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New book chronicles what were arguably the most important – and controversial Olympic Games in history
Review by BERNIE BELLAN With the 33rd Summer Olympics set to take place in Paris from July 26 to August 11, I thought it an opportune time to tell readers about a book that was released earlier this year and which provides a sweeping view of what were arguably the most controversial Olympic Games ever held – the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany.
Written by two writers, Glenn Allen and Richard Kaufman, who have spent most of their careers writing and producing films, PLAYED: The Games of the 1936 Berlin Olympics combines fiction and non-fiction in a thrilling, yet somewhat confusing manner.
Although Jewish readers are likely to find themselves focused on the rampant antisemitism that pervaded the games – given the determination of Hitler to use the Olympic Games as a masterful propaganda tool, this book is sure to appeal both to fans of the Olympic Games and students of history.
There are many heroes mentioned throughout “PLAYED,” including such well known names as Jesse Owens, who embarrassed Hitler to no end by winning what was then a record four Gold medals in various track events. But there were many other heroes as well, especially Alan Gould, who was the Associated Press Sports Editor, and who wrote many columns calling for a boycott of the games; and William Dodd, the US Ambassador to Germany from 1932-1937, who was warning of the dangers posed by the Nazi threat long before it became all too apparent to politicians, including President Franklin Roosevelt – who adopts quite a sanguine attitude toward the Nazi threat in this book.
And then there are the villains, chief among whom was the despicable Avery Brundage, President of the American Olympic Committee, who was determined to be appointed to the International Olympic Committee (of which he was later to become its president, from 1952-72). It is no coincidence that it was Brundage who was not only the key figure in overcoming resistance to the notion of the US boycotting the 1936 games, it was Brundage who was also central to the 1972 Munich Olympics carrying on even after the massacre of 11 Israeli athletes.
I admit that I knew quite a bit about Brundage’s unsavoury reputation even before reading this book, but the degree to which he connived to make sure America would be represented at the games when there was fierce opposition to exactly that position from many of the leading figures in the sports world in the US at the time is truly shocking.
But, while the historical record provides ample evidence of the extent to which Hitler and his henchmen were determined to use the Olympics as a showcase for Nazi superiority, while reading this book I couldn’t help but wonder just how much fiction was mixed with fact.
In the press release I was sent about the book, it was noted that “Based on real stories and real people involved in the 1936 Berlin Olympics, PLAYED plunges readers into a compelling, fictionalized account of the insanity and hysteria that unfolded across Germany, the United States and in much of the world from 1931 through 1936.”
I couldn’t help myself from questioning: Just how much is fact and how much is fiction in this book? Of course, given that the authors use their imaginations to conjure up the dialogue in the book, I kept thinking to myself – especially as I was reading about how sexually aggressive many of the female characters in this book were: Is this a case of two screenwriters using their past experiences writing movie scripts as an excuse to infuse something that might be passed off as a largely historical account with a great big dollop of licentiousness in order to attract readers?
Two of the major female characters: Martha Dodd, daughter of US Ambassador Dodd, and Eleanor Holm, a champion US swimmer, certainly led carefree sex lives – at least if you were to believe the accounts given in this book. Dodd, in particular, is such a fascinating character, because not only was she quite willing to go to bed with many Nazis (and it seemed – anyone who asked her), including Ernst “Putzi” Hanfstatengel, described as Hitler’s henchman – who would eagerly dispatch anyone Hitler wanted rid of, in time Martha Dodd ended up in the arms of a Russian spy – who himself was ordered executed by Stalin.
As for Holm, even though she was a champion in the swimming pool (in backstroke events), she hardly led a disciplined life as an athlete. In PLAYED, at least, she is one hell of a “player” – and this was well after she was married!
