Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/08/21
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Wolfgang Sachse wrote: >> From: Gerard Captijn <captyng@vtx.ch> >> Date: Mon, 18 Aug 1997 23:00:25 +0200 .... ><snip> ... > >> ... Leni Riefenstahl (now 94 years old) ... Hitler's little darling ... > > I thought that most Leica users were above this. Above what, Wolfgang? Above the poor lady, who just wanted the film to be rolling, and those Nazi's who just used her stuff from times to time (they are gone now, anyway... oh, let's forget "the distasteful circumstances", "the wrong side"...). I don't know all the photographic work of Leni Riefenstahl. I discovered her images on the Nubas, since I was interested in Leica photography, and also did a field work among the Nubas many years ago. Riefenstahl's work is not bad, but I don't like her approach. It is more or less a study of the human body in an area close to the "cradle" of humanity. There are some overtones I don't like. Hitler is dead, but his ideas are still alive. Often these ideas are expressed with a lot of subtlety. I think human behavior much depends upon choices. The atrocities of Nazi Germany did teach us some lessons. The Nuremberg Trials, The Geneva Convention, and later, for instance, the court martial of Lieutenant William Calley after the events of the massacre at My Lai in Vietnam, don't leave any doubt concerning individual responsibility in war situations. The innocent technocrat, "just executing orders" version: "We were told to do it, and we did it", don't apply anymore. Leni Riefenstahl had the choice, and we know what she did. As so many others she later tried to minimize and explain away her choice. But we don't believe in this, do we? Oddmund