The Interpreter Service
In order to enable the Olympic visitors to gain some conception of the developments in the Third Reich and to place them in a position for acquainting themselves with the actual life in Germany, an attempt had to be made to eliminate the language difficulty, since this is always an obstacle to the proper appreciation of foreign customs and activities. Except in the case of the athletes, the problem of providing language assistance for the foreign guests was placed in the hands of the OB, and an adequate staff of dependable and well-trained interpreters and guides had to be formed. In order to achieve unity in this work, a central organization of all interpreters and guides was formed for the first time in the history of Berlin. Expert information as well as an understanding of the psychology of foreign travellers was necessary for this work.
From the moment of arrival, every foreign visitor was afforded the possibility of speaking his own language. If travellers from abroad wished to utilize their short stay in Berlin to become acquainted with German life and customs, a telephone call to the special headquarters established by the OB was sufficient for obtaining an expert guide and interpreter. Or if foreign visitors wished to meet their countrymen for a social hour or the exchange of impressions, they merely needed to pay a call at one of the 10 centres provided especially for this purpose.
Customs Facilities
The German customs authorities cooperated readily with the Organizing Committee. The Reich Ministry of Finance granted an exemption from customs duties which in every way met the wishes of the Organizing Committee and facilitated the entry into Germany of the foreign guests. The officials were directed to avoid all difficulties in dealing with the competitors and those accompanying the national teams who possessed Olympic identity cards.
In order to assure the smooth functioning of the customs work, the large pieces of luggage of those with Olympic identity cards as well as packages sent to them were not dealt with at the border, but at their place of destination, that is, near the Olympic Village. It was also necessary to facilitate the handling of the luggage of all foreign visitors to the Games in Berlin. For this reason, the State Finance Office at Berlin established the following special customs offices: the Berlin-Olympic Village Customs Office, the Berlin-Reich Sport Field Branch Customs Office, the Berlin-Grьnau Branch Customs Office, a branch customs office at the Rangsdorf Aerodrome near Berlin, and a branch customs office at the Zoological Garden Railway Station in Berlin. At the request of the Organizing Committee, the Reich Finance Minister granted extensive customs exemptions to the competitors in the Games. If certain conditions were fulfilled, the following were free of duty: food, wine, tobacco, medicines and massage material which the foreign competitors brought with them in their luggage, or received through the mail or by freight. All gifts sent to the Olympic teams were also free of duty under certain conditions. This was also true of the food which the North German Lloyd imported from abroad to use in catering for the Olympic competitors, as well as certain quantities of forage imported from abroad for the horses which participated in the Olympic equestrian events.