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19 Feb 15
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two weeks in August 1936, Adolf Hitler's Nazi dictatorship camouflaged its racist, militaristic character while hosting the Summer Olympics. Soft-pedaling its antisemitic agenda and plans for territorial expansion, the regime exploited the Games to bedazzle many for
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her western democracies missed the opportunity to take a stand that — some observers at the time claimed — might have given Hitler pause and bolstered international resistance to Nazi tyranny. With the conclusion of the Games, Germany's expansionist policies and the persecution of Jews and other “enemies of the state” accelerated
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09 May 12
Braden LNazi olympics
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For two weeks in August 1936, Adolf Hitler's Nazi dictatorship camouflaged its racist, militaristic character while hosting the Summer Olympics.
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Soft-pedaling its antisemitic agenda and plans for territorial expansion, the regime exploited the Games to bedazzle many foreign spectators and journalists with an image of a peaceful, tolerant Germany.
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Having rejected a proposed boycott of the 1936 Olympics, the United States and other western democracies missed the opportunity to take a stand that — some observers at the time claimed — might have given Hitler pause and bolstered international resistance to Nazi tyranny
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On May 13, 1931, the International Olympic Committee, headed by Count Henri Baillet-Latour of Belgium, awarded the 1936 Summer Olympics to Berlin. The choice signaled Germany's return to the world community after defeat in World War I
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Two years later, Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany and quickly turned the nation's fragile democracy into a one-party dictatorship
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Police rounded up thousands of political opponents, detaining them without trial in concentration camps
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The Nazi regime also put into practice racial policies that aimed to “purify” and strengthen the Germanic “Aryan” population. A relentless campaign began to exclude Germany’’s one-half million Jews from all aspects of German life.
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The Nazification of all aspects of German life extended even to sport. A staunch Nazi close to Hitler, Hans von Tschammer und Osten, headed the Reich Sports Office, which oversaw all sports bodies and clubs, including the German Olympic Committee planning the 1936 Games.
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The government harnessed sport as part of its drive to strengthen the “Aryan race,” to exercise political control over its citizens, and to prepare German youth for war.
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German sports imagery in the 1930s promoted the myth of Aryan racial superiority and physical power.
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Such imagery also reflected the importance the Nazi regime placed on physical fitness.
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Aryan facial features — blue eyes and blond hair
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Hitler initially held the Olympics in low regard because of their internationalism, but he became an avid supporter after Joseph Goebbels, his Minister of Propaganda, convinced him of their propaganda value.
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The German Boxing Association expelled amateur champion Eric Seelig in April 1933 because he was Jewish.
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Soon after Hitler took power, the drive began to exclude Jews from German sport and recreational facilities
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Another Jew, Daniel Prenn, Germany's top-ranked tennis player, was removed from Germany's Davis Cup Team.
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04 May 12
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For two weeks in August 1936, Adolf Hitler's Nazi dictatorship camouflaged its racist, militaristic character while hosting the Summer Olympics. Soft-pedaling its antisemitic agenda and plans for territorial expansion, the regime exploited the Games to bedazzle many foreign spectators and journalists with an image of a peaceful, tolerant Germany.
-
Having rejected a proposed boycott of the 1936 Olympics, the United States and other western democracies missed the opportunity to take a stand that — some observers at the time claimed — might have given Hitler pause and bolstered international resistance to Nazi tyranny. With the conclusion of the Games, Germany's expansionist policies and the persecution of Jews and other “enemies of the state” accelerated, culminating in World War II and the Holocaust.
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Two years later, Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany and quickly turned the nation's fragile democracy into a one-party dictatorship.
-
Police rounded up thousands of political opponents, detaining them without trial in concentration camps. The Nazi regime also put into practice racial policies that aimed to “purify” and strengthen the Germanic “Aryan” population. A relentless campaign began to exclude Germany’’s one-half million Jews from all aspects of German life.
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The Nazification of all aspects of German life extended even to sport. A staunch Nazi close to Hitler, Hans von Tschammer und Osten, headed the Reich Sports Office, which oversaw all sports bodies and clubs, including the German Olympic Committee planning the 1936 Games.
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03 May 12
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For two weeks in August 1936, Adolf Hitler's Nazi dictatorship camouflaged its racist, militaristic character while hosting the Summer Olympics. Soft-pedaling its antisemitic agenda and plans for territorial expansion, the regime exploited the Games to bedazzle many foreign spectators and journalists with an image of a peaceful, tolerant Germany.
