Hitler's best P.R. agent
LENI RIEFENSTAHL
A multi-talented sycophant who exalted Nazi ideology
through the bodies of discilpined and embrigaded Aryans
Leni Riefenstahl, a "monstre sacré". But extremely talented and ambitious. Born in
Berlin in 1902, dead in 2003, Leni Berta Helene Amalie Riefenstahl was successively
dancer, actress, documentary maker and photographer. All with the same dedication,
the same passion and the same talent and genius for innovation. She always
maintained she never was a Nazi but if she did not take the party's card, she was
nevertheless a avid fan of Hitler. After the war, she became for some time the lover
of one of the most ferocious artworks plunderer of Nazi Germany, SS officer Kajetan
Mühlmann.
LENI RIEFENSTAHL
A multi-talented sycophant who exalted Nazi ideology
through the bodies of discilpined and embrigaded Aryans
Leni Riefenstahl, a "monstre sacré". But extremely talented and ambitious. Born in
Berlin in 1902, dead in 2003, Leni Berta Helene Amalie Riefenstahl was successively
dancer, actress, documentary maker and photographer. All with the same dedication,
the same passion and the same talent and genius for innovation. She always
maintained she never was a Nazi but if she did not take the party's card, she was
nevertheless a avid fan of Hitler. After the war, she became for some time the lover
of one of the most ferocious artworks plunderer of Nazi Germany, SS officer Kajetan
Mühlmann.
Frau Riefenstahl was a great woman, a great achiever, would it not
be for her fascist tendencies and her weaknesses for Hitler’s
decorum. Although undeniable, her immense talent as a
photographer was first devoted to the nazi cause, then to the
glorification of human bodies and to the painting of a brutal strength
that glorified along her endless career a fascist conception of the
world. Of course, as every Fascist, she constantly denied this
penchant and always pretended she was only serving the art. They
all say the same thing.
My opinion of Riefenstahl is that she was a dangerous creature : her
works still very much up-to-date and timeless might stay in the future
as the « Gloria in Excelsis Hitlero » or the « Credo in uno Adolfo » of
the documentary genre. She was with the sinister P.J.Goebbels, the
clubfooted dwarf in charge of propaganda, the charming
ambassador of "choc et charme" of the Nazis and of Adolf Hitler
himself through a series of documentaries shot between 1933 and
1940.
be for her fascist tendencies and her weaknesses for Hitler’s
decorum. Although undeniable, her immense talent as a
photographer was first devoted to the nazi cause, then to the
glorification of human bodies and to the painting of a brutal strength
that glorified along her endless career a fascist conception of the
world. Of course, as every Fascist, she constantly denied this
penchant and always pretended she was only serving the art. They
all say the same thing.
My opinion of Riefenstahl is that she was a dangerous creature : her
works still very much up-to-date and timeless might stay in the future
as the « Gloria in Excelsis Hitlero » or the « Credo in uno Adolfo » of
the documentary genre. She was with the sinister P.J.Goebbels, the
clubfooted dwarf in charge of propaganda, the charming
ambassador of "choc et charme" of the Nazis and of Adolf Hitler
himself through a series of documentaries shot between 1933 and
1940.
After WWII, Leni denied having ever been a nazi or supported
their programs and she swore to have never been aware of
the existence of the concentration camps: “I knew nothing of
all that”, she declared in 1997 to the NY Times. As she ever
tried to know where exactly were going all those Jews and
political prisoners deported by the regime ? She constantly
painted herself like a nice little girl who was fooled by the
Nazis.
Daughter of a wealthy plumbery installer, she studied dance
at the KunstAcademie in Berlin and went on stage in several
european capitals from 1923 to 1926. Then she met german
director Dr. Arnold Fanck who virtually invented Mountain films
as a specific genre beginning with Der Berg Des Shicksals in
1924. Magnificently photographed and celebrating the most
grandiose kinds of natural beauty, these films also embodied
an heroic idealism and an exultation of the purely physical, in
the context of loyalty and sacrifice, ultimately reducing the
significance of the individual in regards to the demands of a
higher ideal or of a Fuhrer. She gladly enjoyed many roles in
several of his movies.
their programs and she swore to have never been aware of
the existence of the concentration camps: “I knew nothing of
all that”, she declared in 1997 to the NY Times. As she ever
tried to know where exactly were going all those Jews and
political prisoners deported by the regime ? She constantly
painted herself like a nice little girl who was fooled by the
Nazis.