Unfortunately for Holm, however, one man who lusted after her – and whom she detested, was Avery Brundage. Now, I did try to find out whether the account given by Kaufman and Allen of what happened between Holm and Brundage when they were both on the same ship headed to the Berlin Olympics with the entire American team of athletes and officials, was in any way true. (In the book, Brundage attempts to rape Holm, but given her athleticism, she manages to deliver a solid kick to his nether regions – leaving him writhing in pain. The next day, he decides to kick her off the US Olympic team.) According to Holm’s own account, however, the reasons for her being booted off the team had to do with her not wanting to go to bed when she was told to do so. (I much prefer the PLAYED version – and if they ever make a movie from the book, I’m sure audiences would be much more interested in watching Holm do to Avery Brundage what a lot of women would probably fantasize about doing to men.)
Of course, the parts of the book describing some of the leading Nazis, including Hitler himself, along with Joseph Goebbels and Herman Goering, are luridly detailed – as one would expect any description of them to be, but one character who comes off quite favourably – much to my shock, is Leni Riefenstahl, the famed German filmmaker, who had already established a notorious reputation as a propagandist in her famous documentary about the 1934 Nuremburg Rally, “Triump of the Will.”
Rather than painting her as a tool of the Nazis though, the authors offer quite a sympathetic – even admiring portrait of someone who was wedded to her craft. According to this book, Riefenstahl actually fell in love with a member of the US Olympic team by the name of Glenn Morris, who goes on to win Gold in the decathlon competition. (Again, however, there is one unforgettable scene where Morris, after winning his medal, runs over to Riefenstahl, rips off her blouse, and kisses her breast. Is this a Hollywood screenwriter’s fantasy? Who knows?)
There are also many stories of Jewish athletes in this book – some of which are tragic. The female high jump champion in Germany at the time was someone by the name of Gretel Bergmann. Bergmann had gone to England prior to the Olympics knowing full well that she would not be allowed to compete for Nazi Germany. In the book, Putzi goes over to England and threatens Bergmann that she will have to return to compete for Germany, otherwise her family – who had still remained in Germany, will face severe consequences. When Bergmann reluctantly returns to Germany, Brundage points to her becoming part of the German Olympic team as a sign that the Nazis have softened their stance toward Jews, but once the American do agree to participate and cross the ocean to Germany, Bergmann develops a mysterious “injury” that prevents her from actually being part of the German team.
The book is full of such stories – so many, in fact, that your head will be spinning trying to keep track of all the characters mentioned in the book.
Still, if you want to enjoy a rollicking read that may or may not have many parts that are wholly concocted from the writers’ imaginations even though they’re writing about actual events, then you might want to give PLAYED a shot.
As for this year’s version of the Olympics, while there isn’t nearly the same dramatic tension surrounding them as there was prior to and during the 1936 Berlin Olympics, the cheating, skullduggery, and propaganda that permeated the 1936 games has forever tarnished the reputation of the Olympic Games and, while it’s a different type of antisemitism that we’re seeing on the world stage these days, we’re all holding our collective breaths wondering how Israeli athletes are going to be treated in Paris – the same way Jews were wondering how Jewish athletes were going to be treated in Nazi Germany in 1936.
PLAYED: The Games of the 1936 Berlin Olympics
Published 2024 by WordServe Publishing
419 pages
Features
The Types Of Gaming That Are Popular Across North America
Gaming in North America covers almost every style imaginable. Consoles remain a huge part of the culture that changes all the time. Older gaming hobbies like board games still fill living rooms and hobby stores.
People can always find a way to play that suits their interests and preferences. That could be online or offline.
That variety is part of what makes the region so interesting from a gaming point of view. There is no single dominant style. A lot of people prefer quick mobile games that they can play on the go. There are also superfans that sink hundreds of hours into console adventures. It isn’t all about high tech; plenty still enjoy games that have been around for generations.
The common theme is choice. North American players now have more ways to play than ever before.
Classic Casino Games Have Found New Life Online
Casino games have been popular across North America for a long time. The way they are played has changed dramatically in recent decades and brought them to new audiences.