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n May 13, 1931, the International Olympic Committee, headed by Count Henri Baillet-Latour of Belgium, awarded the 1936 Summer Olympics to Berlin. The choice signaled Germany's return to the world community after defeat in World War I.
-
Soon after Hitler took power, the drive began to exclude Jews from German sport and recreational facilities. The German Boxing Association expelled amateur champion Eric Seelig in April 1933 because he was Jewish. Seelig later resumed his boxing career in the United States. Another Jew, Daniel Prenn, Germany's top-ranked tennis player, was removed from Germany's Davis Cup Team. Gypsies, including the Sinti boxer Johann “Rukelie” Trollmann, were also purged from German sports. In June 1933, Trollman, the German middleweight boxing champion, was banned from boxing for “racial reasons.”
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ewish athletes, barred from German sports clubs, flocked to separate Jewish associations, but Jewish sports facilities were no match for those of the well-funded German groups.
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retel Bergmann was a world-class high jumper who was expelled from her sports club in Ulm in 1933. Afterwards, she trained briefly with the Stuttgart branch of Der Schild (The Shield), a sports association organized under the auspices of the Jewish Association of War Veterans.
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02 May 12
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The Nazi Olympics
(August 1936)
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For two weeks in August 1936, Adolf Hitler's Nazi dictatorship camouflaged its racist, militaristic character while hosting the Summer Olympics.
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May 13, 1931, the International Olympic Committee, headed by Count Henri Baillet-Latour of Belgium, awarded the 1936 Summer Olympics to Berlin.
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International Olympic Committee
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The German Boxing Association expelled amateur champion Eric Seelig in April 1933 because he was Jewish.
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Jewish athletes, barred from German sports clubs, flocked to separate Jewish associations, but Jewish sports facilities were no match for those of the well-funded German groups.
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Short-lived boycott efforts surfaced in Great Britain, France, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, and the Netherlands.
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Countries Participating in Berlin Games
Afghanistan
Argentina
Australia
Austria
Belgium
Bermuda
Bolivia
Brazil
Bulgaria
Canada
Chile
China -
Norway
Peru
The Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Romania
South Africa
Sweden
Switzerland
Turkey
United States
Uruguay
Yugoslavia -
Iceland
India
Italy
Japan
Latvia
Liechtenstein
Luxembourg
Malta
Mexico
Monaco
The Netherlands
New Zealand -
Colombia
Costa Rica
Czechoslovakia
Denmark
Egypt
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Great Britain
Greece
Hungary -
Czechoslovakia
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27 Apr 12
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25 Apr 12
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“I'm afraid the Nazis have succeeded with their propaganda. First, the Nazis have run the Games on a lavish scale never before experienced, and this has appealed to the athletes. Second, the Nazis have put up a very good front for the general visitors, especially the big businessmen”
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“In 1940 the Olympic Games will take place in Tokyo. But thereafter they will take place in Germany for all time to come, in this stadium”
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02 Jan 12
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17 Nov 11
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08 Sep 11
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07 Sep 11
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11 May 11
Meyia H"Nazi dictatorship camouflaged its racist, militaristic
character while hosting the Summer Olympics. Soft-pedaling its
antisemitic
agenda and plans for territorial
expansion, the regime exploited the Games to bedazzle many foreign spectators
and journalists with an image of a peaceful, tolerant Germany.
Having rejected a proposed boycott of the 1936 Olympics, the
United States and other western democracies missed the opportunity to take a
stand that — some observers at the time claimed — might have given
Hitler
pause and bolstered
international resistance to Nazi tyranny. With the conclusion of the Games,
Germany's expansionist policies and the persecution of Jews and other “enemies
of the state” accelerated, culminating in
World War II
and the
Holocaust
.
Germany 1933-36
On May 13, 1931, the International Olympic Committee, headed by
Count Henri Baillet-Latour of Belgium, awarded the 1936 Summer Olympics to
Berlin. The choice signaled Germany's return to the world community after defeat
in World War I.
Two years later,
Nazi Party
leader
Adolf Hitler
became chancellor of
Germany and quickly turned the nation's fragile democracy into a one-party
dictatorship. Police rounded up thousands of political opponents, detaining them
without trial in concentration camps. The Nazi regime also put into practice
racial policies that aimed to “purify” and strengthen the Germanic “Aryan”
population. A relentless campaign began to exclude Germany’’s one-half million
Jews from all aspects of German life.
Nazification of Sport
The Nazification of all aspects of German life extended even to
sport. A staunch Nazi close to Hitler,
Hans von Tschammer und Osten
,
headed the Reich Sports Office, which oversaw all sports bodies and clubs,
including the German Olympic Committee planning the 1936 Games.
