Under Joseph Goebbels’s leadership, the Nazi regime staged the 1936 Olympic Games as a gigantic propaganda spectacle. The world was to be given a picture of the beauty, harmony, and strength of the new Germany. All controversial aspects of the regime, such as its antisemitic slogans and agitation, were forbidden during the duration of the games. Indeed, in order to placate world opinion, two “half-Jews,” fencer Helene Mayer and ice hockey player Rudi Ball, were included as starters on the German team. All told, Germany under the swastika actually left a very positive impression on many foreign visitors and observers.