Daughter of a wealthy plumbery installer, she studied dance
at the KunstAcademie in Berlin and went on stage in several
european capitals from 1923 to 1926. Then she met german
director Dr. Arnold Fanck who virtually invented Mountain films
as a specific genre beginning with Der Berg Des Shicksals in
1924. Magnificently photographed and celebrating the most
grandiose kinds of natural beauty, these films also embodied
an heroic idealism and an exultation of the purely physical, in
the context of loyalty and sacrifice, ultimately reducing the
significance of the individual in regards to the demands of a
higher ideal or of a Fuhrer. She gladly enjoyed many roles in
several of his movies.
| East-Berlin, 1979. Thirty four years after the fall of Hitler, East Germans had no qualm re-enacting for the glory of Communism the worst and the most spectacular of Nazism |
In 1931, she decided to launch her own movies company and LRP
(Leni Riefenstahl Produktion) was born. In 1932, LRP released "Das
blaue Licht" (The Blue Light), a very mediocre romantic movie that
nevertheless showed her huge qualities behind the camera. Two years
later, she attended one of numerous Hitler’s meeting and she was, she
said, “electrified”.
In 1932, jewish revered director, Fritz Lang, had refused to be
appointed head of the UFA, Germany's leading movie studio, and fled
the country. Goebbels who hated her but forced by Hitler settled on
the ambitious Leni Riefenstahl to direct two documentaries on the
party's Nuremburg rallies of 1932 and 1933. Riefenstahl who
breathlessly read Mein Kampf after hearing Hitler speak in 1932,
immediately wrote him asking for a meeting.
Hitler, who had admired her looks, acting and the first film she directed,
The Blue Light, replied at once and took her for a walk at the seaside.
"When we are in power," he said, "you must make my movies." He
made a tentative move to take her in his arms and, not getting a
reaction, turned aside saying that he was wedded only to Germany's
destiny. The first film was disowned by Riefenstahl because of the little
time she had to prepare and the fact it was never shown publicly
because the film featured Ernst Röhm, leader of the SA, who was killed
by Nazi leaders just after the film was completed. The second
documentary, titled Der Sieg des Glaubens (Victory of Faith), was a
huge success (1).
Leni explained 50 years later that she conceived the film as "a
musical composition that talked only about work and peace."It is
probably what people always reproached her : the inability to see in
her works other thing than a piece of art whereas it glorifies mass
indoctrination and brain washing. She was an artist, no doubt about it
and like many artists she was blind to reality.
The success of Der Sieg des Glaubens prompted Hitler and his clique
to hire Leni for the shooting of the Sixth Party Rally of the National
Socialists, which took place from September 4th to September 10th,
1934, in Nuremberg. Triumph des Willens (Triumph of the Will) was an
even greater success and as an award-winning masterpiece of
camerawork, direction and editing, it is still widely agreed by virtually
every film critic to be the greatest propaganda film of all time. However
the film showed very well the rough and primal force of those SA
gatherings, their aggressiveness and the simplistic –although lethal-
aspirations of their members, those nazi cowboys, who only lived to
break the “Reds”. Leni said that it was not a propaganda movie
because it did not have any commentary like any propaganda stuff. A
good point.
(Leni Riefenstahl Produktion) was born. In 1932, LRP released "Das
blaue Licht" (The Blue Light), a very mediocre romantic movie that
nevertheless showed her huge qualities behind the camera. Two years
later, she attended one of numerous Hitler’s meeting and she was, she
said, “electrified”.
In 1932, jewish revered director, Fritz Lang, had refused to be
appointed head of the UFA, Germany's leading movie studio, and fled
the country. Goebbels who hated her but forced by Hitler settled on
the ambitious Leni Riefenstahl to direct two documentaries on the
party's Nuremburg rallies of 1932 and 1933. Riefenstahl who
breathlessly read Mein Kampf after hearing Hitler speak in 1932,
immediately wrote him asking for a meeting.
Hitler, who had admired her looks, acting and the first film she directed,
The Blue Light, replied at once and took her for a walk at the seaside.
"When we are in power," he said, "you must make my movies." He
made a tentative move to take her in his arms and, not getting a
reaction, turned aside saying that he was wedded only to Germany's
destiny. The first film was disowned by Riefenstahl because of the little
time she had to prepare and the fact it was never shown publicly
because the film featured Ernst Röhm, leader of the SA, who was killed
by Nazi leaders just after the film was completed. The second
documentary, titled Der Sieg des Glaubens (Victory of Faith), was a
huge success (1).