“German sport has only one task: to strengthen the character of
the German people, imbuing it with the fighting spirit and steadfast camaraderie
ne-
Hitler took power
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drive began to exclude Jews from German sport
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02 May 11
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01 Mar 11
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14 Feb 11
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11 Jan 11
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Having rejected a proposed boycott of the 1936 Olympics, the United States and other western democracies missed the opportunity to take a stand that — some observers at the time claimed
-
On May 13, 1931, the International Olympic Committee, headed by Count Henri Baillet-Latour of Belgium, awarded the 1936 Summer Olympics to Berlin. The choice signaled Germany's return to the world community after defeat in World War I.
-
Two years later, Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany and quickly turned the nation's fragile democracy into a one-party dictatorship. Police rounded up thousands of political opponents, detaining them without trial in concentration camps. The Nazi regime also put into practice racial policies that aimed to “purify” and strengthen the Germanic “Aryan” population. A relentless campaign began to exclude Germany’’s one-half million Jews from all aspects of German life.
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“German sport has only one task: to strengthen the character of the German people, imbuing it with the fighting spirit and steadfast camaraderie necessary in the struggle for its existence.” — Joseph Goebbels, Minister of Propaganda, April 23, 1933
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Jewish or part-Jewish and Gypsy athletes — were systematically excluded from German sports facilities and associations. They were allowed marginal training facilities, and their opportunities to compete were limited.
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Soon after Hitler took power in 1933, observers in the United States and other western democracies questioned the morality of supporting Olympic Games hosted by the Nazi regime. Responding to reports of the persecution of Jewish athletes in 1933, Avery Brundage, president of the American Olympic Committee, stated: “The very foundation of the modern Olympic revival will be undermined if individual countries are allowed to restrict participation by reason of class, creed, or race.” Brundage, like many others in the Olympics movement, initially considered moving the Games from Germany. After a brief and tightly managed inspection of German sports facilities in 1934, Brundage stated publicly that Jewish athletes were being treated fairly and that the Games should go on, as planned.
Debate over participation in the 1936 Olympics was greatest in the United States, which traditionally sent one of the largest teams to the Games. By the end of 1934, the lines on both sides were clearly drawn. Brundage opposed a boycott, arguing that politics had no place in sport. “The Olympic Games belong to the athletes and not to the politicians.” He wrote in the AOC's pamphlet Fair Play for American Athletes that American athletes should not become involved in “the present Jew-Nazi altercation.” As the Olympics controversy heated up in 1935, Brundage alleged the existence of a “Jewish-Communist conspiracy” to keep the United States out of the Games.
Brundage's rival, Judge Jeremiah Mahoney, president of the Amateur Athletic Union, pointed out that Germany had broken Olympic rules forbidding discrimination based on race and religion. In his view, participation would mean an endorsement of Hitler's Reich.
Judge Mahoney was one of a number of Catholic leaders supporting a boycott. Al Smith, governor of New York, and James Curley, governor of Massachusetts, also opposed sending a team to Berlin. The Catholic journal The Commonweal (November 8, 1935) advised boycotting an Olympics that would “set the seal of approval upon the radically anti-Christian Nazi doctrine of youth.”
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Countries Participating in Berlin Games
Afghanistan
Argentina
Australia
Austria
Belgium
Bermuda
Bolivia
Brazil
Bulgaria
Canada
Chile
China
Colombia
Costa Rica
Czechoslovakia
Denmark
Egypt
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Great Britain
Greece
Hungary
Iceland
India
Italy
Japan
Latvia
Liechtenstein
Luxembourg
Malta
Mexico
Monaco
The Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Peru
The Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Romania
South Africa
Sweden
Switzerland
Turkey
United States
Uruguay
Yugoslavia -
'The racial point of view should not be used in any way in reporting sports results; above all Negroes should not be insensitively reported. . . . Negroes are American citizens and must be treated with respect as Americans.“ August 3, 1936
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Jewish Olympic Medalists
Samuel Balter, USA Basketball, gold Gyorgy Brody, Hungary Water Polo, gold Miklos Sarkany, Hungary Water Polo, gold Karoly Karpati, Hungary Freestyle Wrestling, gold Endre Kabos, Hungary Individual Saber, gold Team Saber, gold Irving Maretzky, Canada Basketball, silver Gerard Blitz, Belgium Water Polo, bronze Ibolya K. Csak, Hungary High Jump, gold Robert Fein, Austria Weightlifting, gold Helene Mayer, Germany Individual Foil, silver Ellen Preis, Austria Individual Foil, bronze Ilona Schacherer-Elek, Hungary Individual Foil, gold Jadwiga Wajs, Poland Discus Throw, silve
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05 Jan 11
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Deciding Whether To Boycott
Soon after Hitler took power in 1933, observers in the United States and other western democracies questioned the morality of supporting Olympic Games hosted by the Nazi regime. Responding to reports of the persecution of Jewish athletes in 1933, Avery Brundage, president of the American Olympic Committee, stated: “The very foundation of the modern Olympic revival will be undermined if individual countries are allowed to restrict participation by reason of class, creed, or race.” Brundage, like many others in the Olympics movement, initially considered moving the Games from Germany. After a brief and tightly managed inspection of German sports facilities in 1934, Brundage stated publicly that Jewish athletes were being treated fairly and that the Games should go on, as planned.
