The moment a tourist kissed Hitler at the Berlin Olympics

On August 15, 1936, Carla de Vries, an American tourist at the swimming event of the Berlin Olympics found Adolf Hitler “so friendly and gracious” she shook his hand and gave him a kiss. Hitler promptly fired his security staff after the breach. There is newly found video of the event. An excerpt from the article:

"'It happened when I went down to take Hitler's picture with my small movie camera. Hitler was leaning forward, smiling, and he seemed so friendly that I just stepped up and asked for his autograph, which he wrote on my swimming ticket. He kept on smiling and so I kissed him.'

She added: 'People sitting near Der Fuhrer's box began to cheer and applaud so loudly that I ran back to my husband and told him we had better leave.'

In newspapers after the kiss, she was referred as 'the woman who kissed Hitler' in two later events that had nothing to do with her Olympic feat.

The first was when she returned home months later, when she prevented an asylum patient from committing suicide. The next year, her husband George De Vries, who owned a huge dairy farm, had to face unions and strikers.

She managed to sneak a kiss just after the mens' 1500 metre freestyle race, where Hitler - who had banned Jewish athletes from competing at the Games - was watching the even next to General August von Mackensen.

Ms de Vries was travelling through Europe at the time and used her chance to get a close-up picture of Hitler.

Nazi guards attempted to pull Ms de Vries away but undetered, she managed to succeed in giving Hitler a kiss.

General Mackensen laughs as he pushes Ms de Vries away by the end of the 14-second video and the 20,000-strong crowd burst into applause as she made her way back to her seat.

Several SS guards were demoted or fired for their inability to keep Hitler away from the woman."