Greek tourism video features scenes from Nazi Olympics
Officials quickly edit promotional clip that included footage from Hitler's 1936 Berlin games
The Greek Ministry of Tourism has re-edited a promotional video after a journalist pointed out that it contained footage of the 1936 Berlin Olympics hosted by Nazi Germany.
The video, called “Gods, Myths and Heroes,” was unveiled at a global event for the travel industry in London last week and depicted scenes from various Olympic games, including the torch lighting ceremony from the infamous pre-war games.
“In the sequence, a scene from the 1936 Olympics was mistakenly included which we will immediately remove and rectify,” Greece’s tourism ministry secretary General Panos Livadas told the Guardian on Thursday.
After being alerted to the blunder by Athens based journalist Damian Mac Con Uladh, officials removed the video from YouTube and quickly replaced the footage with scenes from a torch-lighting ceremony in Ancient Olympia.
The original video was shot to mark the centenary anniversary of the Hellenic Tourism Organization, and encourage tourism to a cash-strapped Greece.
In the Guardian interview, Livadas said he hoped people would not give the technical oversight undue emphasis, and emphasized that Greece’s tourist industry was growing.
The infamous footage was shot by Nazi propaganda film maker Leni Riefenstahl and intended to promote the Nazi ideals of racial superiority by showing athletes who embodied Aryanism.