1936 Berlin Olympics Official Poster (Franz Würbel)

The official poster was designed by Franz Würbel, a German artist. It depicts a classical-style male athlete crowned with a laurel wreath, with a five-ringed Olympic emblem and Berlin skyline elements including the Brandenburg Gate in the background.

The Nazi regime used the 1936 Berlin Olympics—and its official poster—as a vehicle for presenting a sanitized, nationalist image of Germany to the world. The classical imagery and idealized athletic figure were intended to evoke strength, order, and Aryan ideals while obscuring the regime's escalating persecution of Jewish people and political opponents.

The poster shows a nude or semi-nude male athlete in a classical pose, reminiscent of ancient Greek sculpture, holding a victor's wreath. Behind him rises a silhouette of the Brandenburg Gate and other Berlin landmarks, tying the Olympic ideal to German national identity.

Official Olympic posters had been produced since the early modern Games, but the 1936 Berlin poster is one of the most iconic and politically charged examples. It was produced in multiple language editions and distributed internationally as part of the Nazi regime's extensive promotional apparatus for the Games.