HOT CORNER

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What: “Hitler’s Pawn.”

Where: HBO, Wednesday, 10 p.m.

This one-hour documentary is about a German Jewish high jumper who was not allowed to compete in the 1936 Berlin Olympics because of Hitler’s regime. But it is more than just a story about an athlete. It provides a look at one of the most controversial periods in Olympic history and one of the darkest times in history in general.

Gretel Bergmann, born in Germany in 1914, was an outstanding athlete in the 1920s and ‘30s, excelling in the high jump.

In 1931, Germany was awarded the rights to hold the ’36 Games in Berlin. But leading into those Games, the U.S. and other countries threatened to boycott because of the Nazi Party’s discriminatory practices.

Hitler used Bergmann to show the world that Germany did not discriminate. But a few weeks before the Games, and one day after the U.S. team set sail for Germany, Bergmann was bounced from the team.

Bergmann lives in Queens, N.Y., under the name Margaret Lambert. She has been married to Bruno Lambert for 65 years.

In this film, Lambert, 90, tells her story with the lucid, concise style of a professional narrator, although actress Natalie Portman is used to fill in the gaps. Although there is some actual footage, actresses are used to portray Lambert at various stages of her youth.

At the end of the film, Lambert returns to Germany and has an emotional reunion with German teammate Elfride Kaun, who competed in the Berlin Games. Kaun, who is not Jewish, tells Lambert her spot on the team was left vacant and they were told she could not compete because she was injured.

-- Larry Stewart