People's Olympiad

The People's Olympiad ( Spanish Olimpiada Popular, Catalan olimpíada Popular) was planned as a protest event against the 1936 Summer Olympic Games in Berlin. It should take place in Barcelona ( Spain) during the period of National Socialism in Germany. The left set Spanish government decided to boycott the Summer Olympics in Berlin, and to organize their own Olympics.

Many nations throughout the world were invited and it was planned to use hotels as Olympic Village. The games were scheduled for July 19 to July 26 and would have ended six days before the start of the Olympic Summer Games in Berlin. In addition to the usual sporting competitions competitions in chess, folk dance, music and theater should take place. Approximately 6,000 athletes from 22 countries had registered for these people Olympiad. The majority of the athletes should come among others from the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Algeria. Also, teams from Germany and Italy, whose athletes were in exile, had announced their participation. Many of the athletes were sent from trade unions, workers' associations, socialist and communist parties.

The opening ceremony presented at the same time represents the end of the Olympics, because on the same day the Spanish military coup in Barcelona and the Spanish Civil War broke out. Some participants could not even reach Barcelona because of closed borders; those who were already in town, they left as quickly as possible. But remained at least 200 athletes, most of them German and Italian, in Spain and joined the militia to defend the Spanish Republic.