Leni explained 50 years later that she conceived the film as "a
musical composition that talked only about work and peace."It is
probably what people always reproached her : the inability to see in
her works other thing than a piece of art whereas it glorifies mass
indoctrination and brain washing. She was an artist, no doubt about it
and like many artists she was blind to reality.
The success of Der Sieg des Glaubens prompted Hitler and his clique
to hire Leni for the shooting of the Sixth Party Rally of the National
Socialists, which took place from September 4th to September 10th,
1934, in Nuremberg. Triumph des Willens (Triumph of the Will) was an
even greater success and as an award-winning masterpiece of
camerawork, direction and editing, it is still widely agreed by virtually
every film critic to be the greatest propaganda film of all time. However
the film showed very well the rough and primal force of those SA
gatherings, their aggressiveness and the simplistic –although lethal-
aspirations of their members, those nazi cowboys, who only lived to
break the “Reds”. Leni said that it was not a propaganda movie
because it did not have any commentary like any propaganda stuff. A
good point.
But it contains many impressive scenes, perhaps none more powerful
than the scene in which (opposite picture) Hitler, Himmler, and the new
SA leader, Viktor Lutze (who took over after Rohm’s murder), walked
down a wide aisle in the center of Nuremberg stadium flanked on either
side by gigantic formations of Nazis in perfectly aligned columns. Upon
the first screening of Triumph of the Will in 1936 the Nazis knew they
had struck gold. The film played to packed movie theaters throughout
Germany. For her efforts, Riefenstahl received a Cultural Achievement
award from Goebbels' Propaganda Ministry. The film also won a gold
medal for its artistry at the 1937 World Exhibition in… Paris. No wonder
if my fellow countrymen were so keen on “kollaboration” four years
later. Leni refused all her life to consider Triumph of the Will as a
propaganda film and insisted it was a documentary…Given her state of
mind, she was probably sincere.
than the scene in which (opposite picture) Hitler, Himmler, and the new
SA leader, Viktor Lutze (who took over after Rohm’s murder), walked
down a wide aisle in the center of Nuremberg stadium flanked on either
side by gigantic formations of Nazis in perfectly aligned columns. Upon
the first screening of Triumph of the Will in 1936 the Nazis knew they
had struck gold. The film played to packed movie theaters throughout
Germany. For her efforts, Riefenstahl received a Cultural Achievement
award from Goebbels' Propaganda Ministry. The film also won a gold
medal for its artistry at the 1937 World Exhibition in… Paris. No wonder
if my fellow countrymen were so keen on “kollaboration” four years
later. Leni refused all her life to consider Triumph of the Will as a
propaganda film and insisted it was a documentary…Given her state of
mind, she was probably sincere.
But the film showed too well that Leni was more than a good
camerawoman and she inconsciously acknowledged it in 1935 in
her book "Hinter den Kulissen des Reichsparteitag-Films" (written
by a ghost) where she admitted that she took a leading role in
the staging of the gathering insofar as it allowed her to make a
more convincing movie (sic). She always defended herself to be
a Nazi but the beautiful Leni Riefenstahl was a convinced fascist.
Among the less hostile critics to « die Riefenstahl » is Richard
Meran Bersam who thinks that “the film is cinematically dazzling
and ideologically vicious." Hitler becomes, in the film, a larger-
than-life figure, almost a divinity, and all other humans are
portrayed such that their individuality is lost -- a glorification of
the collective. Others, as David B. Hinton points out that
Riefenstahl's picked up the genuine emotions on the faces of the
SA members and did not make them up. Maybe but the film
glorifies the Aryan look and in the world of photography, there
are the documentary genre and the propaganda genre. Leni
Riefenstahl never tried to take her distances from the later: at
best, she did not dare to look down on these ecstatic SA/SS
faces in fear of losing her good job.
camerawoman and she inconsciously acknowledged it in 1935 in
her book "Hinter den Kulissen des Reichsparteitag-Films" (written
by a ghost) where she admitted that she took a leading role in
the staging of the gathering insofar as it allowed her to make a
more convincing movie (sic). She always defended herself to be
a Nazi but the beautiful Leni Riefenstahl was a convinced fascist.
Among the less hostile critics to « die Riefenstahl » is Richard
Meran Bersam who thinks that “the film is cinematically dazzling
and ideologically vicious." Hitler becomes, in the film, a larger-
than-life figure, almost a divinity, and all other humans are
portrayed such that their individuality is lost -- a glorification of
the collective. Others, as David B. Hinton points out that
Riefenstahl's picked up the genuine emotions on the faces of the
SA members and did not make them up. Maybe but the film
glorifies the Aryan look and in the world of photography, there
are the documentary genre and the propaganda genre. Leni
Riefenstahl never tried to take her distances from the later: at
best, she did not dare to look down on these ecstatic SA/SS
faces in fear of losing her good job.
