The Barcelona Olympics that were not because of the Civil War

Barcelona90 years ago, about six thousand athletes arrived in Barcelona to participate in an Olympics that never took place. Many of those athletes, instead of competing in the Olympic stadium, would end up fighting Franco and, in some cases, would lose their lives. They were the athletes of the Popular Olympics, a competition designed to combat Nazism that was to be held in Barcelona from July 19 to 26, 1936.

The headquarters of this Popular Olympics was at the Centre Autonomista de Dependents del Comerç i de la Indústria (CADCI), a building at the lower part of La Rambla which is currently the headquarters of the UGT of Catalonia. A building that these days hosts "Barcelona 1936. The Popular Olympics that Wasn't. 90th anniversary", an exhibition organized by the Memorial Democràtic, the UGT of Catalonia and the Catalan Association of Ex-political Prisoners of Francoism. The exhibition recalls those July days and a project that, although it could not be carried out due to the start of the civil war, left a memory that has not yet been erased.

The root of the project began when in 1931 Barcelona aspired to be chosen as the venue for the Olympic Games. In April of that year, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) had to decide which city would be the venue for the 1936 summer Games. A total of 12 proposals were submitted, but only two reached the end of the process: Berlin and Barcelona. The proclamation of the Spanish Republic, which frightened more than one conservative member of the IOC due to fear of unrest, and German diplomacy led to Berlin being chosen. Two years later, Hitler came to power in 1933. And within two years, he proclaimed the Nuremberg Laws, a set of antisemitic laws. Around the world, thousands of people considered that this state could not host the 1936 Games, but the IOC did not change its plans. Hitler got his way.

It was in this context that different Catalan organizations had the idea of organizing an alternative Olympic Games that would serve as a platform for the fight against Nazism. These entities were integrated into the Organizing Committee of the Popular Olympiad (COOP), which had the support of the Generalitat de Catalunya. In fact, Lluís Companys would be appointed honorary president and Josep Anton Trabal, one of the founders of ERC and former sports leader, directed it. This popular Olympiad followed an already consolidated tradition in Europe of militant sport. As early as 1921, the first edition of the Workers' Olympiads had taken place in Prague, created by far-left organizations to break away from a sport of clubs and federations that they considered too conservative. And in 1928, the Spartakiad was born in Moscow, a games organized by the Soviet Union to compete with the Workers' Olympiads. In interwar Europe, thousands of people were members of organizations such as the Red Sport International and the International Workers' Sport Association, entities that in 1935 were already talking about holding a kind of Olympic Games critical of those in Berlin. But none of the ideas that were put forward in France or Spain prospered. The one that took place in 1936 in Catalonia, yes.

With the support of the Generalitat, the Spanish Republican government, and an economic donation from the French government of the Popular Front, the Barcelona Olympiad could be organized. An ambitious program was created, where sport shared prominence with culture, art, and protest. "The Berlin Games aim to propagate the spirit of national socialism, of slavery, of war, and of racial hatred. The Popular Olympiad of Barcelona, on the contrary, seeks to defend the true Olympic spirit that recognizes the equality of races and peoples and believes that peace is the best guarantee for the healthy education of athletes and the youth of all nations," said the official program. A program with 16 sports such as athletics, boxing, football, cycling, rugby, tennis, Basque pelota, basketball, wrestling, or chess, always emphasizing that women could participate. Furthermore, athletes were allowed to participate in representation of stateless nations, such as Catalonia, the Basque Country, Alsace, Palestine, or Morocco, then controlled by France. Jewish athletes who had fled Germany were also invited.

The press and conservative parties attacked the competition, stating it would be a failure without top athletes, as the best athletes of the moment preferred to go to Berlin. In Madrid, this competition would be defined as "separatist" for allowing Spanish citizens to compete as Catalans, Galicians, or Basques. However, Catalan nationalism would also not be satisfied, as the role of the Catalan language would be diminished, marginalized by Spanish. Despite everything, some 6,000 athletes from 23 international delegations responded to the call. The largest delegation would be the French with 1,500 athletes. The athletes were housed at the Olympic Hotel in Plaça Espanya and in improvised dormitories at the Olympic stadium.

The inauguration was planned for July 19, 1936, at the Montjuïc Olympic Stadium, where popular culture groups and athletes were to parade before the President of the Generalitat, Lluís Companys, with an official anthem that had been composed by Josep Maria de Sagarra with music by the German composer Hanns Eisler. The lyrics said "It is not out of hate, it is not out of war that we come to fight from every land; under the blue sky, the only word that suits us is a cry of joy: peace. .The inaugural concert was to be conducted by Pau Casals, with soprano Conxita Badia. But on that July 19, war broke out.

The shots and explosions surprised Casals during his final rehearsal at the Greek theatre. And the athletes at the Olympic Hotel. Athletes like the American gymnast Bernard R. Danchik, a New York clergyman who practiced gymnastics and would write that "There is fire from rifles and pistols, machine guns, bombs and mortars. They don't do things by halves here... We were locked in our hotel, and every time we wanted to stick our heads out of the windows, shots rang out. Finally, we were allowed to leave when things were relatively calm. We collected bullets and took photos. Churches are burning all over the city".

Given the development of events, the Olympics were suspended. And most athletes began their journey home as best they could. But many decided to stay and fight for the Republic, and in fact, those athletes would partly be the seed from which the International Brigades would emerge. They were athletes like the Swiss swimmer Clara Thalmann, who joined Durruti's anarchist column, later moving to the POUM. Thalmann and her husband would participate in the May events, be arrested for being Trotskyists, and end up fighting against the Nazis in France, surviving. On the other hand, the American wrestling coach Alfred "Chick" Chakin was shot by the Francoists when he was captured near Casp in 1938. The German photographer Hans Gutmann also stayed, who had come to document the Olympics and ended up fighting on the Aragon front. Gutmann left a legacy of photos of both the preparation for the Olympics and the War. Creating one of the most famous images of the conflict, that of the young 17-year-old militiawoman Marina Ginestà, on the terrace of the Hotel Colón, with a rifle on her back. Ginestà, incidentally, was also supposed to participate in the Olympics as an athlete in the 80 and 600-meter races, and in the long jump. 90 years ago, sport ceased to be important.