Television Camera at the Berlin Olympics (1936)

The 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin were the first major television event used by the National Socialists to present their regime positively abroad. In twenty-five so-called “television rooms” more than 150,000 spectators gazed at screens, watching sporting competitions that had been recorded with a television camera in Berlin’s Olympic Stadium by the German Television Broadcasting Station. The German Television Broadcasting Station [Deutscher Fernseh Rundfunk or DFR] was the world’s first regular television broadcaster. At first, its broadcasts reached only a very select audience, since its range was limited to greater Berlin and relatively few households could afford televisions at that point in time.