Leni Riefenstahl (1902-2003) - XI Summer Olympics Games Berlin 1936 - German athlete Fritz Schilgen lighting of the flame

Gelatine Silber Druck (PE) - Briefmarke Presseagentur/ Zeitung - 1936

Leni Riefenstahl (1902-2003) - The scene at the Olimpic Stadium as the German athlete Fritz Schilgen lighting of the flame - 1936

Photo from 'Olymia", a documentary film by Leni Riefenstahl (1936)
Gelatin silver print
Photo shot on 1 August 1936
The photo is dated: 3- AUG 1936
Measures - 22 cm x 26.8 cm
Annotation and stamps on reverse
Very good condition with sign of the age - see photos for details.

The 1936 Summer Olympics torch relay was the first of its kind, following on from the reintroduction of the Olympic Flame at the 1928 Games. It pioneered the modern convention of moving the flame via a relay system from Greece to the Olympic venue. Leni Riefenstahl filmed the relay for the award-winning but controversial 1938 film Olympia.

The 1936 Summer Olympics (German: Olympische Sommerspiele 1936), officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad (German: Spiele der XI. Olympiade) and commonly known as Berlin 1936, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 to 16 August 1936 in Berlin, Germany. Berlin won the bid to host the Games over Barcelona at the 29th IOC Session on 26 April 1931. The 1936 Games marked the second and most recent time the International Olympic Committee gathered to vote in a city that was bidding to host those Games. Later rule modifications forbade cities hosting the bid vote from being awarded the games.

Fritz Schilgen (8 September 1906 – 12 September 2005) was a German athlete and the final torchbearer of the first Olympic torch relay at the 1936 Summer Games. Schilgen was chosen by the organizers of the relay as a "symbol of German sporting youth" and for his beautiful and graceful running style, as determined by the aesthetics commission. His dramatic lighting of the flame in the Olympic Stadium is captured in 'Olympia', by Leni Riefenstahl, who also helped devise the torch relay and select Schilgen as final torchbearer. Schilgen himself did not compete in the Olympics.

Gwiazdą tych igrzysk był amerykański czarnoskóry lekkoatleta Jesse Owens, 4-krotny mistrz olimpijski z Berlina. Wielokrotny rekordzista świata. Hitler nie uścisnął mu ręki, ale nie to zabolało Owensa. Największym bólem był dla niego brak telefonu od prezydenta USA, który do białych zawodników dzwonił z gratulacjami. Do Owensa nie zadzwonił po żadnym zwycięstwie. Owens pamiętał to latami.