For example, the “documentary” glorifies the Aryan faces to
the exclusion of less Aryan traits: no little dark men at the
Riefenstahl’s Inn. Only touching patriotic Aryan emotions
artistically shot, boxed and music-dubed. In 1935 Leni,
feeling guilty to patronize the SA and the SS, prostituted
her talent with the Wehrmacht and shot a "Tag der Freiheit:
Unsere Wehrmacht" (Day of freedom: Our army). A warning
of things to come was given in this featurette depicting a
mock battle staged by German troops during the colorful
ceremonies at Nuremberg on German Armed Forces Day
1935.
She reached the climax of her carreer in 1936 with the
shooting of the Olympic Games with a movie titled
“Olympia” for which Hitler and Goebbels gave her « carte
blanche » and let her do the job with such advantages that
it became an insult to other cineasts in the field. She took
advantage of this licence to display for the first time some
independence, if not critical sense, and in spite of the
vociferations of this jerk of Goebbels she gave to the
African-American runner Jesse Owens more film time than
her sponsors would have allowed. Black, red or white, Leni
was fascinated by beautiful bodies in consequence of what
she married in 1968 a man 40 years younger who stayed
to her sides until her death in 2003. “Olympia” was
financed and produced by LRP and not by the party.
the exclusion of less Aryan traits: no little dark men at the
Riefenstahl’s Inn. Only touching patriotic Aryan emotions
artistically shot, boxed and music-dubed. In 1935 Leni,
feeling guilty to patronize the SA and the SS, prostituted
her talent with the Wehrmacht and shot a "Tag der Freiheit:
Unsere Wehrmacht" (Day of freedom: Our army). A warning
of things to come was given in this featurette depicting a
mock battle staged by German troops during the colorful
ceremonies at Nuremberg on German Armed Forces Day
1935.
She reached the climax of her carreer in 1936 with the
shooting of the Olympic Games with a movie titled
“Olympia” for which Hitler and Goebbels gave her « carte
blanche » and let her do the job with such advantages that
it became an insult to other cineasts in the field. She took
advantage of this licence to display for the first time some
independence, if not critical sense, and in spite of the
vociferations of this jerk of Goebbels she gave to the
African-American runner Jesse Owens more film time than
her sponsors would have allowed. Black, red or white, Leni
was fascinated by beautiful bodies in consequence of what
she married in 1968 a man 40 years younger who stayed
to her sides until her death in 2003. “Olympia” was
financed and produced by LRP and not by the party.
| During the conflict, Riefenstahl practically made herself redundant : she started several movies that she never completed and turned down offers to shoot more “documentaries”. She might have realized the hazardous leaning of her works and it was a good thing because it probably saved her life in 1945. The Allies sentenced her to only 4 years of imprisonment for glorification of the regime. In 1948, a civil German tribunal decreed that she had not been an active nazi and she was awarded a Gold Medal for “Olympia” by the IOC (International Olympic committee). However if her involvement with the Nazis could not be proved by the Allies, her refutal of her Nazi past was an outright lie : during and after the war, she was the mistress of Austrian SS Colonel Kajetan Muhlmann, one of the most ferocious plunderers of Austria, Poland and the Low countries' artworks. Muhlmann was a rabid anti-semite - he had been, according to a high ranking SD official in 1967 (2), an agent of Reinhard Heydrich- and after the war he lived in reclusion nearby Lake Starnberg while Leni had a residence in Pöcking by the same lake. However her post- war mind-set was well described when she declared :"I was personally so shaken, but there were only two possibilities for dealing with this horrible burden and guilt - to live or to die. IT was a continuous struggle, live or die." |
| After the war, she did not meet success anymore. LRP tried to produce some movies and “Tiefland” in 1954 met modest success. It then became obvious that Leni was not a film director but a very good photographer whose talent was enhanced by her devotion to the nazis. Her fascist penchants, her passion for beautiful bodies helped her career to rise in the 30s but in the 50s, that sort of fascist enjoyment was over. Eventually she married in 1968 a much younger man and turned to photography and in 1972 the London Times hired her to cover the Munich Olympic Games. Later she regained some controversial fame with her photographic works of African tribes in Sudan, the Nubas. Her book, Die Nuba (1973), triggered a lot if harsh comments and criticisms, notably from ethnologists pointing out that she was more interested in picturing abstract models than real people with a soul and a culture. She had not changed at all since 1936. In 1976, undeterred, she published a similar book about another tribe called the Kans. In conclusion, one can sincerely wonder if Leni deserved the reputation she got: she had an eye for