Traditional games such as blackjack and roulette are still easy to recognize. The rules remain familiar to a lot of the population. The technology surrounding them has moved forward at a breakneck speed.
Roulette shows this change. The experience once meant gathering around a physical wheel and watching the ball bounce between the numbered pockets. That same basic format now works online in several different ways.
Digital roulette recreates the wheel through software. Live dealer versions stream a real wheel from a studio using high-definition cameras. Players can follow the action on a laptop or smartphone without losing the simple appeal that made roulette popular in the first place. People who want to play roulette varieties online even have a lot of choice for how they do so.
Slot games have changed even more.
Modern online versions can include detailed animations and new mechanics that would be difficult to reproduce on an old mechanical machine. Newer styles such as crash games have also grown alongside more traditional casino titles.
Casino gaming has essentially become another branch of digital entertainment. People have so much choice that they may turn to ‘games of the week’ as recommendations for a new game to try out.
Please embed the link:
Board Games Are Still Going Strong
Board games remain extremely popular across North America. There are even festivals in the area celebrating the choice in board games.
Part of their appeal is social.
A board game creates a reason for people to gather around the same table for competition. They usually debate at least one rule before the night is over!
Classic games still have huge audiences. Chess and Monopoly are instantly familiar. The modern board game scene has become much broader.
Games such as Ticket to Ride and Wingspan helped introduce more people to strategy-heavy tabletop games without making them feel impossible to learn.
Hobby gaming has also become a culture of its own.
Dedicated stores host game nights and board game cafes have turned tabletop gaming into an evening out rather than something that only happens at home.
In an age of screens, cardboard is doing surprisingly well.
Console Gaming Remains A Giant
Console gaming is still one of the biggest parts of North American entertainment.
Living-room consoles have become far more than machines for playing one game at a time. They now act as entertainment hubs for multiplayer gaming and detailed worlds.
Sports games remain popular. Action games and open-world adventure games also draw huge numbers of players.
The appeal is easy to understand.
Console gaming offers impressive graphics and deep experiences without requiring the same level of setup that can come with a gaming PC.
Controllers have evolved too. They have added better feedback and more precise inputs. Online multiplayer has become standard and easier for most players.
PC Gaming Has Its Own Massive Audience
PC gaming occupies a slightly different space. It tends to attract players who like flexibility.
Hardware can be upgraded over time. Digital stores offer enormous libraries ranging from blockbuster releases to tiny experimental projects made by one person.
Strategy games and simulation titles have especially strong roots on PC.
MMORPGs also remain closely linked to the platform. Large communities spend years inside these imagined online worlds.
Competitive gaming has helped keep PC gaming at the center of esports too.
Genres such as tactical shooters and real-time strategy games continue to attract players who enjoy fast competition and highly skill-based play.
Social And Multiplayer Games Keep Growing
You might assume that the online world is isolating gamers. But it is actually fair to say that gaming has become much more social over the last decade in many ways.
People increasingly play with friends who may live hundreds or even thousands of miles away. Cross-platform technology has helped with being able to connect players reliably.
A group no longer always needs identical hardware to play the same title together. Console and PC communities can sometimes mix. Voice chat keeps everyone connected during a session.
The conversation happening during the game becomes just as important as the game itself.
There is no single type of gaming that defines North America. A serious mix is probably the clearest trend of all.
Gaming has stopped being tied to one device or even one kind of player. It now covers everything from a quick game on a smartphone to an all-night board game session or a huge online adventure with friends.
Features
New Opportunities for XRP in the Trump Era: How XRP Holders Can Earn $7,899 Daily in Passive Income Through FTMINING Cloud Mining in 2026
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From holding assets to participating in cloud mining
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FTMINING: Safe, Transparent, and Trustworthy Investment
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At the technical level, the platform adopts multiple security mechanisms, including bank-level firewalls, cloud security certification, multi-signature cold wallets and asset isolation systems, to provide multi-layer protection for user funds.
Its security infrastructure includes:
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The platform supports a wide range of cryptocurrencies—including BTC, ETH, LTC, USDT, USDC, XRP, SOL, DOGE, and BCH—eliminating the need for cumbersome currency conversions and making deposits and withdrawals convenient.
Step 3: Select and Purchase a Mining Contract
FT MINING offers various contracts to suit different budgets and goals. Whether you are seeking short-term gains or long-term returns, FT MINING has the right option for you:
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Industry Perspectives
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Conclusion
XRP holders are entering a new phase of digital asset application, moving from simply holding assets to participating in the blockchain ecosystem. FTMINING cloud mining provides users with a more convenient path to explore value. With the help of cloud computing power, users can participate in mining services without purchasing professional mining machines or undertaking complex operation and maintenance processes, allowing idle XRP to play a greater role. With the continuous development of blockchain technology, cloud mining is becoming an increasingly important focus for digital asset users, enabling XRP holders to manage their assets more flexibly and efficiently, and helping them explore new opportunities in the digital economy era.
If you wish to explore more revenue opportunities while holding XRP, the FTMINING cloud mining model is worth further understanding and attention.
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Features
Musings from Dizengoff Street – by Bruce Brown (updated on a regular basis)
(August 11, 2026) Bravo Boy George. We certainly will dance again! And what better way than with his new reggae tune. Now Boy George is dealing with a hostile backlash against his just stand for Israel. Having to withdraw from London’s East End production of Jesus Christ Superstar where he was going to play – guess it. King Herod. Never a big Culture Club fan, but I am anyway -as a sign of support- going to download his greatest hits to my Spotify library. And hoping to have a chance to buy a concert ticket should Boy George perform in Israel. Kind of reminds me of Bob Dylan’s 1983 song Neighborhood Bully. Also in defense of Israel. I’m going to download that song as well. Although don’t think he was hounded the way Boy George is now. Sign of the times I guess.
+++++
Coming clean. I sometimes find myself chanting, to no one in particular, that snappy little ditty ‘from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.’ Now why can’t we come up with something as catchy. With such an impressive gene pool of great Jewish songwriters. George Gershwin. Irving Berlin. Burt Bacharach. Carole King. Neil Diamond. Leanard Choen. Paul Simon. Gene Simmons, Amy Winehouse. Bob Dylan. And yes, even the Buddhist Boy George. And still… gurnish! No wonder we’re losing the global PR battle
(August 8, 2026) Outside Basimta Café in Central Jerusalem. Love the red shirt against a tiny sea of black. Not sure I am shrugging because of the ultra-orthodox uproar over a Jerusalem café operating on Shabbat or the lack of an ultra-orthodox uproar over a Jerusalem café operating on Shabbat. For the last six weeks Israeli headlines shouted about the cafe chaos. With the ultra-religious blocking entrances and storming the café. While shouting ‘Shabbos! Shabbos!’ Upsetting the secular amongst us just wanting to enjoy our Saturday iced matchas. So the wife and I thought we would check it out. And. Yes. Buy something to support the business. Uproar. Not. Blocked entrances. Not. Storming the café. Not. Albeit there were police barriers separating the devout protesters from the coffee drinkers. The protesters being just a few dozen black clad, pious Jews. Mostly teenagers. And yes. Shouting ‘Shabbos! Shabbos!’ Certainly underwhelming in its reported mayhem. Reminds me of the famous saying misattributed to Mark Twain – “If you don’t read the newspaper, you’re uninformed. If you do, you’re misinformed.” But I did enjoy my iced matcha.
(August 6, 2026) Here we go again. Another round of forever negotiations. As someone who negotiates for a living. The way things are going in the straits. If I had to recommend a book on the subject to a new hire. Between The Art of the Deal, A Presidential Edition by Donald J. Trump or The Real Art of the Deal by the Mullahs of Iran with a special forward by the IRGC. Well. I would choose the latter.
