I used to dream a lot.
It was always 100,000 people and I’m standing there waiting for the high jump.
And then the announcement comes: “Report to the high jump.” And I can’t move.
Champion high jumper Gretel Bergmann was poised to win a medal at the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games,
but the German Jewish athlete was ultimately stripped of the opportunity to compete.
Under the Nazi regime, German Jews felt the impact of hundreds of new anti-Jewish laws
designed to restrict their role in society.
These new restrictions meant that Gretel was forbidden
from entering training facilities in Germany
even though she was one of the top athletes in the country.
When I was 19 years old, I went to England because we saw there was no future for me in Germany.
I couldn’t compete in Germany under the Nazis.
On the day of the English Championships, my father came to watch me.
He had a message for me that I had to come back to Germany.
Gretel did not want to go, but her father explained…
she was being “invited” to compete at pre-Olympic qualifying trials
and there could be trouble for the family if she refused.
When I got back to Germany I was hoping I would at least have a place where I could train.
But the fact that I was a member of the German Olympic team did not allow me to use any of the stadiums.
I was still a Jew.
As Germany abandoned democratic values, Americans began to question the morality of supporting the 1936 games.
There were heavy debates in the US about boycotting the games.
In response, German authorities assured the United States Olympic committee
that Jewish athletes would be treated fairly, ultimately convincing the US to compete.
The final trials for the German Olympic team took place in June 1936, just two months before the Games.
Gretel competed in the high jump.
I figured if I give up, then they would say, “See what happens to the Jews? They’re not worth a damn.”
And I told them, “I’m gonna teach you guys a lesson whether you like it or not.” And I did.
At the trials Gretel equalled the German women’s high jump record of 1 metre and 60 centimetres.
She was officially one of Germany’s best female high jumpers.
Despite her record, the Nazis had no intention of allowing Gretel to participate in the Olympics.
I got a letter two weeks before the Olympics started
that told me that I wasn’t good enough and I wouldn’t be able to compete.
The letter read: “Looking back at your recent performances,
you could not possibly have expected to be chosen for the team."
They waited until the Americans were on the way to come over…
They told them that I was injured and that’s why I couldn’t compete.
And that was all a lie of course. That was all a lie.
Officials removed her accomplishment from the record books
and offered Gretel a free standing-room ticket for the Olympic track and field events.
I always loved sports and all of a sudden... I was completely in the hands of the Nazis.
It was a terrible shock because I was the best.
In August 1936 crowds poured into Berlin from all over the world for the opening of the Olympic Games.
But behind the mask of fanfare and international comradery
were intensifying anti-Jewish laws, and what would eventually prove to be a murderous regime.
In 1937, Gretel immigrated to the United States.
She immediately changed her name to Margaret and stopped speaking German
shedding all reminders of her life in Germany.
She started over in her new country and went on to win the US Women’s high jump and shot put championships.
Positioned once again to make it to the Olympics,
Margaret began training for the 1940 Games in hopes of competing for the United States.
Her chance never came. World War II broke out leaving no hope for the Olympics taking place.
She retired from the sport permanently.
Despite the heartbreak of never being able to compete in the Olympic Games,
Margaret found a new sense of strength in her life.
I think it made me a lot tougher, you know to face what, what I had to face…
It was a not only a physical, but a moral victory.
I could have won this thing if they had let me compete.
I could have won.