Debate over participation in the 1936 Olympics was greatest in the United States, which traditionally sent one of the largest teams to the Games. By the end of 1934, the lines on both sides were clearly drawn. Brundage opposed a boycott, arguing that politics had no place in sport. “The Olympic Games belong to the athletes and not to the politicians.” He wrote in the AOC's pamphlet Fair Play for American Athletes that American athletes should not become involved in “the present Jew-Nazi altercation.” As the Olympics controversy heated up in 1935, Brundage alleged the existence of a “Jewish-Communist conspiracy” to keep the United States out of the Games.
Brundage's rival, Judge Jeremiah Mahoney, president of the Amateur Athletic Union, pointed out that Germany had broken Olympic rules forbidding discrimination based on race and religion. In his view, participation would mean an endorsement of Hitler's Reich.
Judge Mahoney was one of a number of Catholic leaders supporting a boycott. Al Smith, governor of New York, and James Curley, governor of Massachusetts, also opposed sending a team to Berlin. The Catholic journal The Commonweal (November 8, 1935) advised boycotting an Olympics that would “set the seal of approval upon the radically anti-Christian Nazi doctrine of youth.”
Beginning in 1933, the American Jewish Congress and the Jewish Labor Committee, joined by the non-sectarian Anti-Nazi League, staged mass rallies to protest Nazi persecution of Jews, political opponents, and others. These groups supported the boycott of the 1936 Games as part of a general boycott of German goods. Other Jewish groups, such as the American Jewish Committee and B'nai B'rith, did not formally support a boycott, in part because they feared that such a posture might trigger an antisemitic backlash in both the United States and Germany.
Individual Jewish athletes made their own decisions. For example, Milton Green, captain of the Harvard University track team, took first place in the 110-meter high hurdles in regional pre-Olympic trials. His teammate, Norman Cahners, also Jewish, qualified for the final Olympics trials as well. Both chose to boycott the national Olympic trials.
Many of the liberal and left-wing political groups that denounced Hitler's fascist dictatorship linked their opposition to the Berlin Olympics with the wider economic boycott of Germany.
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Afghanistan
Argentina
Australia
Austria
Belgium
Bermuda
Bolivia
Brazil
Bulgaria
Canada
Chile
China
Colombia
Costa Rica
Czechoslovakia
Denmark
Egypt
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Great Britain
Greece
Hungary
Iceland
India
Italy
Japan
Latvia
Liechtenstein
Luxembourg
Malta
Mexico
Monaco
The Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Peru
The Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Romania
South Africa
Sweden
Switzerland
Turkey
United States
Uruguay
Yugoslavia
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19 Oct 10
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26 Apr 10
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Soon after Hitler took power in 1933, observers in the United States and other western democracies questioned the morality of supporting Olympic Games hosted by the Nazi regime.
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The Catholic journal The Commonweal (November 8, 1935) advised boycotting an Olympics that would “set the seal of approval upon the radically anti-Christian Nazi doctrine of youth.”
-
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14 Feb 10
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Soon after Hitler took power, the drive began to exclude Jews from German sport and recreational facilities. The German Boxing Association expelled amateur champion Eric Seelig in April 1933 because he was Jewish.
-
f the persecution of Jewish athletes in 1933, Avery Brundage, president of the American Olympic Committee, stated: “The very foundation of the modern Olympic revival will be undermined if individual countries are allowed to restrict participation by reason of class, creed, or race.”
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11 Dec 09
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14 Jan 09
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vidual Jewish athletes from a
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02 Nov 08
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egime exploited the Games to bedazzle many foreign spectators and journalists with an image of a peaceful, tolerant Germany.
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29 Oct 08
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