(August 3) Bravo Yoav Segalovitz, Liberal Yesh Atid MK and Monsour Abbas, United Arab Ra’am MK and party head. For breaking a glass ceiling where a Jewish lawmaker joins an Arab political party. No less a political earthquake in my little shtetl. Which can significantly impact coalition block arithmetic and posturing and strategy in the upcoming elections. Now Ra’am can be considered a legitimate ‘Zionist’ partner when forming coalition blocks and potentially pushing the ‘center left/right’ party over the 60 seat majority threshold. In our crazy parliamentary democracy defined by a multi-party (about fourteen!!), proportional representation system. To paraphrase Winston Churchill, Israel’s proportional representation model of governance is the best parliamentary democracy system except for all other forms of working democracies. Stay tuned for more amateurish political musings as we move towards Israel’s 26th national election – five of them held since 2019.
(August 1) Although both sides say they are open to diplomacy. Neither really trusts the other. And American military action, or its threat, continues. I read headlines in the middle of the night -it’s a nervous habit lately– that the Dynamic Duo of Trump and Netanyahu may again strike in unison. Possibly this weekend. Yikes! Prompting me, at 2:30 AM, to dash around the house stocking my safe room. Bottled water. Canned food. Medicines. Documents. The beat goes on….
If it’s crazy here. It’s insane in Italy. With a recent online ‘Jew Hunt’ in the Milan area. Before being removed, the digital forms urged reportings of Israelis and Italian Jews staying in local hotels. The infamous Global Sumud Movement -yes, the one coordinating ‘peace and humanitarian’ flotillas to Gaza- was somehow connected. Although they deny involvement?! This deranged decree was looking to identify Zionist tourism and Zionist neo-colonization in Italy. I’ll stick with stocking the saferoom.
Then there’s New York Mayor Mamdani, a Global Sumud Movement supporter, threatening to arrest Prime Minister Netanyahu if he comes to New York. But since discovered he has no legal right for such a grandstanding, antisemitic, anti-Israel, anti-Western, anti-democratic antic. Maybe Mandami should be arrested! Or at least impeached. For being a grandstanding, antisemitic, anti-Israel, anti-Western, anti-democratic mayor.
Here’s a post Bruce sent us Friday, July 31:
WARTIME MUSINGS
Should credible threats against FLOTUS and ‘FSOTUS’ (first son..) not be justification to attack first.
As for yesterday’s summit. Netanyahu really can’t win. Explainer. If Trump now attacks without victory its ’cause of Netanyahu. If Trump now attacks with victory its ’cause of Trump. And, in Israel, if Trump doesn’t attack -victory or not- Netanyahu failed in his eighth meeting with Trump. And if Trump does attack -victory or not- half the country will vilify Bibi anyway. Missing a permutation?
Ya. I know. Kinda’ need a definition of victory for that musing to work.
And here in my little shtetle. We go to sleep unsure if there will be a code red in the middle of the night. And if not. We wake up thinking it will be tonight. How do you define stress?
Seemed like an appropriate way to end this musing.
Bruce Brown is a former Winnipegger who made aliyah to Israel over 35 years ago. Bruce first began writing for us – in his own inimitable style, in 2012, during what was known as “Operation Pillar of Defense.” His occasional musings on aspects of life in Israel that were far from what you’d typically read in other reports from Israel were hugely popular – both in the print Jewish Post & News and on this website.
We’re now glad to report that Bruce is back writing for us – this time on a regular basis. We will post Bruce’s reports as they arrive – with the date of each post at the beginning of that post.
Here’s some information about Bruce – and awards he’s received for his writing:
Bruce Brown. Canadian born. Now living in Israel (for a long time). Bruce works in Israel’s hi-tech sector by day and, in spurts, is a somewhat inspired writer by night. He received the American Jewish Press Association’s award for writing excellence in 2019 and 2025. And wrote the 1998 satire, “An Israeli is….” Bruce’s musings are political, social, economic and personal. With lots of biting, contrarian, sardonic and irreverent insight.
