leap out of the mists of the past tostab at the heart. As he put it in his usual nonchalant way: ‘We took anight train to Berlin. It was a job even to secure the third class seatsprovided to us. The night was cold and there was no sleepingaccommodation. Cheerfully we forgot all these comforts. We were ona mission for our country’.[19]

The Indians finally landed in Berlin on 13 July and were accorded asplendid welcome at Berlin station. They may not have received asend-off worthy of the Olympic champions in Bombay but in a Berlinstriving hard to put its best step forward, they were received asheroes. Dr Diem, chairman of the organizing committee of the BerlinOlympiad, welcomed the Indians, his speech being relayed through amicrophone to a large waiting crowd. In a reminder of the fact thatthey were playing on behalf of the British Indian empire, ‘God Savethe King’ was played, and a band escorted the Indians to a bus, whichdrove through the streets of Berlin to the city hall, where the Mayorof Berlin welcomed the Indians according to established Olympictradition. Each member of the team was presented with an albumcontaining pictures of Berlin, and Dhyan Chand received a medal: [20]his celebrity status had preceded him.

By all accounts, the Third Reich pulled out all stops in welcomingthe Indians. Here, in the heart of Britain’s greatest adversary, theywere not just colonial subjects but honoured guests. After the welcomeceremony, the Indians were motored to the Olympic village 20 milesfrom the city. At the entrance to the village, the commandant incharge of security received the team. ‘God Save the King’ was playedonce again and the Union Jack with the star of India was hoisted nextto the village gate. Eleven nations had already arrived and later theband members escorted the Indians to their cottage at thefurther end of the village. Unlike in 1932, when the team was quarteredfour men to a cottage, at Berlin the team stayed in one barrackcontaining 11 rooms and a common room. [21] This was five-startreatment by any standards. Dhyan Chand wrote:The cottage had 20 beds, a telephone and a refrigerator. Everything waskept spick and span, and every minute detail of our comforts had beenattended to. Two stewards were there to look after us. One was Otto, anold-seasoned sailor who had visited India several times and spoke Englishwell. The other was named Schmidt, and he spoke English haltingly. [22]In a reflection of the importance accorded to the Olympiad by thetop brass of the Third Reich, the Games Village was often visited bytop dignitaries. Hermann Göring, whose Air Force just four yearslater was to launch the London Blitz, and Joseph Goebbels, who haddesigned much of the propaganda around the Games, took personalinterest. A bemused Dhyan Chand noted, ‘One day while we were inthe dining hall, who should walk in but the burly Hermann Goering,clad in his military attire! We were after him in a trice to get hisautograph. Later some of us obtained Dr. Goebbel’s autograph.’ [23] TheIndians, it is evident from contemporary reports, were impressedwith the arrangements and there was no grouse except on the questionof distance.

But there was a hockey title to be defended. The day after theyarrived in Berlin, the Indians went out to check the venue for thehockey competition. An unnamed player noticed the differencesbetween the facilities at Los Angeles and Berlin: ‘The Olympic stadiumhere is a bit smaller than the American one. There is one advantagehere—all the stadiums are located on one big plot of ground, whereasin America, barring the swimming and the main stadium, the othersare quite apart.’ [24] The Indians also had to adjust to the weather. Writingto his family back home, an Indian player mentioned that the climatein Berlin was chilly and on days it rained consistently. A militaryofficer had been appointed as the attaché of the Indian team and theywere being well looked after. This was essential as the city was faraway and the team was feeling a bit out of sorts because of the distance. [25]

A member of the Indian delegation and other participants

‘The Shock of Defeat’:
They Could be Beaten

Dhyan Chand’s team had begun its tour preparations with a shockdefeat to a local team in Delhi. Now in the first warm-up game onGerman soil, the team lost again. The Indians suffered a shock defeatagainst a German XI, losing 1–4. The Delhi defeat could have beendismissed as a one-off, but it had already planted the seeds of doubt inDhyan Chand’s mind. This German blitzkrieg in Berlin was moreserious and it served as a perfect wake-up call. The Indians now knewthat they were not invincible and the Europeans had caught up. Itretrospect, it served Dhyan Chand well because it led to a completereappraisal of team strategy. Sixteen years later, the proud Indiancaptain wrote:

As long as I live, I shall never forget this match or get over the shock ofdefeat which still rankles in me. Hitler’s Germany had made greatstrides in their game…The result of the play shocked us so much thatwe could not sleep that night. Some of us even did not have our dinner.At night Pankaj Gupta, Jaffar and myself went into a conference, inwhich Jagannath also joined. We were unanimous that a substitute beobtained in place of Masood. That same night Gupta rushed to Berlinand sent a cable to Kunwar Sir Jagdish Prasad, president of the IHF,asking him to send Dara, failing whom Frank Wells or Eric Henderson,and also Pinniger. We decided that if Pinniger was not available, Cullenof Madras should be posted as center-half and not Masood. This we diduntil Dara arrived just a day before we played France in the semi-finals.’ [26]Dara was a Lance Naik stationed at Jhelum and was familiar as aninside forward with Dhyan Chand’s play. [27] Money was short but suchwas the urgency that the federation tried to arrange Dara’s passageby air so that he could reach Berlin before the Olympic matchesbegan on 2 August. Despite the best efforts of the IHF, Dara had towait in Karachi for nine days before he managed a seat in an aircraft.He left by Imperial Airways, entrained at Brindisi, reached Rome,rested there for a day and finally reached Berlin by air to play in thesemi-final against France the next day. This was still considered quickwork and the team thanked the federation for this admirable handlingof Dara’s last-minute inclusion. [28]

The psychological impact of that early defeat was enormous and itset off a great deal of criticism. The Statesman, which had a correspondentcovering the hockey team’s travails, now devoted an entire specialreport titled ‘Why SOS Cable was sent to India’. The dispatch fromBerlin began with the following post-mortem: