One can imagine the relief experienced by the organizers in knowing that the accommodations for the guests were in capable hands and that they would no longer be required to give this sphere of activity their immediate attention. The catering and transportation problems were thus satisfactorily solved. The Army often came to our rescue in times of emergency, its activities assuming an ever-widening field, and we can truthfully assert that no request was refused, the tasks being gladly assumed and always performed in a more generous manner than we had dared hope for. The Army was constantly at our side. It laid the telephone lines along the courses of the long distance events, it built the bridges necessary for transporting the Olympic Bell to the Reich Sport Field, it constructed a pontoon bridge at the Grьnau Regatta Course, it laid out the youth and physical education students' encampments and erected the tents there, it provided the necessary patrols, a company of honour and flag escort, it assisted in providing music, and it made the arrangements for the riding tournament and modern pentathlon,
In addition to the technical side of the Festival there were also the artistic arrangements, and these required considerable planning in advance. We therefore requested the "Reichsmusikkammer" (Reich Chamber of Music) on May 21st to assume charge of the musical programme for the Festival. It also performed its task to perfection, selecting the music for the various occasions, training the choruses and orchestras for the opening and closing ceremonies, sporting presentations, the initial meeting of the International Olympic Committee, the ceremony at the Pergamon Altar, the inauguration of the Art Exhibition, the festive banquet and other occasions. The Chamber of Music also presented the Handel Oratorio, "Herakles," in the Dietrich Eckart Open Air-Theatre and the Olympic Concert on August 15th in which the prize-winning works of the Olympic Art Competition were directed by the composers. In compiling the programme for the various occasions an attempt was made to select the best and most appropriate German music. The outstanding ceremonies should strike a note of harmony in the heart of every participant and spectator, and for this reason it was more difficult than at first imagined to find selections which would lend the proper atmosphere to the occasion. In spite of extensive searching we did not find appropriate music for the closing ceremony and were obliged to have it specially composed for this event.
From the very beginning we were inspired in our work by the desire to give a tone of special solemnity and impressiveness to the opening and closing days. The programme had already been composed for a considerable length of time and was approved by both the International Olympic Committee and Executive Committee of the Organizing Committee in the course of the year 1935. In executing
it, however, many difficulties remained to be solved. It was planned to have the youth of Berlin inaugurate the opening day in every part of the city, the opening ceremony itself should begin in the heart of the metropolis, and the day should be concluded with the Festival Play. The morning programme for the International Olympic Committee should include reveille by a military band, a special religious ceremony, the placing of a wreath on the War Memorial, a youth festival in the Lustgarten and a reception by the German Chancellor. It was planned to announce the opening of the Games by ringing the Olympic Bell, and the dome of light under which the strains of the Ninth Symphony would be heard concluding the Festival Play should also glow over the Stadium as the Bell heralded the conclusion of the Festival and a voice intoned, "I summon the youth of the world to Tokyo!"