scenery and bodies, was she made of the stuff that makes great film directors ? It is another question. Eventually she got leery of those criticisms and she decided to dabble into photographic scuba-diving and shot beautiful underwater movies. Unfortunately for her, the Frenchman Jacques Yves Cousteau had already dredged the submarine world and her movies did not meet huge success. In 2002, franco-german TV Channel released of her submarine world movies but once again, the same year, she was caught back by her past and in 2003 she preferred to give up and went to the paradise of the sycophants with Goebbels, Hess and Göring. She once said she would find back peace only with her death. Effectively, nothing will take me of the idea that Leni was a brilliant and talented sycophant and that her influence in the rise of the Nazism must not be taken slighlty. People like the sculptor Arno Breker and the film director Leni Riefensthal made Hitler, the Nazisme and the horrors of war possible. Leni always protested her innocence and claimed she was an artist doing art works. One is not obliged to believe her. What we can criticized Leni for is to have never admitted that she was manipulated by the nazis as much as she used them for her own glory. It is tough to realize that you worked for a mafia boss when you thought you had been glorifying a living GOD... Again and again she pretended to be an artist, but what sort of artist she was who never revolted against anything or had a lucid look vis à vis the reality of her time? If she was such a great artist, how is it that she never protested against the expulsion in 1933 of the seventy-five- year old Max Liebermann from the Academy of Arts over which he had presided since 1922 ? Real artists defy the establishment and think independently, real artists are not opportunists or sycophantic propagandists. On top of everything, Frau Riefenstahl was a liar : she once pretended that even the German Impressionists were not involved in politics. It is a blatant lie : Dix, Kirchner and Beckmann were all involved in politics. She was a Faustian female who had sold her soul to the devil and she refused to feel guilty about anything : she always maintained with a sort of ferocity that she never made an anti-semitic comment, that she did not take the NSDAP card or that she knew nothing about the camps. As she said ten years before her death :"What should I feel guilty of ?" . People who sell their soul to the devil never admit their errors as the writer Meir Ronnen shows very well in the following article published recently in the Jerusalem Post. (1) Recently a copy of the documentary was found in England where Leni stayed some time in 1933 and videos can be purchased on the Net except from Italy, France, Germany and Austria, all countries that have not yet settled their guilty feelings with this epoch. (2) In The Faustian Bargain, by Jonathan Petropoulos, OUP,2000 ISBN 0-19-512964-4 (3) An interesting bio (and not biaised) of Leni Riefenstahl can be read in this site (4) A very good site about Riefenstahl's career and productions can be viewed at this address |
| Hitler was before all a vain rock&roll star who "electrified" Leni Riefenstahl and other ambitious sycophants |
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| Hitler was an achieved comedian trained by Eckart and van Hussen and Leni knew she had found her best sponsor with this selfish dictator |
| In the 80s to show she was not a racist and that her fascination for beautiful bodies was not aryan-inspired she took pictures of members of the Nuba tribe in Africa |
| She also tried scuba diving photography and filming but the French P.Y. Cousteau had already dredged the seabed |
| Tiefland, shot just before the war, was a complete failure and shown to the public only in 1943. The tastes of the public had changed a lot since 1939. Leni's talent as film director has still to be demonstrated. However her skills behind the camera, her ability to innovate and imagine new angles and tricks to get better shots are legendary and acknowledged by all. Leni Riefenstahl was a pictures composer, a woman with a terrific eye and a creative mind. She knew what she wanted and worked extremely hard. Her reputation is well deserved but her complaisance for the Nazis is probably undeniable and it sticked to her all her life even if she was not a member or a dignitary of the party. |
FILMING FOR THE DEVIL
| Images from Triumph des Willens : Leni was fascinated by what was "beautiful, strong, healthy, living. I seek karmony." She was apparently not repulsed by the ferocitry and the violent harmony of the Nazis |
| The beautiful Leni Riefenstahl in the movie Der Helige Berg (The Holy Mountain) shot in 1926 by Dr. Fanck |
| In 1937 Triumph des Willens received the Grand Prix (Grand Prize) of the city of Paris at the International Show for Arts and Technics. After the war, the same who acknowledged her talent in 1937 suddenly turned their back on Leni and she had so many problems to resume her career that in the end she dabbled into photographs in Africa. |
| Beautiful, artistic, ambitious : Leni as she was |