⁣German Soldiers With Tiki Torches Celebrate Chancellor Merkel - A Short
History Of Torches And Intimidation: Torches used as statements of power
and racial superiority were even more prominent in Nazi Germany in the
1930s. On August 1, 1936, a new tradition was introduced to the modern
Olympic Games: the use of a torch relay wherein individual runners
brought the Olympic flame from Greece to Berlin--connecting the ancient
world to Germany. The ancient Greeks had indeed used torches in
athletics, but the Nazis appropriated the torch as a symbol of both
athletic and racial supremacy.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/drsarahbond/2017/08/15/a-short-history-of-torches-and-intimidation/?sh=722bae516762